There's lots about the music of the Celtic people, some background and Celtic poetry/songs in the folksong tradition, and even an article on, and some .wav files of, the Highland Bagpipes. To just jump to the music section of this page, just kick your kilt to Music of the Celtic Peoples. Before you wander off to peruse the music section, though, a little background about the languages (yes! more than one!) of the Celts might be in order...
People speak of the Gaelic language and think that only Irish Gaelic exists—au contraire, mon frère... There's Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic as well (naming only two of the five main languages)... and the history of the various Celtic languages is as colourful as the languages themselves. Following are the five main Celtic languages and a little about their beginnings. You can jump to any of them by dancing your mouse onto the desired language. At the end of each section you also have the option of returning to the top of the page, dancing yourself over the Music section, or rolling to the bottom of the page and "oot" the door.
WELSH
MANX GAELIC
SCOTTISH GAELIC
CORNISH
IRISH GAELIC
Give Me MUSIC!
BAGPIPES?!? ACK! HELP! LEMME OUTTA HERE! (cretins)
It's difficult to be precise about the movement of the Celts into the British Isles, although it is generally agreed that (1) they appeared in the early part of the first millennium B.C., (2) the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age people were Celtic speaking, and (3) by the 6th century A.D., the Welsh language had developed.
There are references to the Celtic bards who sang odes in the land of Gaul, testifying that music was an important element in Celtic civilisation. Galeg, the language of the Gauls (a descendant of the Celtic mother tongue) is a "sister" language of Goedeleg—the tongue spoken by the Celts of Ireland, from which developed Hen Wyddeleg (Old Irish), Manaweg (Manx) and Gaeleg (Scots Gaelic). Another sister language spoken by the Celts of the main island of Britain was Brythoneg, from which developed Cymraeg (Welsh), Cernyweg (Cornish) and Llydaweg (Breton). Interestingly enough (and of significance), the words used by Welsh tribesmen to describe the skills of musicians and poets are of purely Celtic origin: barrd (poet), cerddor (musician), prydydd (maker). The importance of those responsible for music and poetry can be seen by references to the Penkerdd (Chief of Song) and Bardd Teulu (Bard of the Household).
I've always said that Welsh was a language in search of a vowel (well... I suppose "y" DOES count.. *grin*)—but that's just me being silly. It's a beautiful language—melodious and musical.
The small Isle of Man (only 227 square miles), although with traces of Neolithic Man and early Pictish art, owes its basic race in historical times to the Gaelic Celt. This later amalgamated with the Norse (more due to Norse settlement than the many Viking raids), but the influence of the Norse language is scarcely traceable except in place names—the Manx language remaining almost purely Gaelic.
Manx Gaelic is a branch of the ancient Gaelic once common in Ireland, Scotland and Man. In the fishing voyages to Ireland and the Hebrides (part of the Manx annual routine until the beginning of the 20th century), the fishermen found no difficulty in communicating with the Gaelic speakers of either Scotland or Ireland, although the language had developed many differences of idiom and intonation. Although there's been a strong movement for the revival of Manx Gaelic, sadly, its last native speaker died in 1974. Happily, though, some of the younger set have rekindled interest in the folk songs of the Island, and even have managed to organise church services using both the spoken and sung "Old Language."
The previous strongholds of Scottish Gaelic were the Western Isles and a few remote areas of the mainland—mainly because of their remoteness and relative sparsity of communication with the English-speaking world. The modern economic pressures, however, have forced the industrial south of Scotland into centralisation and Anglicisation. Though the spoken languages is having a tough time of it, there's still a remarkable wealth of song (many in the oral tradition, some examples over 400 years old). The bardic Gaelic poetry and songs are highly personal—most written in the first person—the intention behind this gives the singer the authority of a participant or first-hand reporter.
Cornwall is sort of the musical Cinderella of the Celtic family. The other languages resound in song, but ancient Cornish shows the words of only a few—and those without their music. The loss of the native tongue (the last Cornish speaker, Dolly Pentreath, died all the way back in 1777!) is actually not that surprising—Cornwall is only about a tenth of the size of Ireland or Wales, and doesn't have the advantage, like Man, of being an island. Because of the wealth of tin in Cornwall, it was the first part of Britain to be industrialised. Cornwall was at the centre of the shipping lanes (in the days prior to road transport), so it's no wonder that she was the earliest of the Celtic lands to lose her language.
Most of the native Irish until the mid-17th century spoke only the Irish language. Up to this time, English (from its introduction by the Anglo-Norman invaders near the end of the 12th century) was spoken only in the Pale, a district in/around Dublin, and in some of the bigger towns—but not at all in the country districts.
Once Cromwell came over and took the lands from the Catholic Irish and gave them to the imported Protestant English, however, it marked the beginning of the end for the Irish language (not to mention the ensuing religious persecutions). The famine of the mid-19th century quickened the rate of deterioration of the everyday language due to the massive emigration of so many of the Irish.
Many great Irish songs belong to the tradition of harpers/bards—the last of the great ones, Carolan, died in 1738. Surprisingly, since we so often think of Irish music and song as part and parcel of the dance, there are NO ancient Irish Gaelic songs with references to dancing (boating songs, so common in lowland Scots Gaelic are also absent). It seems that dancing was not introduced into Ireland until after the Anglo-Norman conquest—the earliest reference in the Irish language does not occur until the end of the 16th century—after which the Irish soon adapted it, like other cultural imports, so that it became an integral part of their way of life.
Some of the history and the musical traditions of the folksongs of the Isles follows. I've also included lyrics to some of the poetry and songs, along with an overview of the Highland Bagpipes and, as above, you have OPTIONS! You can go directly to the songs & poetry, return to the top of the page (the Language section), or roll "oot" the door at the bottom of this page, and be on your way!
Take Me to the Songs and Poetry—The Heck With This Other Stuff
Give Me Bagpipes—NOW!
I Goofed! I Really Wanna be at the Top!
Take Me From This Celtic Craziness!
The bard, the minstrel, the roving troubadour... an integral part of the Celtic peoples in ancient, medieval and renaissance times. This was the unwritten history and culture of the community. The minstrels presented the news, tales of intrigue and courageous deeds, and even descriptions of the latest fashions and gossip from the Royal Courts... Kinda like your own personal newspaper without having to know how to read (which is a good thing, since most of the country folk were illiterate, even through the nineteenth century).
Minstrelsy (sounds funny, huh?) presented the news in the form of sung recitation or narrative, and stories of new events were borne on the backs of old rhythms, melodies and commonplace phrases. The minstrels, while sometimes in competition with each other, shared and maintained the amalgam of poetry and music which belonged to the community as a whole. To take a look and listen at some songs in this tradition of "Minstrelsy," hop on over to Cantaria. Lyrics, chordings, .wav and .au files of many songs are available at the site. 'Tis a lot of fun, and contemporary bardic-tradition songs are also to be found.
Improvements in communication and the development of printing produced rapid changes in society and the bardic tradition, especially the separation of the lettered and unlettered. This resulted in a distinct class of literary practitioners who consciously wrote and composed for a literate and increasingly sophisticated public. During the reigns of the Tudor and Stuart monarchs in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there was still a close relationship between town and country, between squire and tenant, chief and clan, but by the early eighteenth century (the "Age of Reason" hah!), the literate town-dweller lived in a world almost completely cut off from the people of the countryside. Funny thing, though... it was the "progressive" townsmen who first became curious about their countryside and rediscovered the value of the traditional songs, stories and music, although it was the sung-stories or ballads which particularly appealed, as poets looked for verse patterns for new composition. Guess the poor country folk were too busy trying to eke out their meager existences from harsh lands and lairds.
The craze for printed collections of ballads started in Scotland with such volumes as Allan Ramsay's "Tea-Table Miscellany (1724-40), Bishop Percy's "Reliques" (1765), Walter Scott's "Minstrelsy" (1802), and the works of Robert Burns. Burns was himself a collector and supplied a great deal of traditional material to James Johnson for "The Scots Musical Museum" (1787) as well as writing new verses to the old ballad tunes. This first wave of interest in balladry concentrated almost wholly on the poetry and texts of the songs. Musical interest in the ballads was almost negligible, and the systematic search for folk melodies did not come until nearly two hundred years later!
This literary interest in the popular ballads of England and Scotland continued for three centuries, and eventually led to the compilation and editing at Harvard of the authoritative volumes of Professor Francis J. Child, "English and Scottish Popular Ballads" (1882-98)—often referred to, simply, as "The Child Ballads."
With the increasing interest in the piano during the middle of the nineteenth century came an interest in the melodies of the old folk songs. Is it any wonder that some of the first publishers of folk music collections in England were the piano-makers. William Chappell and John Broadwood. William Chappell's "National English Airs" (1838) and "Popular Music of the Olden Time" (1858) marked the beginnings of background documentation and musical analysis of English folksongs. Chappell published his first collection at the age of thirty, declaring his aim was "to give refutation to the popular fallacy that England has no National Music." (Gee... maybe they didn't swipe EVERYTHING after all! *HEE HEE*)
Thanks to Chappell and Broadwood, from the mid-1800s on, English folksong collections appeared with their melodies arranged for the piano. Songs of country life, sea shanties, children's games, seasonal songs, carols and political strife were gathered from the various regions, and by the late 1800s, the number of music collectors had increased to such an extent that they started to tread on each others' toes. Unlike politicians, the musicologists of the day recognised the importance of working together as a corporate body and began to form national folksong societies in England, Wales and Ireland, publishing annual journals. Song collectors soon benefited from the shared specialised knowledge of their varied members.
This second wave of folksong led to a reappraisal of its importance as MUSIC this time, rather than merely poetry, and music which could make both a national and universal appeal. This second rediscovery of the traditions of the ancient lands, like the first, looked at the body of work as a treasure trove of literary and music gifts that had been transmitted casually by successive generations of unlettered popular entertainers.
Folksong harkened back to the country folk who depended on an unconscious process of acquiring their traditional craft skills and lore, such as the oral transmission of music, poetry and stories. Traditional songs and ballads reflect the social conditions and ways and life of a community. Through the refining process of oral transmission, they became intense expressions of generalised feelings which went right to the heart of matters. As such, they were effective vehicles for communicating elemental emotions and simple passions. When used by the satirists, lampooners and propagandists of the day, they provided the most potent form of publicity, rivaling the printed word, creating a forceful mode of protest, revolt and social comment. The most effective of these politically-slanted broadside ballads of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were the catchy traditional melodies to which the balladmongers attached their partisan messages. Many were old dance tunes which had already survived because of their capacity to carry meaningful verses and choruses. Often it was an undertone association (the bawdiness of the original song giving a suggestive, salty flavour to a satirical poem or political lampoon, for example), and it was this musical suggestiveness that really gave the broadside such a hold over popular songwriters of this time. The appeal of Robert Burns' poetry, for instance, depends a great deal on the rhythms and cadences of the folk airs that inspired so much of his verse.
The effectiveness of many of the folksongs comes from their use as a way of telling a story. The unusual rhythms can arouse interest, the familiar tunes can relax, the choruses invite participation, but for the most part, folksong audiences find themselves caught up with the almost operatic ability of the singer to tell a good tale. The tunes are nearly always subservient to the story or emotion, rather than forming the basis of any great musical achievement. Listeners are not told what they ought to hear, but are expected to use their imagination and to select those dramatic elements and emotions with which they already have some personal experience.
So... To really understand the Celtic peoples you really need to look at the songs and poetry that inspired them. I have included the text of a few (some with their Gaelic language translations), but have not included any sound clips here. You can, however, visit CANTARIA for the old and new in the bardic tradition. With the resurgence of interest in Celtic music and culture, CELTIC HEARTBEAT RECORDS has flourished, so you should probably take a gander at the wares they are providing. HEAR music also has a bunch of nifty stuff, too. You can visit their store in Santa Monica, California where you can listen to anything they have in stock (they were the FIRST to offer this service in the modern market), or call them at 310-319-9527 for their mail-order catalogue. They have world music you'll not find anywhere else.
One of my favourite Scottish singers/songwriters is Andy M. Stewart. He mixes the old and new—doing some of the old Scottish songs, and writing new ones with that old feel, but never losing sight of some of the issues of today. He follows in the true tradition of the "folksinger," in that his words and music are not just for entertainment value, but to educate and inform as well. He's also funny as all get-out sometimes! :-) He's on GREEN LINNET RECORDS and I have to say that his CD "At it Again" with Mánus Lunny is one of the best of its kind that you'll hear (gee, can you tell that I like him?). ANDY! IF YOU'RE LISTENING! I'LL SING WITH YOU! *HEE HEE* (I'd love to, really!)
Of course, no discussion of Scottish music tradition these days would be complete without mention of Alex Beaton and Alisdair Frasier. If you like the traditional Scottish songs (and some of the funny and.or bawdy ones even!), you'll enjoy Alex, and for you lovers of fiddle music, Alisdair will give you some of the best. They both play at many of the different Scottish Highland Gatherings and Games around the U.S. & Scotland, and wherever Scottish Culture and Music are celebrated! Besides the little link here, you can contact GLENFINNAN MUSIC (in Canoga Park, California) directly at 818-348-0146 for Alex's CDs, videos, etc. Alisdair Frasier plays on a lot of Alex's stuff, too!
"But what about the BAGPIPES?!?" I hear you cry! Hah! Never fear! An article, a .wav file and a luvly pic of a piper are in their own little Bagpipe home!
Okay! So who broke my counter ALREADY?!?
