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Encyclopedia > Celtic music
Celtic music
Brittany
Celtic Canada
Cornwall
Ireland
Man
Scotland
Northern Spain
Celtic US
Wales

Celtic music is a term utilized by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic peoples of Northern Europe. As such there is no real body of music which can be accurately be described as Celtic, but the term has stuck and may refer to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded popular music. The latter sometimes has barely even a superficial resemblance to folk music of any of the Celtic cultures, but on the other hand it sometimes represents sincere work towards adapting Celtic traditions for modern, global culture. Brittany is a Celtic country rich in its cultural heritage. ... Celtic music is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. ... Cornwall has been historically Celtic, though Celtic-derived traditions had been moribund for some time before being revived during a late 20th century roots revival. ... The Isle of Man is a small island nation in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. ... The Tannahill Weavers Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. ... traditional Asturian dancers The traditional music of Galicia and Asturias has some similarities with the neighbouring areas of Cantabria, León, Castile and northern Portugal. ... Irish and Scottish music have long been a major part of American music, at least as far back as the 19th century. ... Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, but is a culturally and politically separate Celtic country. ... Musical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. ... Folk music can have a number of different meanings, including: Traditional music: The original meaning of the term folk music was synonymous with the term Traditional music, also often including World Music and Roots music; the term Traditional music was given its more specific meaning to distinguish it from the... This article is about the European people. ... Northern Europe Northern Europe is the northern part of the European continent. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Popular music is music belonging to any of a number of musical styles that are accessible to the general public and are disseminated by one or more of the mass media. ...


Celtic music means two things mainly. The first: the music of the peoples calling themselves Celts (a non-musical, more political definition), as opposed to, say, "French music" or "English music." The second: whatever qualities may be unique to the musics of the Celtic Nations *(a musical definition). Some insist there is actually nothing in common, such as Geoff Wallis and Sue Wilson in their book 'The Rough Guide to Irish Music', whereas others (such as Alan Stivell ), say there is. Alan Stivell at Lorient Alan Stivell (born Alan Cochevelou January 6, 1944) is a Breton musician from the town of Gourin. ...


Often, the term Celtic music is applied to the music of Ireland and Scotland, because both places have produced well-known distinctive styles which actually have genuine commonality and clear mutual influences; however, it is notable that Irish and Scottish traditional musicians themselves avoid the term "Celtic music," except when forced by the necessities of the market. They are famous too because of the importance of Irish and Scottish people in the English speaking world. The music of Wales, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Brittany, Northumbria, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias and Northeastern Portugal are also a part of Celtic music, the Celtic tradition being particularly strong in Brittany, where Celtic festivals large and small take place throughout the year. Additionally, the musics of ethnically Celtic peoples abroad are vibrant, especially in Canada and the United States. Irish music is a folk music which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many other traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. ... The Tannahill Weavers Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. ... Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, but is a culturally and politically separate Celtic country. ... Cornwall has been historically Celtic, though Celtic-derived traditions had been moribund for some time before being revived during a late 20th century roots revival. ... Brittany is a Celtic country rich in its cultural heritage. ... Northumberland is the northernmost county of England. ... traditional Asturian dancers The traditional music of Galicia and Asturias has some similarities with the neighbouring areas of Cantabria, León, Castile and northern Portugal. ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ...

Contents

Divisions

In Celtic Music: A Complete Guide, June Skinner Sawyers acknowledges six Celtic nationalities divided into two groups according to their linguistic heritage. The Q-Celtic nationalities are the Irish, Scottish and Manx peoples, while the P-Celtic groups are the Cornish, Bretons and Welsh peoples. Goidelic is one of two major divisions of modern-day Celtic languages (the other being Brythonic). ... This article is about the Scottish as an ethnic group. ... Brythonic is one of two major divisions of Insular Celtic languages (the other being Goidelic). ... The Cornish people are a British ethnic group originating in Cornwall. ... The Bretons are a distinct celtic ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. ... The Welsh are, according to Hastings (1997), an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language, which is a Celtic language. ...


The Breton musician Alan Stivell uses a similar dichotomy, between the Gaelic (Irish/Scottish/Manx) branch and the Brythonic (Breton/Welsh/Cornish) group, which differentiate "mostly by the extended range (sometimes more than two octaves) of Irish and Scottish melodies and the closed range of Breton and Welsh melodies (often reduced to a half-octave), and by the frequent use of the pure pentatonic scale in Gaelic music." [1]. Alan Stivell at Lorient Alan Stivell (born Alan Cochevelou January 6, 1944) is a Breton musician from the town of Gourin. ...


Definition debate

At issue is the lack of many common threads uniting the "Celtic" peoples listed above. While the ancient Celts undoubtedly had their own musical styles, the actual sound of their music remains a complete mystery. This article is about the European people. ...


There is also tremendous variation between "Celtic" regions. Ireland, Scotland, and Brittany have living traditions of language and music and there has been a recent major revival of interest in Wales. However, Cornwall and the Isle of Man have only small-scale revivalist movements that have yet to take hold. Galicia has no Celtic language today (Galician is a Romance language closest to Portuguese, although the region had a Celtic language in pre-Roman times), but Galician music is often claimed to be "Celtic." The same is true of the music of Asturias, Cantabria and that of Northeastern Portugal (but Portugal has a stronger Arabic influence). Thus traditionalists and musicological scholars dispute that the "Celtic" lands have any folk connections to each other. The Romance languages, also called Romanic languages, are a subfamily of the Italic languages, specifically the descendants of the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken by the common people evolving in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire. ... For album by Prince, see Musicology (album). ...


A strong case can be made that the similarities between the various musics called "Celtic" derive more from a common origin in the vernacular music of late medieval and early modern Europe than from any innate Celticity.[citation needed] But some call that giving too much importance to basic material, saying that the originality of a music is in the subtle transformation, by a people or a group of peoples, of material shared by larger communities.


Critics of the idea of modern Celtic music claim that the idea is the creation of modern marketing designed to stimulate regional identity in the creation of a consumer niche; June Skinner Sawyers, for example, notes that "Celtic music is a marketing term that I am using, for the purposes of this book, as a matter of convenience, knowing full well the cultural baggage that comes with it". The so-called "marketing" or "show-business" creation was popularized by the idealistic man who first (late 1960s) blended the music of all the Celtic countries with a modern touch in his recordings and concerts: the Breton Alan Stivell. Although this composer is one of the main modern promoters of this kind of music, he did not create the term. At the beginning, his early production referred to former Breton bards involved in the gorsedd of Brittany who tried to promote and to justify, by their musical work and historical studies, a pan-Celtic culture, shared in common by all the so-called Celtic nations. For the magazine, see Marketing (magazine). ... Consumers refers to individuals or households that purchase and use goods and services generated within the economy. ... A niche market also known as a target market is a focused, targetable portion (subset) of a market sector. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... A gorsedd (SAMPA /gO:rsED/), occasionally spelled gorseth, plural gorseddau, is a community of bards. ...


Forms

Identifying "common characteristics" of Celtic music is problematic. Most of the popular musical forms now thought of as characteristically "Celtic" were once common in many places in Western Europe. Jigs were adapted from Italian music,[citation needed] for example, and polkas have their origin in Czech and Polish tradition. This article is about the folk dance jig, for other meanings, see Jig (disambiguation). ... Street musicians in Prague playing a polka Polka is a fast, lively Central European dance, and also a genre of dance music. ...


On the other hand, there are musical genres and styles specific to each Celtic country, due in part to the influence of individual song traditions and the characteristics of specific languages. Strathspeys are specific to Highland Scotland, for example, and mimic the rhythms of the Scottish Gaelic language.[citation needed] A strathspey is a dance tune in 4/4, usually written in 1/8th notes. ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ...


Festivals

The Celtic music scene involves a large number of music festivals. Some of the most prominent include Festival Internacional do Mundo Celta de Ortigueira (Ortigueira, Galicia), Celtic Colours (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia), Celtic Connections (Glasgow, Scotland) and Festival Interceltique de Lorient (Lorient, Brittany). A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. ... Image:Ortigueira Shield. ... Galicia (Spain) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Celtic Colours is an international celtic music festival held annually in October on Cape Breton Island. ... Motto: Fortuna Non Mutat Genus (Circumstances Do Not Change Our Origin) Country Province Established 1995 Government  - Type Regional Council  - Mayor John W. Morgan  - Governing Body Cape Breton Regional Council  - MPs Rodger Cuzner, Mark Eyking  - MLAs Frank Corbett, Cecil Clarke, Gordie Gosse, Manning MacDonald, Alfie MacLeod, David Wilson Area  - Municipality 2... The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ... This article is about the country. ... The Festival Interceltique de Lorient (fr) or Gouelioù Etrekeltiek An Oriant (br) was founded in Lorient, Brittany in 1971. ... This article is about The place Lorient in France. ... Historical province of Brittany, showing the main areas with their name in Breton language The traditional flag of Brittany (the Gwenn-ha-du), formerly a Breton nationalist symbol but today used as a general civic flag in the region. ...


Modern adaptations

The first modern adaptations in the 1960s were those of artists such as Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention in England, Planxty, Clannad, and Horslips in Ireland, Alan Stivell in Brittany, who made some of the first attempts at creating pan-Celtic modern popular music and some of whom are still now exploring new kinds of Celtic fusion, combining traditional acoustic instruments with amplified ones, adding modern beat patterns and composing modern harmonisation to traditional tunes. Steeleye Span are a British folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Planxty was an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s by Christy Moore, Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine (a founder of the Irish mid-sixties group Sweeneys Men), and Liam OFlynn (piper). ... This article is about the Irish musical group. ... Horslips were a 1970s Irish rock band that composed, arranged and performed their own Celtic rock songs and music based on traditional Irish jigs and reels. ... Alan Stivell at Lorient Alan Stivell (born Alan Cochevelou January 6, 1944) is a Breton musician from the town of Gourin. ...


In 1982 with The Pogues invention of Celtic folk-punk, there has been a movement to incorporate Celtic influences into other genres of music. Bands such as Seven Nations and Needfire do American adaptions in the form of Celtic Rock. Composer Ciarán Farrell blends classical influences with rock, jazz, folk and traditional Irish styles, using different combinations of instruments and orchestras to play his music. Marxman, an Irish-Jamaican hip hop group that gained notoriety in Britain in the late 1980s and was banned from the BBC for including I.R.A. slogans in their music, sampled traditional Celtic instruments in several of their songs. Sinéad O'Connor has also been active in the fusion movement and incorporated a wide range of modern and traditional influences into her music. Enya adds her beautiful vocal sound to music with Celtic sounds and themes on her album The Celts (album); Moya Brennan, former lead singer of Clannad, was featured in the soundtrack of the film King Arthur;[2] and Loreena McKennitt made an album called The Book of Secrets where she first travelled and researched the places that inspired the Celtic style of music on the album. Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... The Pogues are a band of mixed Irish and English background, playing traditional Irish folk with influences from the English punk rock movement. ... This article is about the European people. ... Seven Nations is a Celtic rock band that formed in New York City, New York, in 1994 under the name Clan Na Gael. ... Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes. ... Ciarán at his home in Howth, Co. ... For other uses, see Rock music (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Marxman were a Marxist hip-hop group with two MCs. ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) (IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the Army or the RA.[2]) is an Irish Republican, left wing[3] paramilitary organisation that, until the Belfast Agreement, sought to end Northern... Sinéad Marie Bernadette OConnor (IPA: [1]) (born December 8, 1966) is a Grammy Award winning Irish singer and songwriter. ... For the letter Ñ pronounced Enye, see Ñ. Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin[2] on 17 May 1961), sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan, is an Irish singer and songwriter. ... The Celts is an album by Irish musician Enya, released in 1992 (see 1992 in music). ... Máire Ní Bhraonáin, IPA: better known as Máire Brennan or Moya Brennan (born August 4, 1952, Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland), is a Grammy Award-nominated Celtic folk singer. ... King Arthur is a film first released in the United States on June 28, 2004, dubbed as The Untold True Story That Inspired The Legend by Touchstone Pictures. ... Loreena McKennitt live on stage Loreena McKennitt, C.M. (b. ... The Book of Secrets is an album by Loreena McKennitt released in 1997. ...


In Scotland Gaelic punk bands such as Oi Polloi and Mill a h-Uile Rud that write and perform in Scots Gaelic have recently gained popularity as well. Ceòl Gàidhlig Mar Sgian Nad Amhaich compilation 7 single with Oi Polloi, Mill a h-Uile Rud, Atomgevitter and Nad Aislingean Gaelic Punk is a subgenre of punk rock consisting of groups and bands singing in Scottish Gaelic as an effort to preserve and spread knowledge of the... Oi Polloi playing at Augustibuiller in Sweden, 6th August, 2005 Disambiguation: you may also be looking for hoi polloi Oi Polloi are an anarcho-punk band from Scotland that formed around 1981, also notable for their contributions to the Scottish Gaelic punk sub-genre. ... Mill a h-Uile Rud are a Seattle-based band who sing in Scots Gaelic. ... // Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ...


The Welsh language is less well represented[citation needed], though the lyrics of such bands as Ceredwen, which fuses traditional instruments with trip-hop beats, are sung entirely in Welsh. Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... Ceredwen is a celtic band comprising Andrew Fryer and Renee Gray. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...


Today there are Celtic-influenced sub genres of virtually every type of popular music, from House to Trance, hip hop to Punk Rock, New Age to Pop. Collectively these modern interpretations of Celtic music are sometimes referred to as Celtic Fusion. House music is a style of electronic dance music that was developed by dance club DJs in Chicago in the early to mid-1980s. ... Trance is a style of electronic music that developed in the 1990s. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... New Age music is a style of music originally associated with some New Age beliefs. ... For other uses, see Pop music (disambiguation). ... Celtic Fusion is a broad umbrella term for modern music which incorporates traditional Celtic influences, or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. ...


See also

Brittany is a Celtic country rich in its cultural heritage. ... Irish music is a folk music which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many other traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. ... Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, but is a culturally and politically separate Celtic country. ... The Isle of Man is a small island nation in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. ... Northumberland is the northernmost county of England. ... The Tannahill Weavers Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. ... Cornwall has been historically Celtic, though Celtic-derived traditions had been moribund for some time before being revived during a late 20th century roots revival. ... traditional Asturian dancers The traditional music of Galicia and Asturias has some similarities with the neighbouring areas of Cantabria, León, Castile and northern Portugal. ...

Notes

  1. ^ translation by Steve Winick
  2. ^ http://www.christianmusicplanet.com/news/headlines/11556318/

References

  • Steve Winick
  • Sawyers, June Skinner (2000). Celtic Music: A Complete Guide. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81007-7. 

External links



Citizendium (sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um, a citizens compendium of everything) is an English-language online wiki-based free encyclopedia project spearheaded by Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia. ...


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Ceolas celtic music archive (146 words)
Ceolas houses the largest online collection of information on celtic music, and has links to hundreds of related sites.
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Celtic music at AllExperts (908 words)
Celtic music is a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic peoples of Western Europe.
Celtic music means two things mainly.The first: the music of the peoples calling themselves Celts (a non-musical, more political definition), as opposed to, say "French folk music" or "English folk music." The second: whatever qualities may be unique to the musics of the Celtic Nations (a musical definition).
While the ancient Celts undoubtedly had their own musical styles, these have grown and evolved to the point where considering any modern styles reminiscent of ancient Celtic music is misleading.
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