What is Celtic music?

When it comes to Celtic music, many people intuitively equate it with Ireland. In fact, it is not the patent of the Irish, just because many of the most successful artists or groups in this field often come from Ireland. In fact, Ireland is just one of the places where the Celts are active.

To understand this kind of music, we must first know the term "Celtic". Celtic is one of the oldest peoples in Europe, which rose about 5000 years ago. At first, they mainly lived in the northern Alps, and later their distribution expanded day by day. From the British Isles to the Balkans, they often lived in the position of rulers. The "Celts" referred to by the Greeks and the "Gauls" referred to by the Romans are actually Celts. Because of their strong culture, European countries are deeply influenced by it. Unfortunately, due to overpopulation, tense social relations and excessive territorial expansion, it gradually turned from prosperity to decline from the second century BC. After being attacked by the Roman Empire and Germanic tribes, they lost the advantage of the rulers, and even their culture was assimilated by the Roman Empire. Only in Ireland and Britain are they relatively well preserved.

Celts are tall, fair-skinned, strong, martial, adventurous, superstitious and have many ancient legends full of fantasy. Therefore, from King Arthur and the Knight of the Round Table in the past to the famous Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings in recent years, it is full of mysterious legends of the Celtics. In addition, due to the lack of economic resources and political repression in Ireland and Scotland, which are their main living spaces, we can find that their cultures, especially their music, are often sad while romantic and unrestrained. In order to pursue the opportunity of survival, they immigrated to "overseas" in large numbers, so Celtic culture gradually spread from the United States, Canada and Australia with the footsteps of those immigrants. After a brief understanding of their historical background, it is not difficult for us to understand various special emotional factors in Celtic music.

In many people's minds, the Celtics are the Irish nation, which may be the impression of Ireland's independence in 1922. In fact, Celts originally lived in some tribal groups in Central and Western Europe around 1000 BC. After a long migration, they came to England, and their descendants were all over Ireland, Wales, northern Scotland and western mountainous areas. Celts include Irish, Highlanders, Welsh and Cornish. Most of them speak bilingual-English and their mother tongue (Gaelic or Celtic), but their descendants in different regions often have significant differences in language. Besides learning words or cultural relics, the most direct way is to listen to the music they play with the small harp and bagpipes. That kind of ancient music with a long history has become a cultural link connecting Celtic peoples in different regions.

Unfortunately, the collection and arrangement of modern Celtic folk music is extremely meticulous. Almost after the whole record industry system was mature and perfect, Celtic music was taken seriously. Tenor John McCormack is the only famous early Celtic recording star at the beginning of this century. McCormack studied vocal music in Milan in his early years, made his first recording in London in 1904, and began to perform regularly in London Abbey Garden. In the selection of tracks, McCormack gradually added works adapted from Irish folk music: Wandering Boys, Irish Immigrants and If You Smile Like the Sunshine, which became Irish folk songs widely sung in the world under his singing. McCormack recorded hundreds of albums and sold more than 20 million copies. He effectively combined Irish folk music with classical music traditions, inspiring and inspiring many Celtic successors, Delia Murphy being one of them.

Delia Murphy continues to develop in McCormack's direction. Her song "Wheeling" was composed by john francis Waller. With its delicate Irish accent and Ghergu accent, supplemented by the harp, it soon became the representative style of Irish music in the first half of this century. Murphy is not limited to the adaptation of Irish folk music. Through a series of songs such as If I were a blackbird, cooking songs, Goodbye Mike, Goodbye Pat, Laura kleiner and so on. Murphy skillfully integrated American Broadway and jazz elements into national music. After World War II, Murphy did some song translation work, translated Celtic into Italian, and then promoted excellent Irish folk songs to the whole of Europe.

However, for a long time, most of the world-famous works with Celtic flavor came from descendants of Celtic immigrants scattered on the American continent far away from the Celtic cultural center, such as singer Dennis Day, harpist Emily Mitchell, various instrumentalists Kate Smith and Robert White. Of course, there are also many famous people in classical music, such as robert shaw Chorus, Boston Pop Orchestra led by Arthur Fred, guitarist john williams and flute player james galway. John Taifner, who lives in England, also published a modern symphony "Celtic Requiem" based on Celtic tradition in a classical way. By adapting Celtic folk music, these artists have created some "unique" works, which are usually understood as popular expressions of classical music. When it comes to artists who are truly rooted in Celtic culture, we still have to look at the local residents from the British Isles.

The Chieftains was founded in the 1960s. When the band was founded, most of its members were already the best folk artists in Dublin. They play traditional music with ancient instruments, including elbow bagpipes, violins, wooden flutes, tin flutes, double bellows accordions, harps and sheepskin drums, which are also the most popular instruments in Ireland. What is particularly commendable is that they reproduce the charm of a very old Celtic folk instrument, the Irish dulcimer (timpani), and use the clear timbre of the oboe to perform an ensemble with it. This ancient arrangement enabled them to play traditional music without sacrificing modern taste, but they were reborn. The establishment of The Chieftains was first inspired by the young creator Sean O 'Reada, who tried to adapt folk songs into concertos and set up a group called Ceoltoiri Cualann to carry out experiments. Later, the violinist Martin Fei, a member of the group, joined Patty Moroni, Sean Potts and Michael Chong Chuangqi as the chief original members. Later, Sean Kenny, Derek Bell and other members joined in. No matter whether the album is published or performed live, the chieftain doesn't have to worry about losing the charm of Celtic-Gaelic, and at the same time, he can break the framework constraints of traditional folk bands in performance. They change the beat and add variety to the music. They can change from a single four-beat scroll to a double two-beat or three-beat jig, and then to a polka or adagio. These attempts triggered a series of changes in folk orchestras. Among The Chieftains's 25 albums, the tracks are mainly traditional music, which is an important material for understanding Irish Celtic culture; The other part of the work cooperates with rock and folk artists of different styles and nationalities, and carries out experiments from music chapters, harmony methods and rhythms. Guqin music as far back as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries can be combined with blues music in the twentieth century, which has given American musicians far away from the Celtic cultural center many new ideas. Among them, one of the albums, The Chieftains, Wugeng, Early Hot Breakfast, Irish Heartbeat and the soundtrack, barry lyndon, became Sheikh's most outstanding works.

Among the orchestras that insist on playing authentic folk music with traditional instruments, there are Irish-Scottish band Children of the Bay, Scottish Battlefield Band, Irish "Wings of stockton" and Grammy Band led by violinist Ellie Bain. Although they appeared in different times, they are the same in preserving Celtic music in the traditional way, so they form the backbone of Celtic music together. Of course, in terms of singers, Simons Ennis and the Scottish Orchestra Ka Poselli are also indispensable. Ka Poselli's albums "Hot Blood" and "Walking with Lovers" are very traditional Gaelic masterpieces.

In 1950s, the revival of folk songs across the Atlantic gradually spread to the British Isles, which made many young people addicted to the new creation of folk songs. Tom clancy, Patty and Rem from the same musical family became the first Irish youths to study and inspect the American record system. Shortly after Folk Custom and Elektra helped record some Irish folk songs, Patty set up her own small company, named Tradition. From 65438 to 0956, Tradition released a small album by Josh White and odette, a black folk singer, in Britain. Clancy's other two brothers started collecting folk songs in the Appalachian Mountains. After meeting Northern Ireland musician Tommy McMum, the trio formed Clancy Brothers. Clancy brothers sang folk songs such as "A Pot of Five Flavors" and "Liverpool Residue", which were very popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The records released by the band members in their own names have also achieved excellent results. After Clancy brothers, Dubliners appeared again. This band was originally formed by a village teacher, Lonnie Zhu. It sang in Dublin Bar in the name of Lonnie Zhu in 1962, and its reputation spread all over Ireland and Britain. Halfway through, former "Draughtsman" band members John Xie Han and Bob Lynch joined in, and a series of live performances, especially at Seso Shaw Palace in London, announced that Celtic folk songs were widely recognized. Today, 30 years later, "Dubliners" have been regarded as the iconic group of Irish national art. Under the influence of the above bands, Ian McCalman's folk music group appeared in Scotland, which was later renamed McCalman. The band "They" appeared in Northern Ireland, and the juvenile band appeared in Ireland.