Celtic music in Canada
Encyclopedia
Celtic music
is primarily associated with the folk traditions of Ireland
, Scotland
, Brittany
and Wales
, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. In addition, a number of other areas of the world are known for the use of Celtic musical styles and techniques, including Newfoundland, and much of the folk music of Canada's Maritimes
, especially on Cape Breton Island
.
music can be heard within the style.
A very traditional strain of Irish music
exists in Newfoundland, especially in the primarily Irish-Catholic communities along the southern shore.
The instrumentation in Newfoundland music includes the button accordion
, guitar
, violin
, tin whistle
and more recently the bodhrán
. Many Newfoundland traditional bands also include bass guitar
and drum kit
. Other folk instruments such as the mandolin
and bouzouki
are common especially among Newfoundland bands with an Irish leaning.
Because Newfoundland is an island in the North Atlantic, many of the songs focus on the fishery
and seafaring. Many songs chronicle the history of this unique people. Instrumental tune styles include jigs, reel
s, two steps, and polka
s.
, which is derived from Scottish techniques
. The island has produced traditional music-based popular performers like John Allan Cameron
, The Rankin Family
, Natalie MacMaster
, Buddy MacMaster
, The Barra MacNeils
, Rita MacNeil
, Ashley MacIsaac
and others. Irish traditional music is also very popular on the island, particularly Irish folk songs.
has long been associated with traditional Celtic music, but with the slipping economy, their music is slowly evolving to "Heavy Metal".
music and the music of Brittany
, Ireland
, Scotland
and the Maritimes
. The songs generally draw more from the French
tradition, whereas the dance tunes are more closely related to Celtic
traditions. Fiddle
and accordion
are the most common lead instruments, while piano
and guitar
often provide accompaniment. More recently, swing
has significantly influenced accompaniment styles and techniques. La Bottine Souriante
is one of the most well-recognized groups which exemplifies this tradition.
bands are also influenced by Celtic folk traditions. The most important and influential such band was Spirit of the West
, whose musical marriage of traditional Irish and Scottish jig
s and reel
s with hard rock
and Britpop
influences paved the way for later acts such as Great Big Sea
, Captain Tractor
, Mackeel, The Mahones
, Ashley MacIsaac
, Jimmy George
, Mudmen
, Uisce Beatha
and The Clumsy Lovers.
Figgy Duff
and The Rankin Family
served much the same role in pop music
, influencing later artists such as Leahy
, Mary Jane Lamond
, The Barra MacNeils and Natalie MacMaster
.
Celtic is popular but is slowly becoming heavy metal.
External Reference:
Celtic Music Base, http://www.celticmusicbase.com
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...
is primarily associated with the folk traditions of 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...
, 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...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, as well as the popular styles derived from folk culture. In addition, a number of other areas of the world are known for the use of Celtic musical styles and techniques, including Newfoundland, and much of the folk music of Canada's Maritimes
Music of Canada's Maritimes
The music of Canada's Maritime provinces has included many artists from both the traditional and pop genres. The traditional genre is heavily influenced by the music brought to the region by the European settlers, the most well known of which are the Scots & Irish celtic and Acadian traditions...
, especially on Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
.
Newfoundland
There are very strong connections between Newfoundland folk music and Irish music, however elements of English folk music and French-Canadian and AcadianAcadian
The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...
music can be heard within the style.
A very traditional strain of Irish music
Music of Ireland
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces...
exists in Newfoundland, especially in the primarily Irish-Catholic communities along the southern shore.
The instrumentation in Newfoundland music includes the button accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, tin whistle
Tin whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
and more recently the bodhrán
Bodhrán
The bodhrán is an Irish frame drum ranging from 25 to 65 cm in diameter, with most drums measuring 35 to 45 cm . The sides of the drum are 9 to 20 cm deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side...
. Many Newfoundland traditional bands also include bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and drum kit
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
. Other folk instruments such as the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and bouzouki
Bouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
are common especially among Newfoundland bands with an Irish leaning.
Because Newfoundland is an island in the North Atlantic, many of the songs focus on the fishery
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
and seafaring. Many songs chronicle the history of this unique people. Instrumental tune styles include jigs, reel
Reel (dance)
The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....
s, two steps, and polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
s.
Newfoundland musicians and musical groups
- Fiddle players: Rufus Guinchard, Kelly Russell, Emile BenoitÉmile BenoîtÉmile Joseph Benoît was a Canadian fiddler, who became known for popularizing Franco-Newfoundlander folk music traditions....
and Patrick MoranPatrick Moran (musician)Patrick Moran is a professional fiddler born in Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, Canada.Patrick began playing the fiddle in 1982 as a student of fiddle player Kelly Russell... - Button accordion players: Minnie WhiteMinnie WhiteMinnie White was a Storyville brothel proprietor in the early part of the twentieth century. She operated out of a large mansion at 221 North Basin Street, in New Orleans, Louisiana, between 1907 and 1917. For most or all of that time, she co-owned the structure with another madam, Jessie Brown...
and Harry Hibbs - Bodhran players: Fergus O'ByrneFergus O'ByrneFergus O'Byrne is an Irish-Canadian folk musician, best known as a member of the popular Irish-Newfoundland band trio Ryan's Fancy, and as a banjo, concertina and bodhrán player.-Biography:O'Byrne was born in Dublin, Ireland...
and Paddy MackeyPaddy MackeyPaddy Mackey was an Irish dual player. He played both hurling and Gaelic football with his local club New Ross and with the Wexford senior inter-county teams in both codes in the 1900s and 1910s.-Club:... - Popular Newfoundland traditional music group: Irish Descendants, Great Big SeaGreat Big SeaGreat 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...
, The Punters, ShanneyganockShanneyganockShanneyganock is folk-based band from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.Loosely translated from Gaelic, their name means "creature of the night". Their music is heavily Irish/Celtic influenced....
, ConnemaraConnemaraConnemara is a district in the west of Ireland consisting of a broad peninsula between Killary Harbour and Kilkieran Bay in the west of County Galway.-Overview:...
, The Masterless Men, Kevin CollinsKevin CollinsKevin Collins may refer to:*Kevin Collins , American actor in theatre, film, television and radio drama*Kevin T. Collins, American theatre actor and voice actor*Kevin Andrew Collins, child abducted from San Francisco in 1984...
, and Greeley's Reel. - Irish music band in Newfoundland: Ryan's FancyRyan's FancyRyan’s Fancy was a musical group active from the 1960s until the 1980s, all three of whose members were Irish immigrants to Canada.-Early years:...
Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton is internationally known for unusual styles of Cape Breton fiddlingCape Breton fiddling
Cape Breton fiddling is a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom. Cape Breton Island's fiddle music was brought to North America by Scottish immigrants during the Highland Clearances. These Scottish immigrants were primarily from Gaelic-speaking regions in the Scottish...
, which is derived from Scottish techniques
Music of Scotland
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which has remained vibrant throughout the 20th century, when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music...
. The island has produced traditional music-based popular performers like John Allan Cameron
John Allan Cameron
John Allan Cameron, was a Canadian folk singer, "The Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada. Noted for performing traditional music on his twelve string guitar, he released his first album in 1968. He released 10 albums during his lifetime and was featured on national television...
, The Rankin Family
The Rankin Family
The Rankin Family is a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards, four SOCAN Awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards and two Big Country Music Awards.- Career...
, Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster, CM is an award-winning fiddler from the rural community of Troy in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada who plays Cape Breton fiddle music....
, Buddy MacMaster
Buddy MacMaster
Hugh Alan "Buddy" MacMaster, is one of the most renowned artists in the tradition of Cape Breton fiddle music.-Early life:...
, The Barra MacNeils
Barra MacNeils
The Barra MacNeils are a Canadian musical group from Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. The founding members of the group are siblings Sheumas, Kyle, Stewart, and Lucy MacNeil. In 2005 two additional brothers, Ryan and Boyd, joined the band...
, Rita MacNeil
Rita MacNeil
Rita MacNeil, CM, ONS is a Canadian country and folk singer from the community of Big Pond on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossover Top 40 hit in 1987 and was covered by Anne Murray the following year, although she has had hits on the country...
, 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...
and others. Irish traditional music is also very popular on the island, particularly Irish folk songs.
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward IslandPrince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
has long been associated with traditional Celtic music, but with the slipping economy, their music is slowly evolving to "Heavy Metal".
Quebec
There are strong ties between traditional QuébécoisFrench-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
music and the music of 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...
, 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...
and the Maritimes
Maritimes
The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...
. The songs generally draw more from the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
tradition, whereas the dance tunes are more closely related to Celtic
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...
traditions. Fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
are the most common lead instruments, while piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
often provide accompaniment. More recently, swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
has significantly influenced accompaniment styles and techniques. La Bottine Souriante
La Bottine Souriante
La Bottine Souriante is a folk band from Quebec specialising in traditional Québécois music, often with a modern twist.Formed in 1976, they have toured extensively through North America and Europe. As well as the traditional accordion, fiddle, guitar, piano and double bass, the band added a...
is one of the most well-recognized groups which exemplifies this tradition.
Popular music
A number of popular Canadian rockCanadian rock
Canadian rock describes a wide and diverse variety of music produced by Canadians, beginning with American style rock 'n' roll in the mid-20th century. Since then Canada has had a considerable impact on the development of the modern popular music called rock...
bands are also influenced by Celtic folk traditions. The most important and influential such band was 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...
, whose musical marriage of traditional Irish and Scottish jig
Jig
The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
s and reel
Reel (dance)
The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....
s with hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and Britpop
Britpop
Britpop is a subgenre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom. Britpop emerged from the British independent music scene of the early 1990s and was characterised by bands influenced by British guitar pop music of the 1960s and 1970s...
influences paved the way for later acts such as 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...
, Captain Tractor
Captain Tractor
Captain Tractor is a Canadian folk rock band, based in Edmonton, Alberta. They play a punk-influenced variant of Celtic folk music, similar to such bands as Great Big Sea, The Pogues or Spirit of the West...
, Mackeel, The Mahones
The Mahones
-Biography:The Mahones are an Irish-born, Canadian Celtic punk band, influenced by the Celtic Rock revival of the late 1980's, pioneered by such bands as the Pogues and the Waterboys....
, 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...
, Jimmy George
Jimmy George (band)
Jimmy George is a Canadian folk rock band, who blended Celtic folk with rock influences in a manner similar to Spirit of the West and Great Big Sea....
, 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...
, Uisce Beatha
Uisce Beatha (band)
Uisce Beatha was a Canadian folk rock band in the 1990s. Formed in London, Ontario, the band consisted of Alan Glen on lead vocals and banjo, John Glen on mandolin and tin whistle, Paul Meadows on fiddle and harp, Damian Morrissy on bass guitar, Doug Watt on guitar and Marty Coles on drums later...
and The Clumsy Lovers.
Figgy Duff
Figgy Duff
Figgy Duff was a Canadian folk-rock band from Newfoundland. They played a major role in the Newfoundland cultural renaissance of the 1970s and 80s. Formed in 1976 by Noel Dinn, who named the band after a kind of traditional white pudding, Figgy Duff travelled across Newfoundland, learning...
and The Rankin Family
The Rankin Family
The Rankin Family is a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards, four SOCAN Awards, three Canadian Country Music Awards and two Big Country Music Awards.- Career...
served much the same role in pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
, influencing later artists such as Leahy
Leahy
Leahy is the name of a Canadian folk music group. The eight band members, all from the Leahy family of eleven siblings, are from Lakefield, Ontario and have been actively touring Canada and internationally since the early 1980s when they were known as The Leahy Family...
, Mary Jane Lamond
Mary Jane Lamond
Mary Jane Lamond is a Canadian celtic folk musician who performs traditional Canadian Gaelic folk songs from Cape Breton Island. She was born in 1960 in Kingston, Ontario, graduated from Westmount High School in Montreal and then the Celtic Studies program at St...
, The Barra MacNeils and Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster, CM is an award-winning fiddler from the rural community of Troy in Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Canada who plays Cape Breton fiddle music....
.
Celtic is popular but is slowly becoming heavy metal.
See also
- Music of CanadaMusic of CanadaThe music of Canada has influences that have shaped the country. Aboriginals, the British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical heritage of Canada. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between...
- Irish-Canadian
- Canadian Gaelic
- Scottish-Canadian
- Scots-QuebecerScots-QuebecerThe Scot-Quebecers , are Quebecers who are of Scottish descent.-Background:Few Scots came to Quebec before the Seven Years War. Those who did blended in with the French population...
External Reference:
Celtic Music Base, http://www.celticmusicbase.com