I already have 2 albums by The Commitments. It’s great Irish music and I love it, but it isn’t what I usually think of as traditional Irish music. I’m thinking of instrumental versions of songs like Drowsy Maggie, Yankee’s Revenge, Leather Britches, Lark in the Morning, etc. played on fiddle, guitar, tin whistle, bodhran, mandolin, etc.
So, can anyone recommend some names of groups that play this kind of music? Any album names? Tis a foin ting if you could be helpin’ me.
Altan is my favorite. Definitely worth a listen.
Thank you, Saintly. I’ll check them out.
Anyone else?
Do The Chieftains count? Love their stuff!
(Their weirdest is The Chieftains in China, where they have some fun messing around with traditional Chinese/Irish fusion. Kinky. But it works!)
The Chieftans are probably the most famous and most highly regarded group for traditional Irish music. In addition to their many albums of traditional music, they’ve done collaborations with artists in many other genres.
A couple of my personal favorites among their collaboration albums are Santiago, celebrating the Celtic music of Galicia in Spain, and Down the Old Plank Road, crossovers with Country music artists.
Do you want vocals or just instrumentals? Because the absolute best Irish singing came from the late Tommy Makem.
I prefer instrumentals. Don’t the Chieftains do a lot of vocals?
You might also find traditional Cape Breton (in Canada) music interesting and enjoyable. It’s definitely a branch of the same tree. To a lesser extent, the same is true of Newfoundland music.
Solas! Lovely songs, but they play plenty of reels and jigs, and a few airs as well. They’ve cycled through several lineup changes, and most people have a favorite among the singers, but I think every iteration of the band, and every album, has been solid. Winnie Horan is some kind of fiddle goddess.
If it matters–Solas are not strictly Irish themselves (though the music is), some members and the band itself originating in America.
Among contemporary Irish groups, along with the great Altan already mentioned, you should check out De Dannan and Lunasa.
No, actually mostly instrumental.
This article was posted on Mefi the other day and I thought it was a pretty good sampler. You can’t go wrong with the Clancys or the Chieftans but be sure to listen to the Dubliners’ too.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/weekly_article/irish-folk-the-bluffers-guide.htm
And if you like bagpipes, give Hevia a twirl. I would have recommended Luar na Lubre but they do a lot of singing.
You might like Battlefield Band, a traditional Scottish group.
The Dubliners
Ronnie Drew
Luke Kelly
Paddy Reilly
Jim McCann
The Wolfe Tones
^ Names of renown, but more for songs.
Ouch. Didn’t read the OP properly. My apologies.
They do a mix.
Also, Boys of the Lough. Apparently they’re not that well know but they’re quite traditional.
You might want to check out The Thistle & Shamrock, which is the NPR music show for Celtic music. They play a very wide range of music and styles, but it’s a great way of learning about different performers, and it will give you a lot of ideas about what to listen to next.
Fiona Ritchie talking is musical in itself.