Celtic Music: Lenses ☺

The term "Celtic music" means different things to different people. Some take a narrow view: there are those who say only Irish music is "Celtic." Traditional musicians in Ireland and Scotland tend to avoid calling their music Celtic. Others, such as Fiona Ritchie, host of National Public Radio's The Thistle & Shamrock, take a broader view and include music of the Celtic lands of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Cornwall in the Southwest of England, Brittany in Northwestern France, Galicia in Northwestern Spain, and the music of immigrants and their descendants in Canada (particularly Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island), the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It generally means traditional music, but even then the definition gets stretched as many performers of Celtic music write and play their own music.

Celtic music is more than just where the music comes from, the language in which it might be sung or the instruments used. I'd venture to say that all the performers play Celtic music because they love it. On one of her broadcasts of The Thistle & Shamrock on National Public Radio, host Fiona Ritchie said one of the things many people who write to her about is the joy they hear in the performances. While there are some large-scale stage shows like Riverdance, Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder, most Celtic music is performed by soloists, duos, trios and other small groups. It's in these smaller scale performances, often held in pubs, small halls or festivals that might only draw a few hundred or a few thousand people, that audiences can get the best sense of the love the performers have for their music and the wonderful satisfaction and just plain fun they feel in performing with each other and for the people who have sought them out to hear them live.

Have a look at Celtic Music: What Is It? and then check out some of the lenses on this page.

Most performers are Irish natives. I have also included some American second-generation Irish performers whose music is rooted in the Irish tradition.

Altan is, according to the listing on Google for their website, "arguably Ireland's biggest name in traditional music." Starting with the duo of Frankie Kennedy and Mairead Ni Mhaonagh, the group kept together after Kennedy's untimely death from cancer, and has remained a strong and vibrant force on the traditional music scene.

CDs by Altan are available from Amazon.com in the US and Amazon.co.uk in Ireland and the UK. Also, be sure to check out the Altan Video Showcase and have a mini-concert on your computer.

Mary Black's voice has been often praised for its pure tone and her albums have been used in high fidelity stores as a benchmark of quality in evaluating systems. While vocal purity is certainly a great asset, it's not enough. What has made Mary Black one of Ireland's leading singers relies also on her ability to pick and interpret great material and present it both live and in recorded form in a winning fashion.

Mary Black

The Bothy Band began in the mid-1970s and disbanded in 1979. While they only recorded three studio albums and had two live albums and a compilation, their influence on Irish music spread far beyond that output. Their way of blending traditional music and a contemporary sound influenced artists of the time and those who followed.

The Bothy Band

Liz Carroll's parents emigrated from Ireland to Chicago, where Liz was born. Her father played button accordion and began teaching her music when she was five.

A violin class at school got her interested in the fiddle, but a major source of her musical schooling was her family and the Irish Traditional Musician's Association. She found she had a talent for composing, and started writing her own tunes at age nine.

Liz Carroll has composed over 200 tunes, some of which have been played and recorded by Irish musicians all over the world.

The Chieftains are credited with bringing traditional Irish music to the world's attention. Paddy Molony got some musicians together in 1962 for the first album. Five years later, they got together for a second album, but they weren't playing full time until 1975.

The Chieftains stuck with tradition through their first nine albums, although not without criticism from some purists who thought they weren't being true to it. The purists were probably far less enthralled when the group began expanding their boundaries with their tenth album, Cotton-Eyed Joe. Since then they've recorded with many artists from different genres of music.

The Chieftains
The Chieftains Video Showcase

Clannad is one of the more successful Irish groups, having sold over 15 million albums. The members are all part of the Brennan family from Gaoth Dobhair (Gweedore), the northernmost part of the Irish Republic. Eithne Brennan, better known as Enya, was part of the group in the early 1980s before she launched her own solo career.

Clannad
Clannad Video Showcase

Danú was formed in an Rinn, County Waterford, Ireland in 1996. They performed at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in France, then decided to stay together to perform and record. While not afraid to experiment and expand their repertoire, Danú remains firmly committed to Irish tradition. They are the only group to have been named Best Traditional Group twice in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and their version of Tommy Sands' "County Down" won Best Traditional Song in the same awards listings.

Danú

De Dannan was formed in 1974 in County Galway, with master fiddler Frankie Gavin and bouzouki player Alec Finn being two of the founding members who remained with the group throughout its life. Several of the group's changing array of vocalists, among them Dolores Keane, Mary Black, and Eleanor Shanley, went on to successful solo careers. Their explorations of other types of music helped influence many other Irish groups.

De Dannan
De Dannan Video Showcase

Liam Kelly, Shane Mitchell, Martin McGinley, Brian McDonagh and Michael Holmes got together in 1989 to record The Boys of Sligo which inspired them to form the band called Dervish. They were joined in 1991 by singer Cathy Jordan and champion fiddler Shane McAleer and recorded the first album under the Dervish name, Harmony Hill. This album quickly became acclaimed as a landmark Irish traditional album. With a few lineup changes, the group went on to more success, world tours, and many nominations and awards.

Dervish
Dervish Video Showcase

Enya is Ireland's best-selling solo artist and second overall (U2 is first). She started in the Brennan family business, the well-known group Clannad, but left to pursue her own solo career. Her recording Watermark proved to be an international breakthrough for Enya, and her four subsequent albums of new material have each won a Grammy for "Best New Age Album."

Enya
Enya Video Showcase by MobyD

Flook is an Anglo/Irish quartet playing in the traditional style. Their music is driven by the energetic flute playing of Sarah Allen backed by bouzouki, tin whistle, bodhran and guitar.

The music of Flook is often requested on LiveIreland.com. Give a look and listen to the videos on the lens and you'll see and hear why.

Gráda, based in Dublin and Galway, formed in 2001. They have released three albums, with their latest, Cloudy Day Navigation, appearing multiple times in Irish Music's Top 10 chart. They have toured extensively. One year they played in 16 countries in nine months.


Gráda

Eileen Ivers, whose parents were Irish immigrants, was born and raised in the Bronx borough of New York City, but spent her summers in Ireland. She started playing fiddle at age nine. She was soon winning fiddle competitions in Ireland and has been recognized as one of the best Irish fiddle players on either side of the Atlantic.

Eileen Ivers

Lúnasa is an Irish traditional band that quickly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Irish music with their first self-titled release in 1999.

Made up of performers who have been in bands with or appeared with top musicians, Lúnasa breathes new life into the tradition.

For this 1992 recording, Matt Molloy, formerly of the Bothy Band, a member of the Chieftains, and owner of the pub bearing his name in Westport, County Mayo, gathered friends to capture the sounds of a session in a small pub. It took some doing, and some frantic rearranging at one point, but 20 tracks were captured that really do capture the spirit and the music.

Music at Matt Molloy's

Patrick Street began as a one-time tour called Legends of Irish Music. It was made up of Kevin Burke, who had played fiddle in the Bothy Band, Andy Irvine, who had played bouzouki and sung with Planxty, accordion player Jackie Daly, who had played in De Dannan, and master guitarist Arty McGlynn. The tour was a success, and the group released an album called Patrick Street.

Patrick Street is a part-time group by choice, but when these masters get together, it's full-time enjoyment.

The original group Planxty was made up of Christy Moore, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine and Liam O'Flynn. They came together to record Moore's second album, and over the next decade and seven albums they had a huge influence on the course of Irish music.

Planxty

The traditional Irish group Rattle the Boards was started in 1992 by three members of the Knocknagow Ceili Band based in Clonmel, County Tipperary and has already spent several years playing for dancers all over Ireland. Benny McCarthy, Pat Ryan and John Nugent were joined by singer John T. Egan (known as "John T." to distinguish him from the other John). Since their start, they have been much sought after in Ireland and Europe.

Rattle the Boards

Sinead O'Connor, who hails from Dublin, is best known as a sometimes controversial pop/rock singer. Her interest in the traditional music of her native land led her to take the tradition of sean nos (traditional unaccompanied singing) and add instrumentation and effects. The result is a beautiful collection of songs.

Loosely translated, Sean Nos Nua means "new old style." That may sound a bit awkward, but Sinéad's singing is the exact opposite.

Formed in 2001, Téada (the name means "strings" in the Irish language) quickly gained recognition by appearing on the Irish TV show Flosc. Known for their fascination with the timeless tunes of their forebears in Irish music, Téada has performed at major music festivals in the US, Canada, Europe, Israel, Malaysia and Australia.



Téada

From the Hebrides to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Ayreshire and the Borders, Scotland has given the world many top traditional music performers,

Under the banner Forward with Scotland's Past, the Battlefield Band has been performing on the international scene for more than three decades, inspired by a rich heritage of Celtic music and fired by the strength of the modern Scottish cultural scene. The band, who pioneered the integration of bagpipes with fiddle, keyboards, guitar and voice, mix the old songs and tunes with new self-penned material, playing them on a unique fusion of ancient and modern instruments: bagpipes, synthesizers, fiddles, guitars, cittern, bass, whistles, and bouzouki. - from the band's press kit

Battlefield Band
Battlefield Band Video Showcase

Capercaillie have been credited with being the major force in bringing Celtic music to the world stage, and their unique fusion of Gaelic culture and contemporary sound has always stretched boundaries in their quest to keep the music evolving. - from Capercaillie's official website


Capercaillie
Capercaillie Video Showcase

Julie Fowlis is a singer and musician from North Uist, one of the islands of the Hebrides west of the Isle of Skye in Scotland. She sings primarily in Scots Gaelic, a language now spoken by only about 60,000 people, or one percent of the population of Scotland. She is married to Eamon Doorley, who plays bouzouki and fiddle with the Irish group Danu.

While you're checking out performers featured in this lens, be sure to give Julie Fowlis and her CDs a look.

Alasdair Fraser has revived interest in traditional Scottish fiddling through his dynamic style, his teaching, and his recording with some of the best names in Scottish traditional music.

Alasdair Fraser has recorded with and performed with some of the best names in Scottish traditional music and has performed all over the world.

(Original photo of Alasdair Fraser by Irene Young. This is a cropped copy of the 10 MB image downloaded from his website with the permission of Mr. Fraser, who has the rights to such uses of this image.)

Dougie MacLean is a fiddle and guitar player and composer of songs and instrumental music from Perthshire, Scotland.

MacLean's song "Caledonia" is regarded as the unofficial national anthem of Scotland, while his melody "The Gael" was used in the movie The Last of the Mohicans. Both have been recorded by hundreds of artists.

Music by Dougie MacLean is available in the US through Amazon.com and in Great Britain at Amazon.co.uk.

Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster had been performing and recording together for several years as the Scottish harp duo Sileas. In 1990, as they worked on a solo album for English singer/songwriter Sally Barker, they all agreed an all-women folk group would be a good idea. Sally got accordionist Karen Tweed involved, and the Poozies was born.

This lens also includes information about Sileas.

The Poozies & Sileas

Silly Wizard formed in Edinburgh in 1971, and over the next seventeen years they toured extensively and recorded nine albums of great Scottish traditional music and original music in the traditional style. Several members went on to successful solo careers and collaborations with other well-known musicians.

Silly Wizard

What this Scottish quintet weaves are spellbinding performances of modern and traditional folk songs, from the highlands and north of england. With fiddle, large and small bagpipes, bouzouki, flute, bodhran, guitar and the strongest of voices - their a capella, four-part harmonies are sumptuous - the Weavers come across the Atlantic spreading the finest of sounds Celtic." - Willamette Week, Portland OR

Tannahill Weavers

The Irish and the Scots are related in music and language, so it's no surprise that they get together in the same group.

The Boys of the Lough have been playing and recording their mix of Scottish and Irish music for close to 40 years. This time has included over 60 tours in the United States alone. In Time magazine they were called "The most rythmically bracing of the traditional music bands."


Boys of the Lough

Relativity was a quartet formed in the mid 1980s consisting of two Scottish brothers and an Irish brother and sister.

Each had flourishing solo careers at the time they got together to record two very popular albums, Relativity (1985) and Gathering Pace (1987). Johnny and Phil Cunningham were the Scottish half, while TrÍna NÍ Dhomhnaill and Micheál &#211: Domhnaill were the Irish half.

Relativity

The United States and Canada have given rise to plenty of Celtic musicians. Many play both Irish and Scottish music. I could have included Liz Carroll and Eileen Ivers in this group, but they have both won Irish fiddle championships. Solas is in this group because although their music is distinctly Irish, they are known as "the first truly great Irish band to emerge from America."

Alexander James Adams is an Oregon-based singer/songwriter who plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin and bodhran. With his style of fiddling, he goes through a lot of bow horsehair. He owns a horse who gets nervous when he sees Alec approaching with scissors.

Billed as the Faerie Tale Minstrel, Alec is the Heatherlands Heir, carrying on the legacy of Heather Alexander's music and magic. He's also a member of Tricky Pixie, a group billed as playing "Celtic punk for bad faeries."

Alexander James Adams

Marc Gunn and Andrew McKee began performing together as the Brobdingnagian Bards in 1999. They'd met at the University of Texas in Austin and Marc had invited Andrew to play on his own CD, which, Marc admits, had some flaws. While Marc was practicing on campus, he was invited to perform at a Renaissance faire. He asked Andrew to join him, and the Brobdingnagian Bards was born.

Celtic Music: Brobdingnagian Bards lists all the duo's music available at CD Baby.

Portland, Oregon's Circled by Hounds is a Celtic band that grew out of respect for traditional music and a love of making music together. They perform a mix of traditional and original music influenced by a variety of artists such as The Chieftains, The Pogues, Clannad, Dougie McLean, Kate Rusby, Solas, Kila, Dervish, Dick Gaughan, Battlefield Band, The Dubliners and Kevin Burke. With their extraordinary skill and artistry, they seek to push the boundaries of traditional music and create a powerful sound that's uniquely theirs.

Circled by Hounds

Paul Espinoza and Margie Butler, founding members of Golden Bough, started performing together in 1976 and formed Golden Bough in the San Francisco area in 1980.

After some changes in lineup, Golden Bough is currently a trio with (left to right in the photo):
Paul Espinoza (guitar, mandolin, accordion, vocals)
Margie Butler (harp, bodhran, vocals)
Kathy Sierra (violin, viola, vocals), who joined Golden Bough in 2001.

Based in Oregon and California, they have performed traditional music of the Celtic lands throughout the country and the world.

Golden Bough

I have created a series of sixteen lenses for the independent Celtic music label Maggie's Music, based in Maryland and founded by hammered dulcimer player Maggie Sansone. The label has twelve artists with over fifty CDs. The linked lens is a lensography leading to each of the sixteen lenses.

Maggie's Music: Lenses

Loreena McKennitt's music was recommended to me by someone on an Enya discussion forum just after The Visit came out. I've been hooked ever since. I had the chance to see her and her group perform live in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the late '90s. It was a truly captivating experience.



Loreena McKennitt

Molly's Revenge is a West Coast band known for putting on very lively stage performances. They've taken the tried and true combination of bagpipes, whistle, fiddle, and song and added guitar, bouzouki, and mandola to the mix. They mix traditional tunes with new material in a combination that sets feet tapping and throats cheering.

Celtic Music: Molly's Revenge

Elizabeth Nicholson is a Portland, Oregon-based harpist, vocalist and player of several different instruments.Elizabeth Nicholson is a Portland, Oregon-based harpist, vocalist and player of several different instruments.

Elizabeth Nicholson

The Muses are Tanya Brody and Matthew Gurnsey and they play a stage full of instruments. Tanya plays harp, guitar, hammered dulcimer, bodhran, zils, acoustic bass and mandolin. Matthew plays concertina, bowed psaltery, acoustic bass, bodhran, hammered dulcimer, penny whistle,mandolin, bones, dumbek abd bells. They both add vibrant vocals to the mix.

Celtic Music: The Muses

Km Robertson is a pioneer of the American folk harp movement. She has combined a passionate sense of tradition with a love of innovation that brings a modern sound to the ancient Celtic harp. Her concerts and recordings include traditional tunes as well as her own compositions.





Celtic Music: Kim Robertson

Solas is an Irish/American band based in the United States. They began performing together in 1995 and released their first, self-titled CD in 1996, followed by seven more over the years. From the start, Solas has gotten a lot of positive attention in the mainstream and Irish/American press. Their style of traditional music with a contemporary twist has made instant fans of thousands of people worldwide.

Solas

Celtic music lovers can get their weekly or daily fix of Irish, Scottish and generally Celtic music both traditional and contemporary over the airwaves or on the Internet.

LiveIreland.com is an Internet radio station broadcasting traditional Irish music 24 hours a day from studios in Temple Bar, Dublin. The site includes a studio webcam so listeners can watch DJs when they are in the studio. There's a chat room for conversation and music requests. Also associated with the station is my.liveIreland.com, a social network for traditional Irish music fans.

Whether you're new to Irish music or grew up on it, LiveIreland.com's website and audio stream are a great resource.

The Thistle & Shamrock is a weekly program hosted by Fiona Ritchie on National Public Radio. It is one of NPR's most popular radio programs.

The show can be heard at differing days and times on the stations that carry it, and many of the stations stream it over the Internet. If you miss it on your local station, or don't have a local station broadcasting the show, you can pick up a stream from any station offering it from anywhere in the world.

There's a lot more to The Thistle & Shamrock than 60 minutes of music each week. The lens will give you a good idea of what else Fiona Ritchie offers both on the air and online.

There's no shortage of Celtic music for the Solstice/Christmas/New Years season. Celtic performers give new life to familiar carols using traditional instruments while also bringing out old holiday tunes from the Irish, Scottish and English traditions.

Holiday and seasonal songs and tunes performed on traditional instruments associated with Celtic music will take you far from the supermarkets and commercial radio and put new life in your seasonal celebrations.

Performers from both sides of the Atlantic serve up a savory feast of music featured in the Celtic Music: Christmas lens, some of it familiar, some less so, and some original tunes sure to become holiday favorites. You'll also find several videos on this lens.

Celtic music and Christmas go together very nicely. Celtic artists often perform old traditional tunes not heard on commercial radio and give more familiar tunes a traditional Celtic feel. Celtic music and New Age music go together quite nicely as well, something amply proven by Enya and Nightnoise. So it's not surprising that Celtic, New Age and Christmas music combine admirably, as shown by Windham Hill's series of Celtic Christmas recordings.

There are more compilations out there, and a selection of Christmas Compilations is presented here.