Name: Celtic Connections: John Blek
Start: 2026-01-29T19:30:00.000Z
Location: The Hug and Pint

Blek is an artist with a story to tell. With his timeless emotive voice and layered&nbsp;fingerstyle guitar you will be transported from scene to scene as his expansive songbook&nbsp;unfolds.&nbsp; John Blek is Cork City born and bred but is currently residing in north Co.Cork. His&nbsp; parents, both of whom were primary school teachers, had to bribe him to stay in school&nbsp; after his 16th birthday with the promise of a new guitar on the completion of his final&nbsp; exams. Such was John’s belief in his ability and chosen path in life that he was willing to&nbsp; forgo the more traditional education sought by his peers. This conviction carries through&nbsp; to his art. His music is written from such a personal place that it creates the sense that&nbsp; he grew up with these songs, that they are in his blood – and in a way he did, they are his&nbsp; thoughts, his words, his sounds and his stories. Though not all autobiographical, like&nbsp; many of the great painters, an element of the artist exists in every portrait.&nbsp; It all began for him in the passenger seat of his father Hiace van. Parked in the driveway&nbsp; running the battery down listening to cassettes from Jim Croce, Willy Nelson and The&nbsp; Beatles. These formative musical experiences unknowingly laid the foundation for John’s&nbsp; self lead musical education. Later the discovery of Bert Jansch, Bob Dylan, Nick Jones&nbsp; and Neil Young added more fuel to his fire. He began writing his own music at 15 for no&nbsp; other reason than that he found it frustrating and false trying to learn and imitate other&nbsp; musicians' work. That was the start of his pursuit of his own unique voice.&nbsp; Blek has a love of music in the real sense, he creates to create. At 38 he has a catalogue&nbsp; of music that would represent a life’s work for many musicians. He is a career musician,&nbsp; and has dedicated his working life to developing his art. He began his solo career in&nbsp; 2014, and over the last eleven years has created a reputation as a singer songwriter who&nbsp; is sure to leave a legacy of timeless music that will speak to generations. He has&nbsp; released 9 studio albums to date [Cheer Up (2024), Until The Rivers Run Dry (2023),On&nbsp; Ether &amp; Air (2021), Digressions #2 Grounded (2021), The Embers (2020), Thistle &amp; Thorn&nbsp; (2019), Catharsis Vol.1 (2017), Cut the Light (2016), and Cutting Room Floor (2014)] with&nbsp; his 10th coming in January 2026. He speaks about his craft as passionately as he&nbsp; performs and has a dedicated fan base, meaning he has a well-worn path returning to&nbsp; play venues across Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and the UK as well playing to&nbsp; sold out venues in Ireland. In an age when it would be easy to become disillusioned with the music industry John&nbsp; has remained steadfastly positive and unyieldingly independent and creative. Known for&nbsp; being one of Ireland's hardest touring musicians the Cork based creative tours&nbsp; relentlessly in Europe and the UK as well as his native Ireland. His live show is thoughtful&nbsp; and entertaining, littered with stories and showcasing his arresting vocals and intricate&nbsp; guitar playing.&nbsp; While Blek is a solo artist he regularly collaborates, and indeed will write new music with&nbsp; collaborators in mind. As a result, it never feels like another artist is merely gate crashing&nbsp; his music instead it works as a beautiful harmonious meeting of artists who understand&nbsp; each other. Recent collaborations include Cathy Davey and Colm Mac Con Iomaire who&nbsp;play on “Until The Rivers Run Dry” album. Kris Drever &amp; Kit Downes who both join John&nbsp; on his album “On Ether &amp; Air”, Joan Shelley who embodies Laura, one of the characters&nbsp; in Blek’s duet “The Body” and fellow Corkonian Mick Flannery who duets with him on&nbsp; Revived a single from the 2020 album “The Embers”.

Celtic Connections: John Blek

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