With a few exceptions, however, their actual instrumentation did not incorporate traditional "Celtic" instruments, though they did use time signatures typical of Jigs on several songs - a major deviation in a hip hop market where virtually everything is done in 4/4 time. The first Celtic-identified hip hop 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. 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. 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 Yr Anhrefn (Chaos) in the 1980s.
The genre is most popular in Ireland, Scotland, England, the United States, and Canada. The sound is typically fast with aggressive lyrics, rock beats, and melodies.īands in this genre include Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, The Real McKenzies, Neck, Smiting Shillelagh, Flatfoot 56, The Tossers, The Vandon Arms, The Molly Maguires, Mutiny, and Black 47 (who also incorporate hip hop influences). 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. 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".Ĭeltic pop artists such as The Corrs, Nolwenn Leroy and Gwennyn incorporate pop music elements into traditional tunes.Ĭeltic punk was essentially invented by The Pogues in the early 1980s and immediately gained popularity following the release of their first album in 1985. 5, Enter the Haggis, Callanach, The Dreaming, Shooglenifty, Spirit of the West, the American Rogues, Homeland, Ashley MacIsaac, Mudmen, Wolfstone, The Paperboys and Great Big Sea, and many others have proven the genre's vitality. Modern Celtic rock acts like The Waterboys, Jethro Tull/ Ian Anderson, Rathkeltair, Alan Stivell, Gaelic Storm, Sinéad O'Connor, The Cranberries, The Proclaimers, Red Cardell, Peatbog Faeries, Lenahan, Lordryk, Croft No. The fusion of rock 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, Celtic, and many other traditions.
These can be roughly broken down as follows: More recently, there has been a flowering of several distinct genres of Celtic fusion. "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." Īnother manifestation of this syncretic tendency emerged in New York City 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 quicksteps, foxtrots, and other popular contemporary dance tunes. The connections between traditional Scottish and Irish music and Rock music are deep and go back to the origins of American music. 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 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. Celtic fusion may or may not include authentic traditional music from any one tradition under the Celtic umbrella, but its common characteristic is the inspiration by Celtic identity.
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 is an umbrella term for any modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic", or Celtic music which incorporates modern music.