Celtic Fusion
Encyclopedia
Celtic fusion is an umbrella term for modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic," or Celtic music
which incorporates modern music. It is a syncretic musical tradition which borrows freely from the perceived "Celtic" musical traditions of all the Celtic nations
, as well as from all styles of popular music; it is thus sometimes associated with the Pan-Celtic
movement. Celtic fusion may or may not include authentic traditional music from any one tradition under the Celt
ic umbrella, but its common characteristic is the inspiration by Celtic identity.
The oldest musical tradition which fits under the label of Celtic fusion originated in the rural American south in the early colonial period and incorporated Scottish
, Scots-Irish
, Irish
, and African American
influences. Variously referred to as roots music
, American folk music, or old-time music
, this tradition has exerted a strong influence on all forms of American music, including country
, blues
, and rock and roll
. The connections between traditional Scottish and Irish music and Rock music are deep and go back to the origins of American music. As Elvis Costello put it:
Another manifestation of this syncretic tendency emerged in New York
in the 1890s, as bands performing traditional Irish music for the large Irish
immigrant community there began incorporating big band
influences, adding brass and reed instruments and performing quickstep
s, foxtrot
s, and other popular contemporary dance tunes.
More recently, there has been a flowering of several distinct genres of Celtic fusion. These can be roughly broken down as follows:
and Celtic music is perhaps the least surprising of the modern hybrids, since rock is partially based on "roots" music, which was originally based on a fusion of African and Celtic traditions. Modern Celtic rock acts like Rathkeltair, Alan Stivell
, Gaelic Storm
, Sinéad O'Connor
, Peatbog Faeries
, Lenahan, Lordryk, Croft No. 5
, Enter the Haggis
, The Dreaming, Shooglenifty
, Spirit of the West
, Homeland
, Ashley MacIsaac
, Mudmen
, Wolfstone
, The Paperboys
and Great Big Sea
, and many others have proven the genre's vitality.
Since rock music is so diverse and is influenced by virtually every other genre, the sounds of these groups vary considerably; they include everything from straight-ahead classic rock with traditional instruments to traditional songs played with rock "attitude".
in the early 1980s and immediately gained popularity following the release of their first album in 1985. It is one of the best established of the modern Celtic fusion genres, and generally includes drums, bass, guitar, and fiddle, sometimes with tin whistle, bodhran, or accordion. The sound is typically fast with aggressive lyrics, rock beats, and melodies.
Bands in this genre include Flogging Molly
, Dropkick Murphys
, The Real Mckenzies, Smiting Shillelagh, Flatfoot 56
, The Tossers
, The Vandon Arms, Neck
, The Molly Maguires, Mutiny
, and Black 47
(who also incorporate hip hop influences). The genre is most popular in Ireland
, Scotland
, England
, the United States
, and Canada
.
Punks singing in Celtic languages began to emerge in the late 1970s in Wales, where groups such as Ail Symudiad (Second Movement) and Y Trwynau Coch (The Red Noses) began performing in fast-paced idioms reminiscent of the Jam; a rather harder sound was adopted by Anhrefn (Chaos) in the 1980s. The 2000s saw in Scotland the emergence of several Gaelic-language punk bands, such as Mill a h-Uile Rud
and the genre is also represented in Brittany
with the band called Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs
.
group to gain mainstream notoriety was House of Pain
, a Los Angeles
based hip hop group which incorporated rhymes about the Irish-American experience into their music. With a few exceptions, however, their actual instrumentation did not incorporate traditional "Celtic" instruments, though they did use time signatures typical of with Jigs on several songs - a major deviation in a hip hop market where virtually everything is done in 4/4 time.
Marxman
, an Irish-Jamaican hip hop group, whose explicitly nationalist
and Marxist
politics gained them notoriety and infamy in the United Kingdom
in the 1980s, incorporated traditional instruments into several songs on their first album, but largely abandoned them on their second album for a more electronica
- and blues
-oriented sound that would later form the basis for the emergence of trip hop
.
Sinéad O'Connor
contributed vocals to several of Marxman's songs and even tried her hand at rapping on her 1994 album Universal Mother
with a track about the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849).
Starting in 1998 Manau, a French hip hop group of Breton
origin, created the first truly consistent fusion of Celtic music and hip hop in two critically acclaimed albums incorporating a wide range of traditional instruments and melodies and combining them with hip hop beats. In one of their songs they used part of an arrangement of a traditional tune ( Tri Martolod) by Alan Stivell
, and were subsequently sued by him for copyright infringement.
1998 also marked the release of Seanchai and The Unity Squad
's second album, Rebel Hip Hop. The sound was equal parts folk-punk, rock, and old-school hip hop and marked the first time celtic hip hop had been performed exclusively with live instruments instead of samples. The album was selected as the Hotpress "Album of the Year" and received positive reviews but failed to break into the mainstream. The band has released 4 more albums since and are still active, playing primarily at Rocky Sullivan's in NYC which is owned by Chris Byrne, the band leader.
More recently, Emcee Lynx
, a hip hop artist from Oakland, California
of primarily Scottish
and Irish
descent who is best known for his anarchist
politics and anti-war
activism, has incorporated samples of traditional instruments into his music. His song "I'm a Celt", from his 2003 album "The UnAmerican LP", marked his first foray into overt fusion; combining samples of a traditional Irish harp with bass, drum, and lyrics about the Highland Clearances, the Potato Famine, and growing up as a Celt in America. In 2005 that evolved into a full band, Beltaine's Fire
. They play a live fusion of hip hop, funk, rock, and Celtic music. They have released two full length albums and their biggest performance was at the KVMR Celtic Fetival in 2008, an event which drew over 10,000 people.
The definition of 'Celtic Hip Hop' is contested. Some people use it to refer to all hip hop by self-identified Celts; Ammunition, an Irish rapper who runs http://celtichiphop.net is one pillar in this camp, while most critics use it to refer to music that actually incorporates traditional instrumentation and melodies. Rappers who spit primarily over conventional hip hop beats and self-identify with celtic hip hop include Rob Kelly
, Emcee Lynx
(as a solo artist), Terrawrizt, MetaBeats, Collie, Scattabrainz, Lineage, and many more.
, Clannad
, Afro Celt Sound System
, Catya Maré
, Iona
, and Gary Stadler
incorporate traditional melodies and lyrics with synths and pads to create a mellow relaxed fusion that has proven highly marketable. Enya, for example, is one of the best-selling female musicians in the world.
The music we call Jazz today originated in African American communities and evolved out of American Roots music and the Blues
and often included instruments like Fiddle and Mandolin that are now more commonly associated with Folk or Roots music. Modern acts such as Clannad, Nightnoise
, Melanie O'Reilly, and Raggle Taggle or Roland Becker (in the eighties) combine Celtic music with jazz. The jazz can range from the big band
swing style to the smooth jazz
style.
, Lorne Cousin
and Mark Saul
whose backgrounds are in traditional Celtic music tend to favor traditional instruments, melodies, and rhythms, but augment them with drum machines and electronic sounds. Others, like Dagda
, approach the fusion from a background in electronic music that eschews traditional instruments and incorporates traditional melodies played on synths into a New Age-influenced trance
sound. Peatbog Faeries
have experimented with Celtic electronia, mainly on Faerie Stories
.
emerged that combined heavy metal music
with Celtic music. The pioneers of the genre were Skyclad
, Cruachan
, Primordial
and Waylander
.
, the members of which bring to the band strong backgrounds in either African or Irish musical tradition. The Irish fusion group Skelpin
incorporates Spanish flamenco, Middle Eastern, and American soul elements and instruments into its music. Delhi 2 Dublin
http://www.delhi2dublin.com/, a band based in Canada, is known for fusing Irish and Indian
music. Salsa Celtica
is an 11 member "world fusion" project based in Edinburgh
, Scotland
that mixes salsa with Scottish bagpiping and world influences. Other artists such as Loreena McKennitt
and Catya Maré
take inspiration from numerous diverse traditions around the world, although their focus may be on Celtic music.
As might be expected from musicians playing a style of music defined by its fusion of disparate elements, many bands combine multiple styles. Shooglenifty
, for instance, incorporates reggae, rock, and jazz into their musical style; Croft no Five did the same with rock and funk. Bands like Na’Bodach are stylistically disparate between works on the same album, where a rock influenced song may be followed by funk or bluegrass thereafter.
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised 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 people of Western Europe...
which incorporates modern music. It is a syncretic musical tradition which borrows freely from the perceived "Celtic" musical traditions of all the Celtic nations
Celtic nations
The Celtic nations are territories in North-West Europe in which that area's own Celtic languages and some cultural traits have survived.The term "nation" is used in its original sense to mean a people who share a common traditional identity and culture and are identified with a traditional...
, as well as from all styles of popular music; it is thus sometimes associated with the Pan-Celtic
Pan-Celticism
Pan-Celticism is the name given to various political and cultural movements and organisations that promote greater contact between the Celtic nations.-Types of Pan-Celticism:Pan-Celticism can operate on one or all of the following levels listed below:...
movement. Celtic fusion may or may not include authentic traditional music from any one tradition under the Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic umbrella, but its common characteristic is the inspiration by Celtic identity.
The oldest musical tradition which fits under the label of Celtic fusion originated in the rural American south in the early colonial period and incorporated Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Scots-Irish
Ulster-Scots
The Ulster Scots are an ethnic group in Ireland, descended from Lowland Scots and English from the border of those two countries, many from the "Border Reivers" culture...
, Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, and African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
influences. Variously referred to as roots music
American folk music
American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...
, American folk music, or old-time music
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
, this tradition has exerted a strong influence on all forms of American music, including country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. The connections between traditional Scottish and Irish music and Rock music are deep and go back to the origins of American music. As Elvis Costello put it:
"I started with rock n' roll and...then you start to take it apart like a child with a toy and you see there's blues and there's country...Then you go back from country into American music...and you end up in Scotland and Ireland eventually."
Another manifestation of this syncretic tendency emerged in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the 1890s, as bands performing traditional Irish music for the large Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
immigrant community there began incorporating big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
influences, adding brass and reed instruments and performing quickstep
Quickstep
The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events...
s, foxtrot
Foxtrot (Dance)
The foxtrot is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band music, and the feeling is one of elegance and sophistication...
s, and other popular contemporary dance tunes.
More recently, there has been a flowering of several distinct genres of Celtic fusion. These can be roughly broken down as follows:
Celtic rock
The fusion of rockRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and Celtic music is perhaps the least surprising of the modern hybrids, since rock is partially based on "roots" music, which was originally based on a fusion of African and Celtic traditions. Modern Celtic rock acts like Rathkeltair, Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
, Gaelic Storm
Gaelic Storm
Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band. Their music includes traditional Irish music, Scottish music, and original tunes in both the Celtic and Celtic rock genres...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Peatbog Faeries
Peatbog Faeries
The Peatbog Faeries are a largely instrumental Celtic fusion band. Formed in 1991, they are based in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.Their music embodies many styles and influences, including folk, electronica, rock and jazz, - but their main influence is traditional celtic music...
, Lenahan, Lordryk, Croft No. 5
Croft No. 5
Croft No. 5 were a Scottish world music–Celtic fusion band, composed of accordionist John Somerville, guitarist Spad Reid, drummer Paul Jennings, bassist Duncan Lyall, fiddler Innes Watson, and on whistles. The band was started in 1998 with original bassist and the band was soon joined by...
, Enter the Haggis
Enter the Haggis
Enter the Haggis is a Canadian Indie/Celtic/Folk Rock world-fusion band based in Toronto, Canada. Commonly called ETH, the band has been playing and recording since 1996. Their latest studio album, "Whitelake" is the band's ninth album....
, The Dreaming, Shooglenifty
Shooglenifty
Shooglenifty are an Edinburgh-based six-piece Celtic fusion band that tours internationally. The band blends Scottish traditional music with influences ranging from electronica to alternative rock...
, Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West
Spirit of the West are a Canadian folk rock band, who were popular on the Canadian folk music scene in the 1980s before evolving a blend of hard rock, Britpop, and Celtic folk influences which made them one of Canada's most successful alternative rock acts in the 1990s.-Early years:The band began...
, Homeland
Homeland
A homeland is the concept of the place to which an ethnic group holds a long history and a deep cultural association with —the country in which a particular national identity began. As a common noun, it simply connotes the country of one's origin...
, Ashley MacIsaac
Ashley MacIsaac
Ashley Dwayne MacIsaac is a Canadian professional fiddler from Cape Breton Island.His album Hi™ How Are You Today?, featuring the hit single "Sleepy Maggie", with vocals in Scottish Gaelic by Mary Jane Lamond was released in 1995...
, Mudmen
Mudmen
Mudmen are a Canadian rock band that formed in Toronto, Ontario in 2000. Initially comprising vocalist Zoy Nicoles, guitarist Lonny Knapp, bassist Tommy Skilton, drummer Ryan McCaffrey and bagpipe-playing brothers Robby and Sandy Campbell...
, Wolfstone
Wolfstone
Wolfstone are a Scottish musical group founded in 1989, who play Highland music combined with rock and roll. Their repertoire consists of both original songs and traditional folk pieces. To date, they have released seven studio albums, the latest, Terra Firma, in 2007. The band record on their own...
, The Paperboys
The Paperboys
The Paperboys are a Canadian folk music band from Vancouver that formed in 1991. The Paperboys blend Celtic folk with bluegrass, Mexican, Eastern European, African, zydeco, soul and country influences...
and Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea
Great Big Sea is a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland and Labrador, best known for performing energetic rock interpretations of traditional Newfoundland folk songs including sea shanties, which draw from the island's 500-year-old Irish, English, and French heritage...
, and many others have proven the genre's vitality.
Since rock music is so diverse and is influenced by virtually every other genre, the sounds of these groups vary considerably; they include everything from straight-ahead classic rock with traditional instruments to traditional songs played with rock "attitude".
Celtic punk
Celtic punk was essentially invented by The PoguesThe Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
in the early 1980s and immediately gained popularity following the release of their first album in 1985. It is one of the best established of the modern Celtic fusion genres, and generally includes drums, bass, guitar, and fiddle, sometimes with tin whistle, bodhran, or accordion. The sound is typically fast with aggressive lyrics, rock beats, and melodies.
Bands in this genre include Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly
Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish-descendant band from Los Angeles, California, that is currently signed to their own record label, Borstal Beat Records.-Early years:...
, Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys are an Irish-American punk rock band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The band was initially signed to independent punk record label Hellcat Records, releasing five albums for the label, and making a name for themselves locally through constant playing and yearly St....
, The Real Mckenzies, Smiting Shillelagh, Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot 56
Flatfoot 56 is a Celtic punk band from Chicago, Illinois. The group's use of Scottish Highland bagpipes has led to their classification as a Celtic punk band, comparable to Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly.-History:...
, The Tossers
The Tossers
The Tossers are a six-piece Celtic punk band from Chicago, Illinois. They formed in July 1993. They have toured with Murphy's Law, Streetlight Manifesto, Catch 22, Dropkick Murphys, The Reverend Horton Heat, Flogging Molly, Street Dogs, Clutch, Sick of it All & Mastodon. They opened for The Pogues...
, The Vandon Arms, Neck
Neck (Band)
Neck is a six-piece Celtic punk band from the North London neighbourhood of 'County Holloway' . Led by Leeson O'Keeffe, a former member of Shane MacGowan and the Popes, the band blends traditional Irish music with punk rock...
, The Molly Maguires, Mutiny
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
, and Black 47
Black 47
Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...
(who also incorporate hip hop influences). The genre is most popular in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Punks singing in Celtic languages began to emerge in the late 1970s in Wales, where groups such as Ail Symudiad (Second Movement) and Y Trwynau Coch (The Red Noses) began performing in fast-paced idioms reminiscent of the Jam; a rather harder sound was adopted by Anhrefn (Chaos) in the 1980s. The 2000s saw in Scotland the emergence of several Gaelic-language punk bands, such as Mill a h-Uile Rud
Mill a h-Uile Rud
Mill a h-Uile Rud is a Seattle-based band who sing in Scots Gaelic.-The band:The name translates as 'Destroy Everything' though the band only uses the Gaelic original...
and the genre is also represented in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
with the band called Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs
Les Ramoneurs de menhirs
Les Ramoneurs de menhirs is a Breton celtic punk group formed in 2006. Its members include Éric Gorce on the bombardon, Richard Bévillon on the bagpipes, the traditional vannetais singer Maurice Jouanno and Loran, guitarist from the group Bérurier Noir. They play concerts at fest noz as well as...
.
Celtic hip hop
The first Celtic-identified hip hopHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
group to gain mainstream notoriety was House of Pain
House of Pain
House of Pain is an American hip hop group who released three albums in the 1990s before lead rapper Everlast left to pursue his solo career again. The group's name is a reference to the H.G. Wells novel The Island of Dr...
, a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
based hip hop group which incorporated rhymes about the Irish-American experience into their music. With a few exceptions, however, their actual instrumentation did not incorporate traditional "Celtic" instruments, though they did use time signatures typical of with Jigs on several songs - a major deviation in a hip hop market where virtually everything is done in 4/4 time.
Marxman
Marxman
Marxman were a four-piece Marxist hip-hop group with two MCs formed in London in 1989.Their lyrics expounded socialism and an end to economic and social injustice...
, an Irish-Jamaican hip hop group, whose explicitly nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
politics gained them notoriety and infamy in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the 1980s, incorporated traditional instruments into several songs on their first album, but largely abandoned them on their second album for a more electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
- and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
-oriented sound that would later form the basis for the emergence of trip hop
Trip hop
Trip hop is a music genre consisting of downtempo electronic music which originated in the early 1990s in England, especially Bristol. Deriving from "post"-acid house, the term was first used by the British music media and press as a way to describe the more experimental variant of breakbeat which...
.
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
contributed vocals to several of Marxman's songs and even tried her hand at rapping on her 1994 album Universal Mother
Universal Mother
Universal Mother is the fourth album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1994, and sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.-Track listing:# "Germaine" – 0:38...
with a track about the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849).
Starting in 1998 Manau, a French hip hop group of Breton
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
origin, created the first truly consistent fusion of Celtic music and hip hop in two critically acclaimed albums incorporating a wide range of traditional instruments and melodies and combining them with hip hop beats. In one of their songs they used part of an arrangement of a traditional tune ( Tri Martolod) by Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell
Alan Stivell is a Breton musician and singer, recording artist and master of the celtic harp who from the early 1970s revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music.- Background: learning Breton music and culture :Alan was born in the Auvergnat town of Riom...
, and were subsequently sued by him for copyright infringement.
1998 also marked the release of Seanchai and The Unity Squad
Chris Byrne
Chris Byrne co-founded the band Black 47 with Larry Kirwan in 1989. Before and for some years after forming the band, Byrne was a New York City Police officer. While still with the band, he created a side project - the "celtic hip-hop" band Seanchai & the Unity Squad. "Seanchai" is Byrne's hip-hop...
's second album, Rebel Hip Hop. The sound was equal parts folk-punk, rock, and old-school hip hop and marked the first time celtic hip hop had been performed exclusively with live instruments instead of samples. The album was selected as the Hotpress "Album of the Year" and received positive reviews but failed to break into the mainstream. The band has released 4 more albums since and are still active, playing primarily at Rocky Sullivan's in NYC which is owned by Chris Byrne, the band leader.
Emcee Lynx
Lynx, or Emcee Lynx is an anarchist hip hop artist in Vallejo, California who has achieved significant popularity and name-recognition in the West Coast hip hop and underground hip hop scenes and among anarchists and other radicals around the world...
, a hip hop artist from Oakland, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
of primarily Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
and Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
descent who is best known for his anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
politics and anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
activism, has incorporated samples of traditional instruments into his music. His song "I'm a Celt", from his 2003 album "The UnAmerican LP", marked his first foray into overt fusion; combining samples of a traditional Irish harp with bass, drum, and lyrics about the Highland Clearances, the Potato Famine, and growing up as a Celt in America. In 2005 that evolved into a full band, Beltaine's Fire
Beltaine's Fire
Beltaine's Fire is a five-member Hip Hop/Folk-Rock/Celtic Fusion collective from the San Francisco Bay Area in California fronted by Emcee Lynx. Their music has evolved considerably over the years...
. They play a live fusion of hip hop, funk, rock, and Celtic music. They have released two full length albums and their biggest performance was at the KVMR Celtic Fetival in 2008, an event which drew over 10,000 people.
The definition of 'Celtic Hip Hop' is contested. Some people use it to refer to all hip hop by self-identified Celts; Ammunition, an Irish rapper who runs http://celtichiphop.net is one pillar in this camp, while most critics use it to refer to music that actually incorporates traditional instrumentation and melodies. Rappers who spit primarily over conventional hip hop beats and self-identify with celtic hip hop include Rob Kelly
Rob Kelly
Robert Anthony "Rob" Kelly is an English former footballer and manager. Recently caretaker manager at Nottingham Forest, after Steve McClaren's departure and prior to the appointment of Steve Cotterill...
, Emcee Lynx
Emcee Lynx
Lynx, or Emcee Lynx is an anarchist hip hop artist in Vallejo, California who has achieved significant popularity and name-recognition in the West Coast hip hop and underground hip hop scenes and among anarchists and other radicals around the world...
(as a solo artist), Terrawrizt, MetaBeats, Collie, Scattabrainz, Lineage, and many more.
Celtic New Age
Celtic New Age artists such as EnyaEnya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
, Clannad
Clannad
Clannad are an Irish musical group, from Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. Their music has been variously described as bordering on folk and folk rock, Irish, Celtic and New Age, often incorporating elements of an even broader spectrum of smooth jazz and Gregorian chant...
, Afro Celt Sound System
Afro Celt Sound System
The Afro Celt Sound System is a musical group which fuses modern electronic dance rhythms with traditional Irish and West African music...
, Catya Maré
Catya Maré
Catya Maré is a composer, music producer and classical crossover violinist from Denmark, now located in Los Angeles, CA. She has performed as a classical violinist since her early childhood, and has done numerous performances at concert halls and major museums, such as National Galerie Berlin,...
, Iona
Iona (band)
Iona is the name of a progressive Celtic rock band from the United Kingdom, which was formed in the late 1980s by lead vocalist Joanne Hogg and multi-instrumentalists David Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge....
, and Gary Stadler
Gary Stadler
Gary Stadler is an American New Age pianist, composer, songwriter and producer, specializing in contemporary Celtic-influenced themes and atmospheres. Stadler's six albums generally focus on imaginative concepts loosely based in Celtic mythology, especially stories of the realm of Faerie...
incorporate traditional melodies and lyrics with synths and pads to create a mellow relaxed fusion that has proven highly marketable. Enya, for example, is one of the best-selling female musicians in the world.
Celtic jazz
The English word Jazz is actually derived from the Irish Gaelic T'chass, which means "fiery and full of life". The word first entered the English language as slang and was used to describe anyone who was giving a passionate performance, primarily athletes at first. It was only later that the spelling was standardized as Jazz and it became associated with a specific musical Genre.The music we call Jazz today originated in African American communities and evolved out of American Roots music and the Blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and often included instruments like Fiddle and Mandolin that are now more commonly associated with Folk or Roots music. Modern acts such as Clannad, Nightnoise
Nightnoise
Nightnoise was a music ensemble active from 1984 to 1997. Their original blend of Irish traditional music, Celtic music, jazz, and classical chamber music inspired a generation of Irish musicians...
, Melanie O'Reilly, and Raggle Taggle or Roland Becker (in the eighties) combine Celtic music with jazz. The jazz can range from the big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
swing style to the smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
style.
Celtic electronica
The genre of Celtic electronica blends traditional Celtic influences with modern electronic music. Artists such as Martyn BennettMartyn Bennett
Martyn Bennett was a Scottish musician who was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada...
, Lorne Cousin
Lorne Cousin
-Overview:Los Angeles based Scottish bagpiper Lorne Cousin has performed with Madonna, Missy Elliott, Stella McCartney, and Brian Cox, among many others.-Trivia:...
and Mark Saul
Mark Saul
Mark Saul is a Celtic fusion musician from Melbourne, Australia. He plays Highland Bagpipes, wooden flute, and tin whistle, in addition to creating the electronic aspects of his music....
whose backgrounds are in traditional Celtic music tend to favor traditional instruments, melodies, and rhythms, but augment them with drum machines and electronic sounds. Others, like Dagda
Dagda (band)
Dagda is an Irish New Age band. It comprises Reg Keating and Phillip O'Rely. The band is named after Dagda, an Irish god. They released their first album Hibernia: The Story of Ireland - OWL in 1997....
, approach the fusion from a background in electronic music that eschews traditional instruments and incorporates traditional melodies played on synths into a New Age-influenced trance
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...
sound. Peatbog Faeries
Peatbog Faeries
The Peatbog Faeries are a largely instrumental Celtic fusion band. Formed in 1991, they are based in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.Their music embodies many styles and influences, including folk, electronica, rock and jazz, - but their main influence is traditional celtic music...
have experimented with Celtic electronia, mainly on Faerie Stories
Faerie Stories
Faerie Stories is the second album by Scottish Celtic fusion group Peatbog Faeries, released in 2001 on Greentrax Recordings. The album was reissued in 2008 as a digipack.-Background:...
.
Celtic metal
During the 1990s, a subgenre of folk metalFolk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
emerged that combined heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
with Celtic music. The pioneers of the genre were Skyclad
Skyclad (band)
Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad...
, Cruachan
Cruachan (band)
Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...
, Primordial
Primordial (band)
Primordial is an extreme metal band from Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. It was formed in 1987 by Pól MacAmlaigh and Ciarán MacUiliam . Their sound melds black metal with Irish folk music.-Biography:...
and Waylander
Waylander (band)
Waylander is a Northern Irish band influential in the realms of Celtic folk metal. Formed in 1993, the band blends traditional Irish folk with 1990s heavy metal.-Biography:...
.
Celtic-influenced world music
Many Celtic fusion artists integrate musical traditions from all over the world into their sound. The clearest example of this is Afro Celt Sound SystemAfro Celt Sound System
The Afro Celt Sound System is a musical group which fuses modern electronic dance rhythms with traditional Irish and West African music...
, the members of which bring to the band strong backgrounds in either African or Irish musical tradition. The Irish fusion group Skelpin
Skelpin
Skelpin is an Irish folk music group based in San Diego, California. They perform a fusion of Irish Music and Spanish Flamenco, with Middle-Eastern percussion and have toured with this Irish Fusion globally....
incorporates Spanish flamenco, Middle Eastern, and American soul elements and instruments into its music. Delhi 2 Dublin
Delhi 2 Dublin
Delhi 2 Dublin is a Canadian world music group whose style is primarily a fusion of Bhangra and Celtic music.-History:...
http://www.delhi2dublin.com/, a band based in Canada, is known for fusing Irish and Indian
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
music. Salsa Celtica
Salsa Celtica
Salsa Celtica are a Scottish musical group famed for playing a form of music that is a fusion of salsa music with traditional Scottish instruments, including elements of folk and jazz.-History:...
is an 11 member "world fusion" project based in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
that mixes salsa with Scottish bagpiping and world influences. Other artists such as Loreena McKennitt
Loreena McKennitt
Loreena Isabel Irene McKennitt, CM, OM, is a Canadian singer, composer, harpist, accordionist and pianist who writes, records and performs world music with Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. McKennitt is known for her refined, clear soprano vocals...
and Catya Maré
Catya Maré
Catya Maré is a composer, music producer and classical crossover violinist from Denmark, now located in Los Angeles, CA. She has performed as a classical violinist since her early childhood, and has done numerous performances at concert halls and major museums, such as National Galerie Berlin,...
take inspiration from numerous diverse traditions around the world, although their focus may be on Celtic music.
Others
Other, less well established hybrids include Celtic reggae, as played by bands like PaddyRasta, Pubside Down, and (again) Sinéad O'Connor.As might be expected from musicians playing a style of music defined by its fusion of disparate elements, many bands combine multiple styles. Shooglenifty
Shooglenifty
Shooglenifty are an Edinburgh-based six-piece Celtic fusion band that tours internationally. The band blends Scottish traditional music with influences ranging from electronica to alternative rock...
, for instance, incorporates reggae, rock, and jazz into their musical style; Croft no Five did the same with rock and funk. Bands like Na’Bodach are stylistically disparate between works on the same album, where a rock influenced song may be followed by funk or bluegrass thereafter.