I have Clannad beguiling me right now. I lack the skill to translate “Seachran Charn Tsiail” but love it anyway. And I have some Chieftains racked up for the bedtime listen – in this case with cameos by Sting, Sinead, Knopfler, Cooder, er al.

Alas I realize now I never had any green on today – that was much more of a focus back when I was a lad and pinching at least would have followed. The spaniels have been wearing their green Mardi Gras beads.

My ancestry is 50% Swede and 50% the rest of Europe – i.e. I’m a mutt, and count on it including some Irish! At the very least it does in spirit.

Dinner tonight was corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots. Don’t spare the horseradish!

Thanks so much for the Soda Bread recipe.

pj

There’s also an Irish Fest Summer School, which has classes in a wide variety of insturments, traditional singing, dance, crafts, calligraphy, etc. That begins the Sunday evening of the week of the festival. It’s at UW-Milwaukee’s campus, and very reasonable accommodations are available in the student dorms. Don’t know if roooms can be used for the actual Irish Fest days.

Google for Irish Fest Milwaukee.

So wonderful! And, iirc, about $12 or so a day (may have gone up slightly). 5 or 6 large stages, many, many smaller stages. All on Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shore.

Searched all yesterday for world’s best corned beef and cabbage recipe (may or may not have found it), only to discover this is a semi-bogus dish in the way of pizza and chow mein, i.e., to please the tourists. (sigh) Undaunted, I move forward.

I have no documentation for this, but I thought corned beef was more of a North American thing. The Irish immigrant families in some cases ate corned beef and cabbage because it was affordable. Of course, the same folks in the British Isles who rang on Yanks for our “Irish” corned beef and cabbage fail to notice that that salt beef I’ve seen for sale over there bears more than a passing resemblance to corned beef.

Natalie MacMaster

and

The Tannahill Weavers

Silly Wizard… Christy Moore… Bothy Band, Tannahill Weavers, Boys of the Lough There was an energy in their music that you didn’t get from the Chieftains. (These days, the Chieftains do have that kind of groove, but mostly because of Matt Molloy, who started with the Bothys, and Kevin Cunniff on bodhran & vocals.)….

I’m stunned at the Celtic music knowledge of FDLers, esp this comment.

Also must reiterate Mary Black, Clannad, Pogues, and Moving Hearts.

But has no one heard of Capercaillie (Scottish)? They have a wide range of sounds and rhythms (band includes Manus Lunny).

Also excellent: The Old Blind Dogs (Scottish).

And, as several others have mentioned, there’s great Celtic music in Bretagne. Those seafaring Celts made music from the costs of Spain (Portugal = “Port of the Gauls”) up to the Shetlands. There’s some splendidly good Celtic music in the Bretagne region of France.

So many reasons to love iTunes and YouTube…

This post warmed the very cockles of my heart, as yours truly is an Irish trad musician (fiddle, tenor banjo, and mandolin). The Chieftains were the lads who interested me in the music, some 25 years back. About three years ago, I had the chance to play onstage with them (or most of them–Derek Bell had passed away, poor man).

They do that, wherever they go–invite the local trad musicians onstage for a set of reels, for the encore of the show. It was one of the grandest experiences of my life, with Paddy Moloney looking back over his shoulder at me to signal the change of tunes, and Sean Keane giving the nod of approval as things progressed. (”Ah, that was good shtuff” he said to me afterwards backstage–I nearly melted down with pleasure)

It was like a garage-band rocker being invited onstage to play with the Stones. Never forget that evening, no I will not.

So–to your topic: Give a listen sometime to Altan, if you can. Mairead ni Mhaonaigh is one of the greatest fiddlers of all, and they will lift the floor for you. And seek out a virtually unknown band called Chulrua: Paddy O’Brien on box, Tim Britten on Uillean pipes, Pat Egan on guitar, and the sound they produce will make your hair stand on end.

Back to lurking now. Daily reader, thankful for all the work you all do, and for the fine level of commenting …

I’m a big Irish music fan, but only since I discovered the newer, more eclectic trad stuff that’s been coming out of Ireland in the last 15 years or so. I saw only a couple of mentions of the bands I love best, so I’ll list them together here. Mike McGunnigle (I think) mentioned “pushing the envelope,” which is exactly the quality I look for… especially bands that put a more interesting bottom end on the music. For an experience you’ll never forget, go see either of these bands, which usually tour the US at least once a year:

LNASA

DERVISH

Dervish is currently touring the east coast and the midwest till the end of March; and Lnasa is in Alaska, working their way to the east coast till early April—google them and check out their tour schedules.

Added bonus for seeing these bands live: when you’re not being thrilled by the music, you’ll be laughing your ass off. Kevin Crawford (Lnasa) and Cathy Jordan (Dervish) are both hilarious.

Just a question Christie

What is with all this “Celtic” pride? The Viking bloodlines are VERY evident in Irish history. In fact, the easiest way to spot it is to look for the redheads. The truth is, you are almost as Viking as a Norwegian. I mean, just look at you!

If I remember Nova correctly, when genetic tests of Icelandic natives were done, they were found to have more in common with the Irish than with the Norse. Seems many Irish slaves were brought back to Iceland, and have come to dominate the gene pool.