A lot people ignore Celtic music until St. Patrick’s Day
rolls around. That’s a shame because it is way more creative than anything
you’ll hear on Top 40 radio and has been for decades. It’s my
favorite genre of music.
St. Patrick’s Day is part of the problem in that
many people only think of Irish music
when the word Celtic is uttered and associate it with
stereotypical drinking songs and canned diddly diddly instrumentation that’s high
on cheap theatrics but is seldom played outside of tourist hotels. It bears
mention that almost no one in Ireland can stomach the idea of green beer, paper
shamrocks, and plastic leprechauns. So let's use St. Patrick's Day to Celtic all Celtic music.
The term “Celtic music”—and pronounce Celtic with a hard K unless you mean a Boston basketball team—is a misnomer. Ditto any sort of
national music such as Irish or Scottish music. The late Tommy Makem of the Clancy
Brothers hailed from County Armagh in Northern Ireland and once told me he
never heard the phrase “Irish” music as a lad; the tunes and songs he heard in his
village of Keady were completely different from those played twenty miles away.
Celtic actually refers to many peoples, only some of whom
lived anywhere near Ireland. In tribal Europe, pretty much
anyone who wasn’t Germanic or Slavic was a Celt. Many Celts also found their
way to Asia and Asia Minor. Today, though, we use Celtic to reference
areas with a sizable concentration of Celtic bloodlines and cultural saturation: Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany,
Cornwall, Galicia in Spain, Asturias
in Portugal, the Isle of Man, and Canada’s Cape
Breton Island. Each has great music, but I will share ideas from the places
in bold.
Instruments:
There really isn't any such thing as a "Celtic"
instrument per se, aside from three that are actually very
universal and were probably the world's oldest instruments: bagpipes, flutes,
and stringed zithers, including the harp. There are many varieties of
bagpipes—the subject of a future post. Celtic bands generally have a preference
for fiddles and accordions—they set great dance tempos—but you name it and they
use it: cittern, bouzouki, piano, cello, hand drums, acoustic and electric
guitars, tin whistles—even brass and woodwinds.
Bands:
If you’re tempted to cite The Chieftains, Clancy Brothers,
or Irish Rovers as the forerunners of modern Celtic music, dont; it was
Ireland’s Bothy Band, the first to appreciate that there’s no such thing as “traditional music.”
It is the nature of folk music to change and no well-traveled tune or song
should ever be called the original version" unless accompanied by the
phrase “earliest known.”
The Bothies turned Celtic music upside down in the early 1970s by bringing
modern influences into older tunes and songs, including using amplification so
that harps and fiddles could hold their own with louder instruments. They
practically invented the “Big Set” featuring textured melodies, stitched tunes,
and big swells. They still hold up simply because few have ever done it better.
Lunasa is the
more recent band I think comes closest to The Bothy Band’s instrumental vibe, with more groove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG4lNbXTBAs
Altan is surely
the most beloved of current bands and the best exemplar of Donegal music, whose
tunes often feature two fiddles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG4lNbXTBAs
A review of Altan's new record The Widening Gyre is forthcoming on this
site.
I tend to prefer Scottish bands, and my favorite of all time
was Ossian,* which has a delicate
side seldom matched and wove sounds and tunes together like fine tailor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4jzFowWZIA
For pure bring-the-noise excitement, try The Tannahill Weavers, a band that
preserves tradition and isn’t just a rock band whose members have accents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FANYQIFdtE
Silly Wizard* had
it all: the whimsical duels of the brothers Cunningham, the dulcet vocals of
Andy M. Stewart, solid fiddling, and terrific stage presence. It was always a
tossup which was more fun: the musicianship or the jokes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIdz87JsTgY
Kornog was
responsible for bringing Breton music into the limelight and if you’ve never
heard Breton dance music, you’re in for a treat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j1kHJnJZ9A
Breton music also features instruments you don’t hear a lot,
like the strident bombarde and the hurdy-gurdy. Ad Vielle Que Pourra is half Breton, half Quebecois, and 100%
exciting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYw8xL7ICrw
The Rankin Family
is the standard to which all other Canadian Celtic bands aspire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBD_faUIThQ
For a Spanish Celtic flair, try Milladoro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ5NtUSQX4E
A preview of bagpipe variety: Susana Seivane from Galicia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioTUmP9qYVI
If you want to hear an amazing international Celtic
offering, Skydance is The Bothy Band
gone global: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rePzNVFf_Ac
Fiddles:
This instrument has come to define modern Celtic music. There
are scores of great fiddlers, but in my mind four stick out.
Scotland’s Alaisair
Fraser is one of the best violinists in the world—of any genre. He can paralyze
you with a single note. That's him with Skyedance above. Try this one as well. It explains my love for Scotland and Alaisdair's music : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2d-4dy-lCY
Ireland’s Martin
Hayes is in that same league. Check out his focus. His is boiling frog music that starts slow,
simmers, and comes to a rolling boil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5hg3iuoJoM
Chicagoan Liz Carroll
is unmatched as an Irish-American performer who puts her unique stamp on
each piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITdV3rRL8oQ
I imagine that Cape Breton’s chief import is fiddle strings.
Normally it would be hard to pick just one Cape Breton fiddler—except everyone
pretty much agrees Natalie MacMaster is
the queen bee. You try fiddling and step dancing at the same time; I’ll swing
by and sign your cast. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59VGEME-iAE
Singers:
If you like great voices, Celtic music provides in spades.
Here are some to try:
Ireland has given us amazing voices, including:
Mary Black used
to head De Dannan and went onto to global fame as an interpreter of Irish song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17wWpr2usk
Dolores Keane, also
once led De Dannan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc3KRw6nN20
Mairéad Ní Mhonaigh
who fronts Altan. For the
Irish-impaired an approximate pronunciation is Mar' ray' ed' Nuh-wee'-nee. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1734yzunow
Maura O'Connell
who went on to prove there's no genre she can't slay.
My favorite Scottish singers include:
Andy Stewart of
Silly Wizard and his sweet tenor voice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=appBtXoxfb8
Dougie MacLean
who has written some truly amazing songs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP8A9rtg0iI
Karen Matheson of
Capercaillie might well be my
favorite singer since Sandy Denny died. Notice how Scots Gaelic differs from Irish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZe9N1vNGh0
Karine Polwart If
not Karen, Karine is my favorite!
RobWeir
**Both Ossian and Silly Wizard and Ossian have been cursed by bad luck. Both George Martin and gentle soul Tony Cuffe of Ossian have died, as have Andy Stewart and Johnny Cunningham of Silly Wizard. I knew all four and miss them terribly. Johnny C was maybe the funniest human being I've ever known.
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