Celtic music

What counts as Celtic music

The term covers both music passed on by ear and recorded music, from traditional styles to modern hybrids. Musicians such as Alan Stivell and Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains have argued that these traditions share a great deal. Some writers split them by language family: the Gaelic music of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, and the Brythonic music of Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, with frequent use of the pentatonic scale in Gaelic music.

Instruments

The classic sound comes from the fiddle, the uilleann pipes or Great Highland bagpipe, the Celtic harp, the tin whistle and flute, with the bodhrán frame drum, bones, concertina and accordion. The Irish bouzouki is a recent addition, and the mandolin has become more common in Scottish bands.

Dance music and song

Much of the instrumental repertoire is dance music: reels, jigs and hornpipes, and in Highland Scotland and Cape Breton the strathspey, whose rhythm may echo spoken Scottish Gaelic. Song traditions include Irish sean-nós singing, Scottish waulking songs and puirt à beul (mouth music), Welsh cerdd dant and Breton kan ha diskan. Popular songs from these traditions include "The Wild Rover", "Whiskey in the Jar", "Molly Malone" and the Londonderry Air.

Revival and Celtic rock

Alan Stivell was one of the first musicians to market his music as "Celtic", from the early 1960s. In the 1960s and 1970s bands such as Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span and Horslips developed a pan-Celtic sound, and Clannad emerged in the 1970s. From the early 1980s The Pogues' Celtic folk-punk helped launch a wider Celtic rock movement, while Scottish bands such as Runrig and Capercaillie brought Gaelic song to big audiences. Language revivals in Brittany, Galicia, Wales and the Isle of Man have kept new music coming in those languages.

Festivals

Major gatherings include Celtic Connections in Glasgow, the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in Brittany, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Ireland, the Ortigueira festival in Galicia, the Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway, Celtic Colours on Cape Breton Island and Yn Chruinnaght on the Isle of Man.

Compare with old-time and bluegrass, which grew partly from Scottish and Irish tunes brought to America.

Artists to start with