With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching, playlists will soon be filling up with “diddly-i-o’s,” “mush-a ring dum-a do dum-a da’s,” and “no-nay-never no more’s.” And while it’s easy for even the most musically illiterate person to hear a Dubliners’, Clancy Brothers’, Chieftains’, or Pogues’ song and say definitively, “THAT’s Celtic music!” – getting that person to explain WHY it’s Celtic is a totally different story.
About a year ago, I sought to explain those distinctive aspects of Celtic music that make it so…errrr, “Celtic-sounding.” In addition to using several online resources, I found the textbook Focus: Irish Traditional Music by Sean Williams (available in the Kindle Store) incredibly helpful. My research complete, I presented my findings to my office in one of our weekly “Lunch & Learn” presentations.
Sláinte! (Cheers!)
Erik Devaney 