I wouldn’t call U2’s music “Celtic.” They are, of course, Irish, but they’re not doing Celtic music. Their music has no roots in traditional Celtic music the way Black 47’s music does, or the Pogue’s music does.
Black 47 does echo traditional music, sometimes, in their songs, and they often use traditional instruments (the bodhran, the uillean pipes, the pennywhistle) and the lyrical content is definitely Celtic (and specifically Irish). Songs like “Fire of Freedom” and “It’s Time to Go” are pretty Irish (although that has little or nothing to do with whether or not the music is “Celtic”).
Another Celtic rock band, Great Big Sea, has even more traditional content, even if that content comes from a branch (Newfoundland, Cape Breton) of the Celtic tree rather than from the root.
And eat [del]shite[/del] shit (I hate you people for changing my vocabulary). I was chatting with a woman in Belfast today whose business is to spread the value of good nutrition among the Irish. I mentioned that I was raised on Irish cuisine and blessed her in her impossible quest.
It’s the misty new-age bullshit I was commenting on when I made the comment in that thread.
I think the term “Celtic music” is a bit stupid anyway. What’s a Celt? Who are Celts?
There’s Scottish folk music in English, Scots, and Scots Gaelic. There’s Irish folk music in English and Irish Gaelic. There’s English folk music, Welsh etc. Then there’s the music of the “Celtic” diaspora in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, etc. Then there’s a plethora of bands, playing all over the world, that take some influences of the folk and trad musics of these countries and combines them with whatever else.
Hipsters/pretentious folk here would think those bands are shit. The Pogues pretty much created the genre and nobody since has been able to go next nor near them in quality.
In that old movie The Last Wave the theme is about how disconnected and artificial Australian white people are, compared to the aborigines who are all spiritual and centered. As a scene showing the aborigines fades out, there’s driving tribal drum music playing: then the scene fades into a Irish bar in Sydney, showing that the drumming is coming from a bodhran.
The New-agey stuff is annoying as is anything appealing to ill-educated yet affluent consumers (“look what I found at the store: Tuscan salt!”). But besides that, I think there was a thing in the 60’s-70’s when Black and Hispanic people could claim that their culture and music was vibrant and authentic, while white people were Lawrence Welk and the Doodletown Pipers. Celtic music was a way for a lot of white people to feel all tribal & shit, too.
My brother in law made something of a living playing in a number of Irish bands in the Twin Cities. It is popular enough to make a living at if you work at it.
I don’t think Celtic music is hated everywhere. This year Boston had their 10th annual Boston Celtic Music Festival, which had a bunch of amazing performances.
I think The Elders are part of that “Celtic Diaspora” mentioned upthread. They are based in Kansas City, and their music is pretty good. I love the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem (listening to them on Grooveshark at the moment).
I have several of the Celtic Woman and Celtic Thunder CDs, and 3 Chieftains CDs.
I love the lyrics, and sing Irish songs on my motorcycle on my way to work. I am trying to learn Gaelic so I can sing some of the songs in the original language.
I grew up listening to the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. Nowadays, I prefer the Chieftans, the Pogues and Van Morrison for their Celtic crossover stuff. The uilleann pipe is the sweetest sound on earth, to my ears. I like Scottish pipes too, of course.
Check out The Olllam. They take the Irish flute and put it in a new and interesting context - much of the music has a dark, brooding edge with nice groovy bass, tight percussion and some rock-ish guitar work. Super clean, well-integrated and well-produced stuff. You can listen to most of their album on their site. I would recommend “The Devilll For My Hurt” as a good example of their style, but the whole album is really solid.
