Since I’m still feeling decidedly celtic (usually it doesn’t take that long), I shopped eBay a bit for modern Celtic music. Even uninitiated people have probably heard of Runrig – the self-acclaimed “Scotland’s Premier Celtic Band” – before. I got a very nice live CD called “Once in a Lifetime-Live” where their obligatory version of the folk classic “Loch Lomond” gets performed with virtually a thousand voices. Slightly less Celtic but still nice is the second disc “Searchlight“. Though Runrig does not need promotion anymore, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce two other bands to my readers (ha!).
Some of the most celtic-sounding Celtic music comes from – France! No need to be surprised, after all Asterix was a Celtic warrior too. And in Brittany there are still a few senior citizens who speak a Celtic dialect. Voilá, enter Dan Ar Braz. Being a guitar player, he cooperated with many musicions to make a series of CD’s and acclaimed live concerts called “Héritage des celtes” (Celtic heritage). By chance I got a bootlegged CD many years ago, but a fellow webmaster and Irish expatriate living in France sent me the double CD “Zenith”.
Finally, I want to introduce a German band by the name of “Fiddler’s Green“. For the last 15 years they are touring up and down the country playing what they call “Irish Independent Speedfolk”. Have a look at their website – there are two nice video clips to get into the mood. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance yet to see them live, but I got two of their older CD’s “Fiddler’s Green” and “Black Sheep“.
To sum my Celtic mood up, I just opened a bottle of Cragganmore Single Malt Whisky which went untouched for a couple of years because I never got around to open it. It was a pleasant surprise. Slainthe!