Allen Toussaint, who celebrated his 71st birthday last week, celebrated once more at the 2009 Celtic Connections festival Monday at Glasgow's finely refurbished Old Fruitmarket. While scheduled concert partner Dr. John was unable to join him for the event, Scotland's Herald gives the Toussaint performance five stars, exclaiming, "Toussaint produced the kind of gig for which this venue was saved."

Reviewer Rob Adams writes: "Funky, celebratory and above all downright real, Toussaint's music has the spirit of a Mardi Gras street party running through it and the Fruitmarket is, after all, only one generation of slight gentrification up from being a street itself."

Read the complete review at theherald.co.uk. Toussaint next performs in New York, with a multi-week residency at Joe's Pub beginning February 1.

Youssou N'Dour comes to Celtic Connections this Friday for a performance with his Super Étoile band at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Auditorium. Also on the bill are Old Blind Dogs, one Scotland’s top contemporary folk acts, which has recently been involved in fundraising for the Dialaw Music Centre in Senegal, which provides musical and cultural education for local young people and visiting students.