This is where all us fans of Celtic Music can say what they want and strum about the good stuff of the Island!226 responses total.
Hope you enjoyed Celtic week at The Ark. Power-Celtics Tempest play next wednesday.
Hmm...the only Celtic music I've had much exposure to is Ashley MacIsaac who is A) not terribly representative and B) from Cape Breton anyway. I've heard various bits and pieces of easy-listening-type Celtic, and been mostly nauseated. You can't tell me *all* the music from the people who invented the jig moves *that* slowly... Perhaps just all the music that people will listen to, but that's another story...
As an old fogie, I get a bit annoyed with the "Celtic" market niche; when I was a strapping youth, it was all folk music. I even participated in a futile attempt to block the creation of the usenet newsgroup rec.music.celtic. Ah well. Market reality being what it is, the Oyster Band -- who began their careers as a distinctly English band, quite different from Irish or Scottish -- have now covered themselves with Celtic interlace tattoos. Anyway, I know when to get out of the way of a steamroller.... FOLK ROOTS magazine has had a couple of recent rants on the subject of Celtic Wallpaper Music, the sort of easy listening stuff orinoco seems to have run into. There's two main streams of Canadian Celtic music. The first, which tends to be more traditional, comes from Newfoundland and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, areas which were settled by Scottish immigrants and which have remained somewhat isolated until recently. The second stream comes from Western Canada, and it's more revivalist and heavily influenced by rock and country: Mad Pudding, The Real MacKenzies, Captain Tractor, and other bands that no one here except Twila has heard of.
Perhaps I'll bring shame upon the McNallys by admitting this but I really don't like "celtic music" (or at least what currently passes as celtic music..) very much. Of course there's some that's very good but even at its best it's not something of which I am fond enough to actively seek out performances, own the albums, or even sit down and listen for an evening.. I will say one thing for it: as an adolescent I went through a phase where I was very interested in my Irish ancestry. My complete inability to develop a fondness for "celtic music" was no doubt a strong contributor to my eventual realization that though my ancestors were Irish I'm not -- my cultural identity is 100% American. :-)
Orinoco: why did you say in response #2 that Ashley MacIsaac wasn't "terribly representative"?
I"ll trade you (re #4) I"m completely un-Celtic genetically, and steeped in it to my eyebrows (which apparently resemble those of my grandmother who is a tenuous Scots-Irish link at best). I'm rather fond of Ashley MacIssac, but that's only because he wears a kilt and flannel shirts and step-dances wildly..<smirk> but I haven't heard any of the traditional stuff he does, just "Hi, How Are You Today" (happy now Ken? I even responded in both)
Erm. well, I do have a collection of Wallpaper Celtic (Enya, Clannad, that kind of thing) for when I just want to veg out. It's pretty, but itdoesn't really seem all that Celtic to me, even though lyrics are in Irish Gaelic and the artists were born in Ireland. I tend to go wild for the fiddle/bagpipe/ballad end of Celtic music -- folks like the Tannahill Weavers, Battlefield Band, Tempest (well, the SONGS are Celtic, even if the lead singer IS Norwegian! And the rest are Amuricans), Silly Wizard, Relativity, um, lots more. Oh, and I should point out that there are several places where Celtic music is from: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and Galicia. Ken turned me on to a band from Galicia called Celtas Cortos -- made me laugh so hard, since the music is pure "Irish" while the singing is in Spanish.
the chieftans just came out with a cd of gallacian stuff..we did a piece that looked a lot like stepdancing kinda-sorta in a jazz kind of way..it was nice
On NPR today one of the shows had the Chieftains and some other great bands do their favorite covers. Totally awesome!
I call Ashley Macisaac 'not terribly representative' because electric guitar was not, the last I checked, a traditional celtic instrument.
details details.. I haven't heard the traditional stuff but "Hi..." isn't suposed to be traditional at all and I'd assume he doesn't use electric guitar on that...am I imagining it or is there also electric violin?
Ashley MacIsaac? Oh, yes, very flamboyant HIGHstepping style there :) Any good Conan fan knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Oh dear, has Ashley been flashing TV audiences again? orinoco in #10: part of the point of the idea of the "celtic" marketing niche is that it wasn't to be restricted to pure traditional forms. Electric guitars aren't traditional in Ireland and Scotland; neither are acoustic guitars, or bouzoukis. And ensemble acoustic playing is hardly traditional: it only goes back to the late 1950's, with Sean O'Riada and the Chieftains. (Undoubtedly my perceptions are warped, I've been collecting folk and folk-inspired music from England, Scotland and Ireland, with electric guitars, for well over 20 years.)
I'm still getting used to hearing Mick Jagger singing "The Long Black Veil" on my newest Chieftains album. But I would have to say that "The Celtic Harp" is my favorite.
My father enjoys Celtic flavored music, so his small collection makes up for the lack of mine. I have only Enya, and I consider her more New Age than I do Celtic. (Please don't get me started on what the definition of New Age should be-- I realize it originally had to do more with the New Age religion, with Indian ragas, etc. I had a friend that suggested the genre be dubbed 'New Classical' because of the nature of current offerings categorized as New Age.)
Re:Ashely MacIsaac: Okay, maybe the 'celtic' category is wider than I had thought. All I'd ever heard it applied to is what someone a while back called "wallpaper celtic".
Celtic Harp is good...I don't mind semi-New-Age-ish stuff...electric guitars are alright in moderation, I tend to draw the line at saxaphones (Clannad), but even those can be ignored if necessary...
Well, let's see -- I forgot the Isle of Man in my list of Celtic places. I *always* seem to forget the Isle of Man. Rats! I can't say that I like the Cheiftans album with Jagger et al. on it. I prefer their older offerings, when they weren't so, um, widely scattered in focus. :-) And one of my current favorite Celtic albums is MacUmba's "Don't Hold Your Breath". It mixes bagpipes and Carribean rhythms to stunning effect, particularly on the treaditional silkie ballad. (Which I love, but which is susually played for way too much pathos.) Also (probably not wisely) picked up the Alan Stivell collection <Zoom>.
I"ve been avoiding the Afro and Carribean Celtic stuff because of a fairly nothern prejudice...and I can't afford to buy any music anyways..
(Is "Celtic-flavored" sort of like saying "butter-flavored"?) ;)
maeve in #17: when did Clannad start using saxophones? I have not paid close attention to them since about 1981... Hmmm, I can (re)tell my story about when I saw Clannad live and make some of you jealous... Twila, I will have to come over to listen a bit to the Stivell collection, and pet the new kitten as well... :) I can't remember, have you had a chance to hear the two Tri Yann anthologies I have? (Tri Yann (which I think is The Three Johns, literally) is from Brittany, as is Alan Stivell, and they go back into the late 1960s I think.)
only if you like butter on your popcorn. I think music now a days are has become rather mixed together adn merged. So, sometimes you have a flavor, sometimes a mix, and sometimes its whipped and sauted and baked (but hopefully not fried) into something "new". There are the tradition songs that some people do.
Yeah, that would be nice. (in re: listening to Stivell and kitten-petting). Nope, I don't recall hearing Tri Yann. Well, I *prefer* my Celtic music rather pure, if possible, but a lot of the newer bands don't do "pure". Though Altan is pretty darn close. And so is Archie Fisher, his family, and a whole bunch of early Tannahill Weavers. I also prefer ballads to newer music, and I have a record for you if you like 'em too -- Voices, on Topic or Fellside (Ken, I didn't order that one, did I?), available oat Skids....All a cappellla. Jut gorgeous.
Darn. And all this time I've been sending folk-rock stuff your way, Twila. The disc I ordered for you from ADA is "Ballads," Fellside FECD 110. I think I saw the disc you got at Schoolkids, and I think it was from the Topic label. There is another collection of unaccompanied singing, called "Voices," on Fellside, from about five years back. "Voices" has got to be one of the most overused album titles. NP: Arty McGlynn, "McGlynn's Fancy," Irish fiddle tunes arranged for solo guitar. Earlier tonight the "Celtic Connections" radio show played something very nice, and very rock-influenced, from Alan Stivell's "Brian Boru" album.
there are Saxaphones on Banba...which is more of mood music anyways...
Well, dear Ken, I didn't say I liked my British music pure. :-) Actually, I like a whole lot of folk rock, too, it's all a matter of "does it have great fiddles and a good singer?"... The Stivell is really good, so far.'m only up to song number six though. Oh, if anyone else has a June Tabor addiction, her newest, Aleyn, actually has her singing at a normal concert pace! A wonderful ballad on there -- Johnny o' Braidislee -- that is as fast as anything she did with the Oysterband on Freedom and Rain. (My only complaint about June Tabor is that -- on record-- she sounds as if she'd been slowed up to about three quarters speed. She is absolutelyfantastic in concert.
Is it possible to be a purist for something mainstream like alt rock? :)
yes of course, but only if you've very good reasons :)
Jennie Dailey-O'Cain, who used to be griz on m-net and grex, sent some mail to several old friends in Michigan. Posted here with her permission: From: "Jennifer L. Dailey-O'Cain" <jenniedo@intranet.org> Subject: Terrific concert in Ann Arbor on September 4th! Yes, I know we don't live in Ann Arbor anymore ... but there was this great Canadian band we saw at the Edmonton Folk Festival this year called Great Big Sea, and when I checked out their tour schedule, I found out that they're going to be in Ann Arbor on September 4th! If you have any time at all, go see them -- they're terrific. They're a Celtic folk-rock band that's kind of like a younger and more innocent version of the Oysterband, but with the humor of the Bare Naked Ladies and a heavy dose of Stan Rogers thrown in for good measure. They're from Newfoundland, too, so they have really cute accents. Go see them if you can! Organize an outing and make us envious! :-)
Re#27: I've got a friend who will not listen to non-guitar bands - does that count?
I am definitely going. It's the day after my birthday. Anyone want to make it an outing? (To Great Big Sea, that is!)
I'll try..I'm no good at getting to things like that..but they sound neat :)
Just a reminder that tonight (Thursday)i is the Great Big Sea concert we were discussing above. At the Ark, with an extra-early starting time of 7:30.
I love almost all of the Celtic music I've heard, but am almost completely unfamiliar with various Celtic artists. There is a radio station down in Tampa (where I just moved from), that had an incredible Celtic music show. I loved the music, but never bothered to write any names down. The style I loved the most were the sea shantys, where there are no instruments, just a group of men (possibly women, too) sing loudly about the sea, in some wonderfully different harmonies. Can anyone reccomend any of this sea shanty music to me?
Was it the Thistle and shamrock? Thhe host has the most beautiful vioce/accent..<sigh>..alright, I"m all better sea shanties..sounds neat, I don't know of any inparticular..but I'd be interested as well..
Don't worry - I have also been enchanted by Fiona Richey.
I know I haven't tracked Clannad to know that they had used saxophones on an album. On my older stuff the only nontraditional Irish instrument they used was a string bass. Meanwhile, I'll recommend De Dannan and Planxty as a couple of talented groups that stay pretty Irish. And of course, for ballads, there's the older work of Tommy Makem & the Clancy brothers.
(Clannad went New Age back around 1985.)
I need to find a ballad-book, Child is the earliest-ish one isn't it? the only ones I ever find are fromt eh Appalachians..tho I was only looking in teh public library so...
If you do find the Child ballad book, I'll need to borrow it at some point. I've been hunting on and off for music to "The Daemon Lover" for some time.
The last time the subject came up in the Usenet folk music groups, it was reported that Child's book was out of print. There was a Dover edition some time ago; I suggest checking libraries and used book stores. Orinoco, Francis Child is probably not going to help you with music for "The Demon Lover;" my recollection is that Child only collected lyrics and did not bother to notate the melodies.
Icky poo! So is there somewhere I *could* obtain the melody? (Although actually, even a full version of the lyrics would be nice...)
You could check the AA Public Library or the UM Music Library -- I know both of them have some good books on British/Scottish/Irish folk music. Child does not discuss melodies, either, though he will sometimes say something cryptic about Dorian or some other scale. What I want to know is if anyone recalls seeing in Sing Out (abouit a yar ago), a review of a book that supposedly analyzed several of the Child ballads as stories? Not just a dry folk-musicolgist analysis (which are okay, if you speak that language, but I don't), but an analysis of STORY and mythical elements. I really want that book, but I didn't write down the author-title....
(We actually have the last year of SING OUT magazine scattered around the house, but I don't know if I can find the issues; the one I checkked didn't have that review. rec.music.folk would be good for this sort of fuzzy inquiry.
(random resource moment) I found this in Dance Magazine in an article about Riverdance and all its permutations..it's apparently a list of music sources (I think that meanse CDs, I haven't actually visited the site) www.celtic.stanford.edu/ceolas.html
Here's an online source for a large number of folk songs, presumably including some ballads: The Digital Tradition http://www.deltablues.com/folksearch.html I ran a search for "The Demon Lover" and got a set of lyrics and a spot marked "click here to play"; I'm not equipped for sound, so someone else will have to try that link. Duh. Steeleye Span do a version of this song on the COMMMONERS CROWN album.
OK, who was it who mentioned Andy M. Stewart? He has a new album, DONEGAL RAIN, which looks interesting -- mostly traditional songs.
(I'm tickling this item for Mark Z.) While in Meijer's last week, I was futzing with their music video kiosk and I noticed an entry for a "Celtic Dance" cd. The video ad lists a bunch of tracks which seem to be drawn from the Green Linnet label and other fine sources; it's an attempt to cash in on the "Riverdance" mania but it looks to be a nicely done anthology and I'm putting it on my letter to Santa Claus. It's a 2 CD set and I believe I saw a copy at Schoolkids. It's not cheap. :( There's a giant tidal wave of "Riverdance" inspired merchandise this year.
Problem is that most of them are instrumental albums. (At least the "Riverdance" inspired ones.) And I have enough Green Linnet stuff to last me a month or more if that was all I listened to. I don't know, maybe it's just a slow period. But I haven't seen anything in the Celtic section that screams take me home in the last several months. Erm, Ken, are Great Big Sea available in the States?
Is "Green Linnet" another publishing comapny similar to Shanachie?
Pretty much. They're a record label that focuses on celtic / british isles folk.. Shanachie handles a wider range of music, carrying folk & world music recordings from all over..
And Green Linnet appeaers to have a smaller focus altogehter. Shanachie is so widely spread over the world tthat I hardly ever buy anything from them -- simply because they don't carry that much Celtic.
Y'know, if you really want to streach your idea of 'Celtic Music' you could add in bands like "Black 47" (The New York I)... They use a number of celtic instruments and melodies, but thier music comes closest to Rock, really... I love 'em, but then, I'm rather wierd too...
re #52: That's OK, I make up for the Shanachie records you won't buy (and you're no doubt fulfilling my Green Linnet quota for me.. :-) Despite my surname I don't much enjoy celtic music. I'd much rather listen to the dub re-issues Shanachie's doing lately..
Twila/49: Great Big Sea, the band from Newfoundland, have three CDDs, none of which are regularly distributed in the states. I got two of mine mail order from Canada, and the third from the band when they performed at the Ark this fall. I'll have to put one or more of their discs in the next sbag of discs headed over to your place. I never did figure out how Shanachie came to be so big in reggae and world music, since they started as an Irish folk music company. Things happen, I guess. Green Linnet has kept its focus on Irish and Scottish music, and at this point GL has gotten so large that they are now selling the music back to the British Isles. Green Linnet has branched into world music with their "Xenophile" imprint, and they also have the "Redbird" imprint for singer-songwriter stuff. (Since we're talking record labels: another one to keep an eye on is Greentrax, a Scottish label which is now distributed as if it were an American import. In the last few years a lot of good Scottish performers have been migrating to Greentrax; the label has a very attractive 2-CD sampler.) Teflon/53: most of the people I know would happily file Black 47 as Celtic. (Mmmm, one of these days I need to dig out all my Black 47 discs. I've loost track of their discography. A friend sent me a copy of one of their early albums, pre-major-label I think...) Most of my friends file Runrig as "celtic," and Runrig is an arena rock band., though still with some folk influences. I'll end this babble by mentioning that the new Poozies EP popped into the mailbox today, a good antidote to the cold temperature...
Are Runrig basically the other incarnation of 80's one-hit-wonder "Big Country" or am I confusing them with some other group?
No, Runrig is just Runrig; I have never heard any mention of any links to Big Country other than the obvious stylistic ones. In Scotland, Runrig has carved out a great career, with maybe a dozen albums over 15 years, and a fanatical audience which fills arenas. They do OK in Canada, but in America they are unknown outside of the folk music and Scottish heritage communities. The band is at a crossroads now. Lead singer Donnie Munro ran for the UK Parliament in their last election; I believe he ran on the Scottish Nationalist Party ticket. He didn't win, but he is now leaving the band to pursue his political ambitions.
how positively amusing.
Big Country is still recording, actually. (I have several "Greatest Hits" packages of theirs, since I really loved their songs about Scottish history.) I also really enjoy their 90s song, "Republican Party Reptile". Erm, yeah, I should have noted that they (Green Linnet) released two of my absoluitefavorite non-Celtic artists -- Vartinna, and James Keelaghan. (James being on the REdbird label, being a singer-songwriter type, but he's more than that -- he writes the absolute most fantastic character-driven ballads I have ever heard. Bar none.) Runrig was introduced to me by a tape my brother in law brought back from Scotland, sans lable, sans case, sans anything but a comment "this is what they're playing at ceildihs now." and I made a bootleg copy and never knew they were still recording until I met Ken. But now I have lots of them on CD. And even some on vinyl.
Main Entry: linnet Function: noun Etymology: Middle French linette, from lin flax, from Latin linum; from its feeding on flax seeds Date: circa 1530 : a common small brownish Old World finch (Acanthis cannabina) of which the male has red on the breast and crown during breeding season
speaking of odd Celtic music incidents, I was sitting (or more accurately lunging) in warm-up during jazz when all of a sudden a dance mix (like techno-beat-ish) of Ashley MacIssac's Sleepy Maggie started playing..needless to say I was a bit startled..but I"m bringing in the 'real' version for my teacher tomorrow, so there may be a piece in it..
Do you know where I could get my hands on that techno version? For that matter, was it any good?
it wasn't much different really..just more of a beat...wasn't bad..probably not worth the effort tho
Ah...I hate it when remixes do that. They just add in a heavier bass and drumbeat and think they're being creative. <smack!>
it was better than some of the other stuff we have for warm-up..there;s one teacher who plays 70s stuff,...and there's only so much one can get out of the carwash song :P <shudder>
93.9 has been playing the new Loreena McKennit....and it's super wonderful...so I rused right out and got the new album and love it. Now all of the other stations are playing the same song (The Mummers Dance), but with a dance beat in the background....I was actually atouch offended....and it's getting a LOT of airplay....boy are there going to be alot of people dis-appointed when they pick this album up expecting it to be dance-stuff.
That would be WEIRD. A dance beat? Hhhhm. I like the new Loreena, but it' doesn't seem much different than her last two albums to me.
I loved _The Visit_, thought _The Mask and the Mirror_ was decent, and have stopped paying much attention since then. I actually lke both a bit less than I used to, coming back to them now and listening again.
I"ve only heard THe Visit, and I"m rather fond of it if only because of the extended Lady of Shallott, oh and whatever cd has THe HIghwayman, those songs fufilling my morbid ballad requirements quite nicely. Her songs do weem to be all pretty much the same, but at least they're decent sorts of pretty-much-the-same. As to not liking them much after coming back..they're not especially suited for active listening, one has to need soothing music and not pay attention to the general sameness...but then I was known to listen to THe Visit for weeks on end..so you are perfectly allowed to ignore everything I say as long as you smile and nod..
I have The Visit, The Mask and the Mirror, and The Book of Secrets (the new one with the Highwayman), as well as a limited edition six song Christmas tape. So I *do* like her, I just can't take her when I want to be challenged by my music.
oh..nice phrase :)
Ig. I lied. I also have 'to drive the cold winter away.' I may have listened to the first side. once...
Oh, and Parallel Dreams, too.
I love her stuff, but yeah, it kinda is all the same. :)
(this is a bit off the subject, but...) (...an artist by the name of Charles Vess has been adapting Celtic ballads to the sequential art form. [comics, for the uninitiated.] the publication is _The Book of Ballads and Sagas_, and recently a paperback collection was released, collecting the first three issues. it's pribly available at most comic shops, and likely will soon be available at places like Borders and Barnes & Noble.)
Great stuff. Was also published in _Sing Out_ magazine, at least three or four of the adaptations.
Sequential art form? Why not say "comics"? The former is such a euphemism..
I agree that "sequential art form" is a bad label to adopt (mostly because there are a *lot* of art forms that happen sequentially.. Music, theater, etc. are also "sequential". I can see, though, why the label "comics" might be objectionable to some people -- it, too, is not particularly appropriate (many "comics" are very far from comic..) and carries with it a big load of social stigma and historical preconceptions. Still, I think the correct approach to those problems is to educate people about the flexibility and breadth of the "comics" medium instead of changing to an unfamiliar term anytime the old one acquires an association with any negative stereotypes..
(...but that's another conference.)
Agreed, Mike. Well said.
(is there any art form that _isn't_ sequential in some way?)
Most visual arts.. I don't generally think of a painting or a sculpture as sequential (though there are counterexamples, of course..) Anyway, I'm not a big believer in the practice of what I like to call "word voodoo", whereby believers attempt to change the way society views something by changing the name by which we call it or the words which we use to describe it. IMHO all that usually accomplishes is a lot of general confusion, a fair amount of discomfort, and the muddling of the original meanings of a fair number of useful words or phrases.
While we're at it, is there any difference between comics and comix?
About $0.75 per issue..
ROTFL!
hehehehe :)
(I _thought_ so...)
tra la...I suppose I shall have to go out and find either a copy, or a fairly weak person from whose fingers I can wrest a copy...but it sounds amusing..
While wallowing in CBC-TV's Olympic coverage, I caught an ad for an upcoming musical special. CELTIC ELECTRIC, featuring Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, and maybe Great Big Sea was on this program too? The date I remember is 15 March; I did not catch the broadcast time. More info as I get it. Michigan-area cable TV viewers should be able to get this show. The little ad snippets looked like fun; I am a big fan of Natalie MacMaster.
And I'm a big fan of Ashley MacIsaac, so we've got 'em both covered.
I should mention, then, a bit of Ashley-by-association: Mary Jane Lamond, who sang on MacIsaac's "Sleepy Maggie" single and maybe a few other tracks on that album, is appearing at the Ark in early March. She's from Cape Breton, and her two albums are exclusively Gaelic song.
Hmm. Well, I haven't heard any of her other work besides teh 'Sleepy Maggy' vocal, but I liked that well enough. Although I _am_ still looking for a proper translation of the lyrics...
Let me see if I can do something about that.
yet another show I'm not-going to..if anyone does go..tell me how it was :P
As life has developed, I can see that I'm not going to be able to loan any Mary Jane Lamond tunes to orinoco before Saturday's show. Sorry about any raised hopes there...
Aw, poop...:P That's okay, I'll live somehow.
Mary Jane Lamond & her band put on a fine show at the Ark tonight. Of course, I'm a sucker for traditional songs set to electric guitar, and there was plenty of that. Mary Jane's band was a standard rock trio, plus fiddler Lisa MacIsaac, who was introduced as Ashley's baby sister. Lisa got to lead two sets of dance tunes. Much of the material had a drum & bass style heavily influenced by contemporary dance music. Mary Jane sang exclusively in gaelic.
randomness...our jazz show on may 16 has two pieces to pieces from teh chieftan's 'santiago' cd, and I think there's going to be a bodhran player...and you should come to see it anyways..but there's even some celtic music involved.. :)
CBC's CELTIC ELECTRIC show is on Channel 9 (cable 21 in Ann Arbor) on Sunday at 9 pm. Ashley MacIsaac and Natalie MacMaster are to perform. Fire up the VCRs!
It was taped for me, I'll check it out later today if I have time. I finally bought Martyn Bennett's _Bothy Culture_. Traditional fiddle/pipes/ud/doudouk/drums/tape loops/spoken word W/ trance backbeat/etc. It was the music of the day yesterday, and will probably be heard a few more times in the next day or two. Even the dead get up and dance to this stuff.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all readers of this item. I always remember a non-Irish folk musician once reporting that St. Patrick's Day was Full Employment Day for musicians... Traditionally I observe the holiday by buying an Irish music album: last year, I think, it was Eileen Ivers' WILD BLUE. This year I'm probably going to bend the rules and get the most recent Loreena McKennitt disc, since I'm somewhat surfeited on trad Irish music right now. bmoran above: I am scratching my brain trying to remember what the word "bothy" means.
Isn't it a small cottage or hut? I usually find St. Patrick's Day celebrations to be silly at best and occasionally embarrassing (when they go overboard with the really idiotic stuff like green beer and leprechauns..)
Heh..but it's the American way.
From the new issue of Scottish folk music magazine THE LIVING TRADITION: "In many ways the bothy ballad is one of the less frequented corners of traditional song. Long nights, when not pursuing farm duties, and the relative isolation of many of the "ferm touns" in which the bothy system of lodging farm workers operated led to a "new" set of traditions. ... So I'm still not sure what the word "bothy" means, it's more than just a small hut.
It sure is...My boss lived near one in Scotland. A bothy is an illegal drinking establishment. They are usually an old motor home or trailer, almost always on it's last legs. They get raided once in a while, move on, and set up again. Farther away from the reach of the law, they can be a somewhat permanent building. This is the one she lived near, and her dad and uncle frequented the place after working the farm.
Argh, I never got back here: the April issue of FOLK ROOTS magazine had a complete definition of "bothy" and I will have to come back to key it in later. In the mean time, I'm enthusiastic about Tuesday night's concert at the Ark, which is the Battlefield Band from Scotland, with John Renbourn (ex-Pentangle guitarist) opening. Battlefield Band is a bunch of old pros who have been around forever... though only founding member Alan Reid (keyboards) has been with the band for more than five or six years, now that I think about it. Young fiddle star John McCusker, who joined the band when he was 16, must be in his early 20s by now; this years newbies are Davy Steele (ex-Ceolbeg) on guitar and some singing, and I don't know the name of the new bagpipe and whistle player. I've seen Battlefield a bunch of times over the last 15 years, and they always make lots of fun noise.
John Renbourn was just a little bit somnolent, and I think most of our group snoozed off during his opening set. Me, I was interested, if only for the sense of history, and the little stories about other singers from the 1960s British folk revival. (Most notably the reference to Davy Graham, who Renbourn credited with popularizing the DADGAD tuning, and who "expanded his tiny little mind" down in Morocco -- Graham was one of the folk scene's earliest drug burnouts.) Battlefield had a pretty good set, and I didn't even mind Davy Steele's singing as much as I have in his past ventures. John McCusker is turning into the band's multi-instrumentalist; he spent as much time on cittern and whistles and accordion as he did on his first instrument, the fiddle. The band as a whole are certainly great entertainers. Next up at the Ark: fiddler Natalie MacMaster, from Cape Breton, on May 3. (We might have to skip it due to general busyness; I saw MacMaster last year and she did a fine show. I do wonder how many years she can stepdance through an entire evening's show, though.)
I had to give the Battlefield Band a miss, but Bruce liked it a lot! We're going to Artisan next, I think May 18th.
respond I promised krj..I'd stop by...In reading previous entries..I've noticed no mention of Brigid Boden...I rather like her...of course..I also like Sinead O'Conner's "stretched on your grave" A couple of Miss Boden's songs are taditional laments..set to a techno beat...what can I say..I like to dance and cry at the same time:) Also..I 've heard no mention of RealWorld records here...although the Celtic selections are sparse they are decent enough.... 'Lament' on the RealWorld lable is interesting...A special project bringing together 14 haunting solo airs form the Irish musical tradition of lamentation Also...would ya'll include Trisan...as Celtic..? I'm currently working on deciphoring about 20 new tapes brought back by a friend from Dublin...Some really great stuff..But I'll have to sit down with him to find out what may be available and what is not....He's known for wandering the streets with a casette recorder in hand.....
The latest Capercaille album, BEAUTIFUL WASTELAND, is now out in the USA. I thought about picking it up yesterday, but Capercaille have disappointed me so often through the years that I decided t wait to see how their Ark show turns out. I've got the Brigid Boden cd mentioned by eire around here somewhere, I need to dig it up for another listen.
Runrig news scooped off the website, www.runrig.co.uk and some of its links. (krj summarizes) With the departure of lead singer Donnie Munro, Runrig has been dropped by Chrysalis/EMI. EMI has put out a compilation called BEAT THE DRUM, and the band seems a bit unhappy about it. It seems to be a fair collection from three EPs which did not have a long shelf life, so I'm not exactly sure why the band is complaining. Back on their old, band-owned Ridge label, Runrig has put out its own compilation: THE GAELIC COLLECTION, 1973-1988. This is a two CD set and it should be pretty nice; Schoolkids is decent about stocking Runrig discs so I'll wait a while to see if a copy turns up. The band webpages says that they wish to squelch speculation: they have gotten nowhere in their search for a new lead singer. (Have I written about Runrig before? They are a Scottish rock band, not particularly folky but they do draw on Scottish tradition and they have a big appeal to Scottish national sentiment. In their home turf they play stadiums. The sound has a lot in common with the early Big Country, but Runrig has been a lot more durable.)
For some reason I always thought that they were connected with Big Country in some way, like perhaps having band members in common. I guess that's not the case?
They picked up one Big Country member around 1980, if I remember the bio from the website correctly.
The Paperboys // The Ark // September 17, 1998: I was startled by the size of the turnout: maybe 150 people. I didn't think that more than a dozen people in Ann Arbor knew who this band was. In a lot of ways they are a good-time Celidh band; visually they are dominated by the blonde woman accordion player and fiddler, who reminded me of "3rd Rock's" Kristen Johnson, towering over the guys in the band. As is usual with the Canadian Celtic bands, the slow songs veered towards the sappy and sentimental, but the uptempo stuff was pretty exciting. The band had an epic version of "All Along The Watchtower," probably inspired by the Oyster Band's version, spliced into a tune set. Every now and then the electric bass player would pick up a banjo and the sound would veer off into a bluegrass raveup, and once or twice there was a Latin touch reminiscent of The Mollys. Sorry you missed this one, Twila, you would have enjoyed it.
NP: Runrig, THE GAELIC COLLECTION 1973-1998. As the title suggests, it's a two-CD set of Gaelic language songs which Runrig recorded over the years. They did a lot in Gaelic when they recorded for their own label, but after they signed with Chrysalis they mostly sang in English, with just 2-3 Gaelic songs per album. Chrysalis dropped them this year, after a ten year run, but they seem to have been cooperative in licensing a bunch of tracks back to the band's own label Ridge Records so this is a nice career spanning set. Runrig is probably a bit too much arena-rock/ easy listening for many of you, but I'm enjoying the heck out of this collection. This set was sort of a validictory compilation for departing singer Donnie Munro, who is a pretty fine singer.
There was a wild rumer going around that Runrig was looking at Fish as a possible replacement, but it was squashed.
if you know any Internet Radio stations that play good Celtic music I would like to add it to Kill Pop Radio Dot Com @ http://www.killpopradio.com e-mail me @ urlman@hotmail.com Thanks :)
I just got Seamus Eagen's "When January Sleeps" CD....WONDERFUL stuff! I highly reccomend it to everybody! :)
hmmm...that's odd...nobody is mentioning Loreena McKennitt...she is awesome... she does mostly celtic music, but sometimes her sound delves into middle-eastern sounds. She travels a lot and bases her songs (well, most of them anyways) from her travels and documents them in liner notes. I also like some Clannad (I like their music from the 80s TV version of Robin Hood...all I can say is wow), and some of their later works (such as those from 'Lore') are pretty decent and Celtic in spirit...of course a lot of them are just plain New Age music too, which at times I have found kind of annoying, but thats just my opinion. I also like Enya, but I own a few Celtic Collections that are quite impressive...you can usually find good Celtic music at a store called Natural Wonders...they even split their music section into categories (Celtic, New Age, Native American...) and some record stores do the same thing (I know Best Buy has a celtic section) ;)
Err....Seamus Egan's album is "When JUNIPER Sleeps". :) Whoops/ :)
Has anyone heard the group Secret Garden? They are pretty kewl...I love to listen to them as I drift to sleep..the most peaceful music I know. Also I love Cecilia...isn't exactly Celtic.., she is from Iceland.., but it does give over the same feel.
I like Secret Garden, though I think of them as more ... mainstream.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all the readers of this item! Only 21 responses in the last year; I'll have to nudge some people to help make this one more active. I bought this year's ritual St. Patrick's purchase a day early, so I could review it for you today. This year, it's The Chieftains / HEART OF STONE. The theme of this new crossover album is "women:" every track has a featured woman performer. Unfortunately, from my one listen so far, most of the songs are in a slow style with minimal accompaniment. The only songs which grabbed me so far were the ones from Natalie Merchant and The Corrs. The highlight of the album is a ten minute tune set called "The Lady Fiddlers" or something like that, with Natalie MacMaster, Annabjorg Lien, and two other guest fiddlers. Maybe since this purchase wasn't so wonderful I'll try to pick up Donal Lunny's COOLFIN album, though again that might be too traditional for me. Also, Irish Music magazine was heaping praises upon the new Solas album.
I *really* like the new Solas album -- we (my friend Linda and I) were in Borders a couple of weeks ago, and heard it, and went -- oooh, that's NICE, where is it? And so did about three other people, who were totally disappointed that they appeared to be sold out, but we managed to dig up three copies in the end, and I have to say that I like it quite a bit. It has a lovely selkie song on it, and a cover of Woodie Guthrie's "Pastures of Pleasure" which I never would have guessed was a Guthrie song, instead of a traditional Irish one... and lots and lots of jigs and reels and tunes. I just checked and it also featured Iris DeMent and Bela Fleck as guest musicians, but I couldn't have told you that just from listening.
I absolutely LOVE the song with Bela Fleck. :) ("Song Of Choice") At their
concert a couple of weeks ago, they did almost everything off of that
album...it was wonderful. :) At the first listen I was deffinately more
into the instrumental, but once I got used to Karan's voice, I've
deffinately become very fond of the singing ones too. Very deffinately one
ofthe best albums that I've purchased. :)
This is a note to jiffer. When you borrowed The Paperboys CD to preview it for the upcoming Ark show, I could not remember the name of the second Vancouver Celtic/pop-rock band. The second band is Mad Pudding.
Which one do you have, Ken? Molinos is very good. I don't recall if I've heard Mad Pudding yet. Oh. Recommendation -- Great Big Sea is coming to the Ark on May 1st. They're really really good, and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed their compilation CD "Rant and Roar". I had already gotten a lot of their music from Canada, so didn't buy it. Silly me.
I have both of the Paperboys CDs; "Molinos" is the one which I could find to loan jiffer. Second the recommendation of Great Big Sea. Expect a sellout at the Ark: I think they sold out, or close to it, last time. Even though their profile is very low in the USA, GBS has a manic following in Windsor. I wrote about their last show somewhere in the conference.
I'm hoping to go to Great Big Sea, but we'll have to wait and see as to when I get tix. :)
News, mostly for Twila: Blue Horses has replaced one of its women fiddlers and they have a new studio album due out this summer. (We don't even have the live album yet, sigh.) I just saw a usenet ad for an album called WOLFSTONE 7, with a claimed release date in the UK of 31 May.
Want want want. (Am going to have to figure out a way to get the first Blue Horses album.)
New here are the new albums from pop-celtic bands Wolfstone (SEVEN) and Afro-Celt Sound System (RELEASE), plus the new Kila album. Kila was originally more on the trad side, but the new album has a sticker on it billing it as "acid ceili tribal groove" music, so we'll see...
Heard some of the Afro-Celt Sound System CD riding with Ken and Leslie-- pretty interesting stuff.
I've been listening to Boiled In Lead a lot recently - I've had the library's copy of "Orb" checked out for the past month, but that's the only CD of theirs the library has. Do any of you more knowledgeable types know anything about this band? Any reccomendations for an album to buy?
Oh my. I think I have everything of theirs, well, except for the vinyl, and the *ahem* expensive copy of "Alloy". What particularly did you like on "Orb"? That'll help me figure out what you might like next. The lead singer changes after that, btw, though both "The Gypsy" and "Antler Dance" are cool, I don't like the lead singer quite as much.
My favorites on "Orb" were Harout, Siege of Delhi, Klezpolka, and Cunovo Oro. In general, I like their Eastern-European-sounding stuff better than their Celtic-sounding stuff, although both are pretty cool. Actually, just yesterday I found a copy of "Thy Gypsy" in one of the listening stations at Borders. On first listen, I didn't like it nearly as much, but who's to say it wouldn't grow on me?
"The Gypsy" is a concept album, from a book by Megan Lindholm and Steven Brust. One of the members of the band is Jane Yolen's son, and they often use songs by Brust and Yolen in their sets. "Antler Dance" has more Eastern-European sounding things on it, as well.
Anyone see Loreena McKennit last night on CBC?
I was impressed. Evidently she's become quite
a businesswoman running her own record company.
I think this might have been taped a couple years ago.
Loreena McKennit was on CBC? Did anyone tape it?
I didn't know that it was even on...darn! Well, in other Loreena news, she had a live, double-disc, best of cd come out last week....if you like Loreena, you *MUST* get this cd....between me, my roomie, and my boss, we've not had the discs out of the player yet!!! :) For the most part, the songs sound mostly the same, with some variation. It's a little less snoozy and a little more driving. Almost everything that I ever wanted to hear live by her is on this album. (BTW, it's called Live in Toronto and Paris). The only thing I don't like about it is that it has absolutely nothing from her first two albums. But I think that they do sound completely different from the more recent three, so I do kinda understand it. But anyway, to make the whole thing short, if you like Loreena McKennit, the disc is worth every penny to buy. Even songs that I was getting irritated with (Like Lady of Shallot and Bonny Swans, which are right next to each other!), I really enjoyed, because they were just different enough to not be the same boring song. Just go get the cd!
Seconded.
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one hooked on it. :) Actually, my set just went missing....I'm going nuts trying to find it, so that I can play it constantly again....:)
Lansing folk-ish radio stations are playing an interesting-sounding new CD by a local Irish music band called Pub Domain. Their live album comes out for St. Patrick's Day, of course.
They play in Chelsea at the bar pretty often.
It's St. Patrick's Day 2000. Tower and Elderly Instruments are having big sales on Celtic music -- even the stuff which isn't Irish! I paid $11 last night for the new CD by the Scottish band Ceolbeg. Anyway, March 17 means it's time to kick off the reviews of the annual, ritual Irish CD purchases. First up: Cathal McConnell, LONG EXPECTANT COMES AT LAST. McConnell is a singer (reedy, cranky voice), flute player, and slightly wacky member of the band The Boys of the Lough. The Boys, who have members from Ireland, Scotland and England, were one of the first bands playing Celtic music to regularly tour the USA; they go back to the early 1970s. McConnell's album is in a much older style than much of what's marketed as Celtic music these days: lots of unaccompanied singing or lightly arranged flute tunes. And I suspect his voice is an acquired taste. I'm enjoying this, but I think I enjoy it because it brings back memories of 25 years of seeing perform live in the band. So I hesitate to give it a recommendation to the general audience. If you know Cathal, though, I think you'll have some fun with this. ----- I have not found any sign of the Pub Domain album mentioned in resp:143, which was supposed to be out now.
I've got a tin whistle instruction book/cd by Cathal. Very slow and deliberate, the first song went very well. The 2nd piece is just a bit ahead of where I feel comfortable. He sounds like a likeable guy tho. My holiday purchase the year kept the theme going with Paddy Moloney and Sean Potts' Tin Whistles cd. Quit fun.
Finally found the Pub Domain album for sale at the Elderly Music tent at the National Folk Festival this past weekend. I'll put a few words about last week's Carreg Lafar concert here; this was at the Ark, Wednesday August 9. Twila saved me a seat way down front, so there was a great feeling of being surrounded by the band. Leader is singer/dancer Linda Owen-Jones, a small woman dressed all in red; the rest of the band included flute, fiddle, guitar, and a multi-instrumentalist who most often played bagpipe, hornpipe and bodhran, and who also sang. The band is from Wales, and their style seemed closer to Brittany than to Scotland and Ireland. After the show, Linda was mentioning that the band is not a professional venture. They record and tour for the love of the music, she said, and their goal is simply to break even on the tours. They all have day jobs. So far I haven't enjoyed their new album HYN as much as I enjoyed the live show.
Lunasa, the Ark, Tuesday August 15: A core Irish trad trio -- flute, uillean pipes and fiddle -- with an acoustic guitarist. What makes the band is Trevor Hutchinson on upright electric bass. I'm not sure what he's doing, really -- a little bit is jazz, more is rock -- but I listen to him for the whole evening, he really powers the whole ensemble. As I mentioned in the Ark item (item:70), I hadn't been too interested in this band until I saw that Hutchinson was in it; I remember him very well from previous Ark shows with accordion player Sharon Shannon. Very enthusiastic crowd of (guess) 150.
Well, I finally broke down and got an Altan cd. It's not bad, but not something I'll listen to often. But I'm glad that I got it.
which one?
The Best of with an attached 2nd disk of live stuff.
nice one.
Yeah...and I got it new for $10. :) I was a happy Meg. :) I now need to get a new Chieftens cd....I have Tears of Stone, but I want to get the one with the rock people too. :)
A cd I have been enjoying a lot is Jack Evans' "Once Upon A Time In The North." Jack Evans was in an 80s band called The Easy Club, which mixed Scottish folk with swing-style jazz and which produced a couple of albums which have been enduring favorites at our house. Evans was the acoustic guitarist who was chiefly responsible for the sound. Evans has a web page, http://www.jackevans.net , and from there comes the news that the first Easy Club CD is going to be reissued on CD shortly. Hooray!
A jig (6/8 time) with 3 beats in a measure (thus 9/8) is known as a Slip jig. A reel is in cut time. Is there a name for a reel with 3 beats in a measure (3/2)? I just noticed such a beast on what I'll call a "Scottish sampler" CD I recently acquired.
So far, no answer to albaugh's question. Might be a good query to take to rec.music.celtic, which has a much wider audience than Grex. I can relay the query if you don't mess with Usenet News. ---------- This week's paper mail includes a mailout from Battlefield Band. Davy Steele, the band's most recent guitarist/singer, has left due to his brain tumor. This is very sad; Steele is recently married to Poozies/Sileas harper Patsy Seddon, and they have a small child. For the US tour at least, Battlefield have brought in Karine Polwart. Karine is the lead singer from Malinky, a band who are getting incredibly favorable press, and she also sings in a duo called Macalias whose work I have not heard. This is only the second time in their long career that Battlefield have brought in a woman singer, and I'd love to hear this lineup -- and there are no shows in Michigan on this tour. Argh. Mickey might get a chance to hear them in Texas. ---------- Some of you might recall the Breton folk rock band Gwenc'hlan, who I've been quite happy about since discovering their first album in May. French CD dealer http://www.alapage.com has finally stocked their second release, so I should have it in a couple of weeks.
Re: #156 ... Thanks for the heads-up on the Battlefield Band news, Ken. I had heard about Davy Steele's illness -- tragic --- but didn't realize that they were adding a female singer. Alas, when I checked the schedule I saw that they'll be playing in Austin two days after I leave town for vacation. Argh, is right.
Yep, if you're willing, ask rec.music.celtic what a 3/2 reel is called! BTW, the group playing it is Tannehill Weavers.
maeve is back from Edinburgh, at least for a little while. A snippet
of party chat...
maeve: I'm in ann arbor currently
krj: what brings you back from Scotland?
maeve: er, threats of personal violence
krj: btw, have you heard Malinky (a band)
maeve: I know two or three members of Malinky
krj: wow! I like them. Was going out to buy Karine Polwart's other
album tonight.
<maeve feels well-connected>
krj: who else is new and good?
maeve: erm..Cantrip is good, but I don't know if they have a cd out...Host
of the Air is good if you like scottish country dance music...
(shameless plugs the both of them)
In a baroque dance suite (in which many of the forms are borrowed from folk dance), a 3/2 piece would probably be a pavanne. If I remember right. Ask me again in a few weeks once I've started music history.
Just think "fast reel with instruments flailing wildly", with 3 beats in a measure. :-)
music history uggh...
((hi darkwolf, welcome to Grex!))
Actually I've been on Grex for a while never really spoke up till I left ann arbor. Grex has become my Ann Arbor fix as it may bee
The Michigan Ren Fest has 'The Emerald Isle' as their theme for this weekend (9/16,17/2000).
...so after I drop Twila off after today's festival trip, I turn on the car radio for The Thistle and Shamrock, and Fiona Ritchie is playing a track from the Kornog reunion album. Wow! Someone had mentioned a "new" Kornog album on rec.music.celtic and I had been sure that they were mistaken. But amazon.com is taking orders for it, the Herschel Freeman Agency is booking a fall tour for them, and someplace in the Southwest has them in concert in late October, all according to web pages. For many of us, Kornog's mid-80s albums were our introduction to Breton music.
re: #166 - Kornog will be playing a benefit for the Austin (Tex.) Celtic Festival on 26 October. I hope to be there. Here's an URL for those interested in a short bio: http://www.io.com/~rarii/TCMN/NewsArticles/Kornog.html In other news, I noticed that one of my most favourite artists, Susan McKeown, is due out with a new CD one week from this Tuesday (26 Sept). This one is mostly traditional songs, and it's called "Lowlands" You can find lots of useful tidbits here: http://house-of-music.com/susan/lowlands.shtml Be sure to check out the link to Susan's personal comments about the songs, lyrics, musicians, and more.
The Kornog tour schedule went up on the Herschel Freeman Agency website. Looks like the closest they get to Ann Arbor is going to be Mt. Pleasant. We went to CMU to see them in the 1980s, I suppose we can do it again; of course back then I lived in Lansing, not Ann Arbor. :P
We're just catching the end of a public television show featuring a band called Barrage, a seven fiddle band which seems to be largely inspired by Riverdance. The show airs on Detroit public TV on Sunday at 8 pm. "Barrage: the World On Stage."
For fans of what I like to call the "Big Celtic Sound", I've been listening to the new Enya album, "A Day Without Rain". (Samples are at the official Enya site, www.enya.com.) I have to admit I was a little nervous about this one. Donald Keller's Four-Album Theory says (to summarize it badly) that pop artists have four good albums in them, after which they start going downhill, and that the downturn usually comes after a Best Of album. Well, Enya had released four albums and a Best Of, and this is the first one since then. So how is it? For die-hard Enya fans like me, it's more of the same good stuff. For those only moderately fond of her music, it may well be a disappointment. This is the first album in which she breaks no new ground. Everything sounds like what she's done before, even the highlights. This is the third new album in a row with a hauntingly beautiful slow waltz that would be sublime to dance to (I should know, as waltzing to "Caribbean Blue" was the finest dancing experience of my life). This one is called "Wild Child". The other highlight in 3/4 time, "Flora's Secret", is a compendium of Enya's favorite musical tricks: the pizzicato trick, the snare trick, the pseudo-ritard trick, etc. It works if you're succeptible to them. There is one song in Latin, and one in Gaelic, and apart from the latter there's virtually no remaining evidence to suggest to the newcomer that Enya started out as an Irish folk musician. She is now pure MOR pop, but - as I can say with some authority, having had my childish ears stuffed with 50s and 60s MOR by my parents - very high quality MOR pop. I'm very happy with my purchase, but I don't think it's quite time to retire the Four-Album Theory yet.
new age craaap.
Oh I don't know. I like Enya. This album isn't my fave, but it is nice to have.
Yeah, I don't know that I'd agree with #171 either -- I'd want to save a label like that for something truly awful, like Tesh or Yanni.. I haven't heard the latst Enya album (or the one before that, or even, possibly, the one before that..) but I'm pretty willing to believe that it's exactly what David says it is -- extremely polished, meticulously crafted, completely calculated, appealing-to-those-who-like-that-sort- of-thing MOR pop. And what's wrong with that?
she's the irish equivalent of kenny g.
Yeah...much as I really love a lot of the Irish stuff, the computer generated music just sits all wrong on my nerves...kinda makes me cringe.
i'm down with the acoustic stuff.
re #174: are you sure you're not thinking of Clannad? :-p
enya's sister is WAY better, maaaan.
just fuckin' back off!
;)
Note for David Bratman: did you ever pick up on the reissue of Clannad's first album? My recollection is that someone had to remaster it from a vinyl copy because Philips had lost the master tapes.
Anyone who dislikes Enya is not going to get an argument from me, even
though I do like her. But as Mike observes, there's a huge difference
between Enya and Tesh or Yanni. They are mushy; she is not.
Happyboy: Yes, Maire is a better singer than Enya. But her band is no
longer better. Clannad, too, turned to mush, and were only good when
they were obscure - the purest example of selling out that I know of in
music. ("Selling out" means not just "becoming famous", but losing
whatever made your fame justified in the process.)
Ken: I have a couple early Clannad albums on CD, including "Dulaman"
which was my introduction to the band. The transfer quality on that
one did not strike me as good. But I don't think I have the first
album. My favorite, I recall, was no. 2, which I don't think I've ever
seen on CD.
I've heard people speak well of the early Clannad albums. My only experience with the band was through a "best of" CD that I checked out of the library. It pushed nearly every "bad music" button I have, which is something I wasn't expecting..
Mmm. I don't have any Clannad after "Sirius", I don't think. I'm not sure they are putting out new albums. My favourite is probably the live album they did early on, although the music for "Legend" (the soundtrack to the Robin Hood series) still holds a place of honor in my heart.
I don't know which compilation album of Clannad's you heard, Mike, but as far as I can tell from a discography online, all such albums consist mostly if not entirely of stuff from after they "sold out." Both "Sirius" and "Legend" are also post-sellouts. I've heard people describe both those albums as "early" Clannad, but that's like describing "Revolver" as early Beatles. The major change in their style, like it or not, came before then. The early Clannad albums are "Clannad", "Clannad 2","Dulaman", "Clannad in Concert", and "Crann Ull". Opinions differ about "Fuaim", which is transitional (and which is the only Clannad album with Enya on it). No others (unless you include a bootleg from the "Clannad in Concert" tour which I've never heard). One Clannad website, www.jtwinc.com/clannad, defines the above as "Traditional" and the later albums as "Electronic", but that's just the beginning of the difference.
Okay... Now I'm gonna get pissy. I don't believe in the "selling out" principle. I didn't know of Clannad UNTIL I saw the Robin Hoods (and I think that michael praed kicks jason connery's butt any day, thank you very much) and from there I found both their music and enyas. So if you define selling out a change in their music to appeal to a more mass audience, then oh well. without that, I would have never found "Siuil a Ruin" and other songs. I know that people get very attached to the music a certian way, but I don't fault other bands for changing or expanding. I'm a fan of celtic music, but it's nice to hear something different, like the poppy changes that the Corrs are doing, or even the Chieftans with...everyone. I'm wondering, and it's an honest question, if people call it "selling out" because they don't like the changes, or because of the following of people that generally arise from these pieces...
I like the Chieftans with...everyone stuff. :) The Corrs are ok, but they don't do much for me. Clannad is okay, but I just never got into it. Enya sounded too fake. I'm massively hooked beyond reason on Seamus Egan and Solas.
David in resp:180 :: I have cds of "Clannad 2" from Shanachie and "Dulaman" from the Irish label Gael-Linn. I'd have to find them and compare, but my gut feeling is that the Shanachie reissues are likely to sound distinctly inferior to the Gael-Linn ones, since Gael-Linn presumably has the master tapes and Shanachie has been shoddy in their reissues for Steeleye Span, a band from the same era and side of the Atlantic as Clannad. But I don't think any of the 1970s Clannad albums are likely to be sonic wonders. ashke in resp:184 :: I am of one mind with David on the career history of Clannad. Usually the way I express it is, I hope they enjoy all the money. Perhaps our disappointment is greater because we lived through it; the early albums were contemporary releases for us, and after they signed to RCA (now BMG) there was a tremendous sense of disillusionment as the band abandoned most of what made them special to us. Clannad was one of my two or three favorite artists back around 1979, and I can still recall how it felt when I first heard the Robin Hood material. Since Mike has previously expressed some antipathy towards Irish folk music, I wouldn't expect him to like Clannad of any era. Megan, however, has traditionalist leanings and I think she would probably like the albums David described as the early work.
Solas is great. I'll write more later.
Okay, but can you explain then, what you thought they abandoned? I have heard some of the earlier stuff, and I find it all consistant with a progression...they can't stay the same forever...
Celtic folk music definitely isn't my favorite kind (I'd go so far as to agree with Ken that I am closer to antipathy than neutrality on the subject) but every once in a while I like to double-check music that I might have written off initially for whatever reason (in this case, because it came from a genre that I don't particularly care for..) Some of the stuff I'd borrowed from Ken at one point or another didn't exactly thrill me, but I could see how people who liked the style might enjoy it. (For instance, Altan, which seems to make fairly accessible and probably quite enjoyable music in that style..) The Clannad album I tried was another matter (for the record, I looked it up and the album in question was "Anam".. I'd thought it was some sort of "greatest hits" collection but now I'm not sure..)
You know, I picekd up a Altan album (a double disk best of/live album), based on everything that I had heard. It's not bad, in fact I'm sure that they are quite good. But oddly enough, they do absolutely nothing for me. That kinda surprised me, actually....but I suspect that it might have to do with the fact that not alot of it was sung in English....and if I can't sing to it, I tend to write it off.
Interesting discussion, folks. I'm enjoying it. (big hint for Twila) I don't have any Clannad, early or late, save for ROGHA (The best of Clannad). I got that this year, and the only track is really like is "Newgrange" which was copyrighted in 1983. Is that pre-sellout? I don't think it really matters to me. OTOH I own almost everything Enya has ever recorded, including several CD singles --- one of which has a must-play Christmas song, Silent Night in Gaelic. Her voice affects me internally, somehow. I do not have, nor have I heard her sing with Clannad, on FUAIM, was it? Perhaps I will request that on one of the mp3 groups. This year I have discovered and devoured more Celtic flavoured music than I ever knew existed! :) I did not care for Altan, at least not the few songs I heard. I don't think it's the language thing, at least not for me, because I sing right along, just pronouncing what I think whoever-it-is is singing. I have discovered many more that I do love: Dervish, Capercaille, Bohinta, Danu, Lunasu, etc. etc.
I agree, Mickey...I love Enya, and the album Orinoco Flow puts me into a relaxed trance...right around Storms in Africa. <needs to find her cd when she gets home...>
To be accurate, that album is entitled WATERMARK.
<hangs her head in half-asleep shame and doesn't mention that she hasn't listened to it in over 2 years....>
(Meg thinks she's going to wander off today and try to find a Chieftiens w/ everybody CD today.....hmmmmm........) You know, I can't wait for Solas to get back into town,... And if I remember, I'll try to take the Altan to work....see about giving it another chance.
My intro to Clannad was the Dulaman album, and there is GREAT STUFF on it. My latest acquisition is a CD (I think it's called "Themes"), which has some interesting textures on it, but is definitely "commerical".
I just got notice that Green Linnet (www.greenlinnet.com) is having a Winter Clearance Sale, on over 150 of their Celtic titles. Looks like CDs are $10 and cassettes (anybody still listen to those?) for $8.50.
ohMiGawd... I am going to have to check their website. Wow.
Yes, I know --- Wow. :) I took a brief look through the list, and found lots of Tannahill Weavers that I don't have and would like to get, at the price. Gulp.
Ashke 184: It's a fair question; but cries of "oh no, my favorite band sold out" are often misinterpreted (by those who like the new stuff) as merely code for "I resent that other people have discovered my hidden favorite." That's not true for me. I was unspeakably delighted when one of my hidden modern-classical favorites, Gorecki's Third Symphony, was discovered by a large audience. And the only band besides Clannad that dropped like a stone off my favorites list into the dust heap didn't sell out. (Its genius retired, and it fell apart without him.) I reserve the term "sell out" for jumping from obscurity to great popularity as a direct result of losing the very quality that made them good in the first place. Now it's my opinion that they lost that quality, of course, but, pray, who else's opinion am I supposed to hold? If you like the newer Clannad, then the only response can be "How nice for you." Note that I took no offense when the first response to my Enya essay read simply "New Age craap." I thought that a deeply ignorant remark, but I cannot argue with the taste of the person who made it. I'm beginning to think that most of the people in this discussion have never actually heard any early Clannad, so no wonder they seem to be groping around a bit in making judgments. (No, Mickey, 1983 is not early Clannad, but just after the "sell out", and I vaguely remember "Newgrange" as one of the tracks I found particularly disappointing, as it was claimed to be good by those who liked the new sound.) Ken: My copy of the Dulaman CD is from Shanachie, so that may explain it. I haven't been disappointed in their Steeleye releases, but Steeleye's rockier sound may be less susceptible to bad engineering than the extreme delicacy of early Clannad.
Well, I am truly sorry I commented without really knowing the whole story. I'll keep my fingers silenced until I can remedy that situation.
Mickey: No, don't be sorry you commented. You asked a question
("Is 'Newgrange' early Clannad?") to which the answer was no.
I do hope you can hear some early Clannad some time, because as someone
who likes Enya but not late Clannad, your tastes are so far with mine.
Be cautious about judging from "Fuaim", because 1) Enya only appears in
a minor role on it (she is lead singer on one song, I don't remember
which offhand), and 2) it _is_ a transitional album, and opinions
differ. I count it as the last good Clannad album, but Ken at the time
of its release was strongly of the opinion that it was the first bad
one.
Unfortunately it appears that the CD re-releases of early Clannad don't
always give a fair impression of them either, because of poor
transfers. The one other suggestion I can make is to note that you
like Capercaille - their earliest 3-4 albums (I haven't heard later
ones, and understand they're different) sound a lot like early Clannad
in general terms. But I didn't keep up with Capercaille because, nice
as they were, they lacked the full sublime ethereal beauty of early
Clannad, and which is, IMHO, the only thing that Enya has inherited
from the band.
Somebody uptopic defended the newer Clannad sound on the grounds that
bands have to change. That's a silly argument, akin to defending GWB's
policies on the grounds that Clinton had to leave office anyway. Some
bands change a lot, some don't change much. Some change for the worse,
some for the better, others in ways that aren't better or worse, just
different. The question is, which kind of change was this one?
In any case, Clannad had made five albums without changing, so it's
hardly inevitable.
And there's different kind of change. A band that is particularly good at
something, then changes to something generic or of lesser quality to make a
buck, then maybe you can criticize the band for "selling out". But a band
or artist that just wants to go in a different direction, try something new,
well that's their right, and shouldn't be subject to criticism. Take Linda
Ronstadt: I really liked her country/rock ("early") stuff. Then she decided
she wanted to to big band, then Mexican folk. I really didn't care for it
that much, but respected her decision, since she certainly didn't go that way
to "sell out".
True. It depends what the direction is. In Clannad's case, they wanted to do the same thing (in fact, several pieces on their early "sellout" albums are re-makes), only soggier. If they'd just lost their touch, that would be something else, but this was clearly deliberate.
Here I go again, letting my fingers get the best of me. :) I was just checking out the webpage of the Austin Paramount Theatre, looking for information on silent movies, and I found an announcement for a "Celtic Rock Musical" called CELTICFUSION. I thought I'd mention it here, since the touring show will play 3 venues in Michigan, this Spring. (Is March Spring for y'all?) From the information I've gleaned from the website http://www.celticfusion.com I gather that this is another type of Irish step-dance show, in the same vein as "Riverdance" and "WAVES." Co-creators Liam Harney and Kevin Patterson, along with composer Ivan Drever and lighting designer Eric Lotze are the only team members listed on the website, and it looks as if they are trying to recruit champion Irish step dancers from around the country. It will be interesting to see how this all comes together. The three Michigan performances are: Mar 9 - River Raisin Center - Monroe MI Mar 11 - The Rozsa Center - Houghton MI Mar 17 - Sturgis-Young Auditorium - Sturgis MI and last, (but never least) Apr 7 - Paramount Theatre - Austin TX the remaining Spring dates are listed at http://www.celticfusion.com/showlist/showlist.html It looks like there was an Autumn tour, in the Northeast, Virginia, and California, so maybe somebody out there has seen this already, and can comment.
Kinda looks like an "Off Off Broadway" type of production.....
Ivan Drever, listed as the "Composer" in Mickey's resp:205, was in the band Wolfstone.
Yes, he was. I meant to mention that. You can read a short bio and discography on the Iona Records webpage: http://www.lismor.co.uk/drever.html
Waaaay back there: I listened to snippets of the new Enya album, and the critique here is accurate-- same ol' stuff I like more or less. I would have to get it and listen to it more to say anything further. For the most part, Watermark and Shepherd Moon were my favorite albums.. although there is material in other ones I like. Forgot to get "Paint The Sky With Stars" when it was available as a single CD-- I didn't want a "Best Of"-- just that particular title track.
There were two new tracks on "Paint the Sky", and that was enough for me: I bought the album.
There's a nice review of last night's Chieftains concert in Austin here: http://thebards.net/tales/articles/journal20010130.shtml Written by Marc Gunn, a member of the local band The Brobdingnagian Bards.
Ooohhhhh....okay, I'm jealous...
Patrick Street, the Ark, 2/25/2001: I've been in a cranky mood so this won't be the best review. Instrumentally the Irish supergroup was very tight; the songs in the first set were mostly dreary emigration songs which didn't appeal to me at all. Second set picked up quite a bit, with Ged Foley singing the Australian song "The Diamantina Drover," a favorite of mine, and Andy Irvine singing "Stewball." Irvine joined Foley on acoustic guitar for a fine version of "Music for a Found Harmonium," originally by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, which has become a folk standard in Ireland and Britain. Foley played guitar throughout, and he's a great anchor as a rhythm guitarist; Andy Irvine mostly played bouzouki, which instrument was his contribution to Irish music. (Mike had some comment last time I mentioned that, and I didn't understand it.) So I was glad to get to see Irvine, who's a bit of a legend for all the work he's done over the last 30 years. Lots of kids in the audience; I had the impression they were there in large groups as part of a cultural outing.
Isn't "Music for a Found Harmonium" on one of the Patrick Street albums? I hadn't known that when I first heard it played by (some other) Irish folk group: I was quite startled to find it in such an unexpected (to me) setting.
It's on the "Live" album from 1999 which I bought at this show, and the band said they recorded it a long time ago. <krj grubs around on allmusic.com> Says here "Harmonium" is on the "3 Irish Times 3" album from 1989. I can't even remember which of their albums I have after the first one.
St Patrick's Day, 2001. I was going to skip the ridiculous ritual purchase of Irish music CDs this year, but then Thursday's NPR/BBC show "The World" concluded with a review of the new album from singer Karan Casey, and I liked the snippets a lot. So, off to Elderly, and shake out the wallet thoroughly. Only two Irish discs in the pigout. This one's WATER FROM THE WELL by the Chieftains, which I'd been meaning to pick up for about half a year. Every Chieftains album has to have a gimmick, I suppose, and the gimmick this time is that the album was recorded in various locations all over the country. Almost all the tunes are traditional this time, and the most pop of the guest players are Ashley MacIsaac and Altan. Good to have this band, who more or less invented band-style Irish folk music, playing a traditional sound again. It's not that I hate the collaboration albums, but except for the CHINA and Van Morrison ones, I never seem to play them, and the album with women singers from two years ago was dreadful. The Chieftains album reminds me that somewhere on the web I saw a 2-CD set of Greatest Bodhran Hits, or something like that, and now I can't find it.
(Ah, there it is. The title is "Pure Bodhran.")
Tell me this is a joke.
Oh, why shouldn't it be real? "The Most Bodhran Music You'll Ever Hear", that sounds good. Someone once put out a record called "Pachelbel's Greatest Hit" (singular), consisting of half a dozen increasingly inane arrangements of the infamous Canon.
I actually rather liked the one with the chic's. :) I thought about buying a Karan Casey cd a couple of years ago, but then realized that her voice really irritated me. I ;ike having that Diedre chick singing in Solas now. And Seamus Egan got played today. :)
Dan in resp:218 :: For a review of "Pure Bodhran," see: http://www.muse.ie/180800/reviews/revu_pure.html or just run a google search on "pure bodhran ie". The album is listed as a special order through US Amazon and a stock item at musikfolk.com. Definitely not a joke. I'd order it tonight if I hadn't already blown the month's music budget.
I haven't heard much from WATER FROM THE WELL, but I remember liking what I heard. I appreciate the reminder. One sorta-Chieftains record from recent years that gets a lot of play in my house is the FIRE IN THE KITCHEN album from 3 or 4 years ago. Unlike Ken, I enjoyed the TEARS OF STONE release, too. I thought Joni Mitchell's track excelled in the Irish interpretation, and that was worth the price of the CD for me. Akiko Yano's "Sake in the Jar" was just a bonus. ;-)
I really liked Tears of Stone. The Joni Mitchell piece was wonderful, and Raglan Road just reminded me again why I really liked Joan Osborne. Since I'm a big Loreena McKennit fan, that was really cool, too. :) And Cherish the Ladies was a boatload of fun. And it was because of this cd that I got hooked on Diana Krall's voice.
"Thistle and Shamrock" played a song from the new Peatbog Faeries, Scottish traditional in a rock setting. I don't remember caring enough about the first Peatbog album to replace it when it was pilfered from my car in '97, but this new track was nice. And then the Tartan Amoebas were doing an interesting track, "New Pipe Order" or something like that... Back to resp:221 :: I did get the "Pure Bodhran" compilation, and so far it's been perfectly, um, adquate.
Re a bunch of responses: I admittedly haven't eard much Irish music. My meager collection consists of all the Enya CDs (which the last CD is more of the same), MISTY EYED ADVENTURES by Maire Brennan, a couple of Altas CDs and the Green Linnet 20th Anniversary 2-CD set. I've enjoyed all that I've heard so far, but know it's just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks for the discussion above. Reading the last 20 responses give me some good ideas what to buy next.
Speaking of Green Linnet, they are currently offering an "apology sale" (to compensate for multiple-mailings of their e-mail newsletter) of $7 per CD, free shipping. There seems to be no limit to how many can be ordered. http://www.greenlinnet.com/apology.htm
You have several choices: