The Chieftains are one of the world’s most famous
Celtic bands. They have been together in different
incarnations for 48 years. Through touring the
globe, they have also incorporated many other world
music styles into their performances. They will be
performing in the St Paul area in March of 2010.
The earliest Scottish music was probably harp tunes
and Gaelic singing. Many forms of Scottish music
exist... from pipe and drum to folk styles. One of
the most well known is dance music, based on
traditional Scottish dances including stepdance.
dance music is played to this day at ceilidhs,
weddings and country dances.
Scottish instruments include harp, accordian,
fiddle, guitar, tin whistle, drums and of course,
the great Highland bagpipe or pìob mór.
Bagpipes can be traced back as far as the 6th
century. Scottish clans known for piping include
the Clans MacLeod, MacCrimmon, McKay, MacDonald,
and MacArthurs.
Some well known musicians of Scottish descent are
Steve McDonald, Rod Stewart, Donovan, Donald Black,
Gordon Duncan, Fred Morrison, and one of my
favorites, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Scottish
bands of notoriety include The Clutha,
The Boys of the Lough, the Incredible
String Band, and The Tannahill
Weavers.
I only have a few Scottish songs so far, but I'm
working on more. Let me know what you want to hear
on the form at the bottom of the page.
Everyone has their favorite Irish songs... here’s
mine. Maybe a new album in the works?
In no particular order:
Wild Rover
John Barleycorn
Cockles and Mussels (Molly Mallone)
Pretty Maid Milking a Cow
Drunken Sailor
Gary Owen
Mountain dew
Ramblin Rover
Whiskey in the Jar
Danny Boy
The ultimate parody heavy metal band Spinal Tap
will release a new song called “Celtic
Blues” soon.It will appear on their new album
'Back From The Dead' to be released on
June 15, 2009.
Spinal Tap is the brainchild of comedians Harry
Shearer, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean, who
starred in 1984’s cult classic spoof rockumentary
film This is Spinal Tap. In that movie, the band
first showed their Celtic side on the song
StoneHenge. The Celtic part starts at about 2:00
in. Hilarious!
Celtic Rock Music as its name
implies, combines Celtic music and instruments with
those of Rock Music.
Fairport Convention, is sometimes credited with
being the first English folk-rock band. They formed
in 1967 in England, and began a long and often
difficult career. Though many of the members have
changed through the years, Fairport now is one of
the busiest of the Celtic Rock bands in Europe.
Bassist Dave Pegg also plays with Jethro Tull from
time to time.
The Irish group Horslips, who in the early 1970s
were the first group to use the term 'Celtic rock'
to describe their music. Horslips in particular
displayed many elements of Celtic rock: traditional
Irish/Celtic music and instrumentation, celtic
themes and imagery, concept albums based on Irish
mythology all powered by driving hard rock. Other
early bands who fall under the Celtic rock music
banner include Sweeneys Men, Pentangle and Steeleye
Span.
Jethro Tull has taken Celtic Rock Music
into the realm of mainstream success. Tull began by
combining Celtic themes with American jazz and
blues, but progressed into a harder style and
commercial success with "Aqualung". Fans
of Celtic Music would appreciate the "Songs
from the Woods" album.
In the wake following punk music, the London based
The Pogues created the subgenre Celtic punk. In
more recent years bands like Cruachan have combined
Celtic music and imagery with heavy metal to create
a new sub-genre of Celtic rock - Celtic metal.
Styles are determined by tempo (speed of the song)
as well as
• Reels : probably the most
popular style of Celtic or Irish music, these are
usually at a very fast tempo in 4/4 time.
• Jigs : also very popular, jigs
are usually in 6/8 time
• Slip Jigs : unusual time of 9/8.
counted as 3-3-3
• Marches : these pieces of music
were typically used in wartime. There are three
main types...Scottish using the Highland pipes,
English using Northumberland pipes, and Irish using
Irish war pipes. These pieces of music were usually
in 4/4 time, but some early marches were in 3/4.
• Airs : slow haunting ballads
often played on harp.
"Scotland the Brave -" is a
rocking video of Steve Reel and The SkyEarth
Orchestra performing in front of a very
enthusiastic crowd during a concert in 2006. The
medley includes, of course, Scotland the Brave,
Drowsy Maggie, and Turkey in the Straw.
Scotland The Brave Medley features drums,
bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar,
violin,bodhran, spoons and synths covering the
bagpipes.
The original recording of this version of
Scotland the Brave is from Steve
Reel's Celtic Night CD. Download it today
and rock out tartan style! You can find it under
Celtic Songs
Reposted from Youtube
Steve Reel and the Skyearth Orchestra
Scotland The Brave - Medley