Golden Bough is a Celtic-music band formed in 1980 and based in California. [1] The band performs at music festivals and has toured Europe several times. [1] They are known for their acoustic musical performances of folk music and Celtic music and for their 22 albums. [1] They are also known for their association with Lief Sørbye (a founding member) and with the band Tempest. [1]
Current members of the band include Margie Butler (lyric soprano) on vocals, Celtic harp, penny whistle, recorder, bodhran and guitar; Paul Espinoza (folk tenor) on vocals, guitar, accordion and octave-mandolin; Kathy Sierra (folk soprano) on vocals, violin and viola. [1] [2]
The band came about after some friends attended a series of concerts at the Cannery at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. The founders were Margie Butler, Margot Duxler, Lief Sørbye, and Paul Espinoza. [1] Simon Spaulding also performed with them in the first lineup. Other artists who have been members include Florie Brown (violinist), Richard Ferry (flutist), Alison Bailey (fiddler), and Sue Draheim (violinist). [1]
The band describes their music as "rooted in" the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, The Isle of Man, French Brittany and Spanish Galicia. [3] The group creates its own arrangements of the songs, giving them "a sound unique unto themselves." [4] [5] Along with traditional works they have mined such singers as Eric Bogle (Green Fields of France), Archie Fisher (Witch of the Westmorelands) and Jamie McMenemy's setting of The Blind Harper of Lochmaben. They also perform their own original compositions. [5]
Some examples of songs they sing include: Red is the Rose , The Sea Queen of Connemara, The Wizard, Shifty Morgan , The Tailor and the Mouse, Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair , The Rattlin' Bog , Green Grow the Rashes-O , Charlie is my Darling , My Little Boat, Black Jack Davy, The Song of the Swan Maiden, Muirsheen Durkin , Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears by Brendan Graham, and perhaps even the Turlough O'Carolan tune, Carolan's Draught. [5]
Beltane or Bealtaine is the Gaelic May Day festival, marking the beginning of summer. It is traditionally held on 1 May, or about midway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Historically, it was widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. In Ireland, the name for the festival in both Irish and English is Bealtaine. In Scottish Gaelic it is called Latha Bealltainn, and in Manx Gaelic Laa Boaltinn/Boaldyn. Beltane is one of the four main Gaelic seasonal festivals—along with Samhain, Imbolc, and Lughnasadh—and is similar to the Welsh Calan Mai.
Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerably to include everything from traditional music to a wide range of hybrids.
Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.
Scotland is internationally known for its traditional music, which remained vibrant throughout the 20th century and into the 21st when many traditional forms worldwide lost popularity to pop music. Despite emigration and a well-developed connection to music imported from the rest of Europe and the United States, the music of Scotland has kept many of its traditional aspects and influenced many other forms of music.
Alan Stivell is a Breton and Celtic musician and singer, songwriter, recording artist, and master of the Celtic harp. From the early 1970s, he revived global interest in the Celtic harp and Celtic music as part of world music. As a bagpiper and bombard player, he modernized traditional Breton music and singing in the Breton language. A precursor of Celtic rock, he is inspired by the union of the Celtic cultures and is a keeper of the Breton culture.
British folk rock is a form of folk rock which developed in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s, and was at its most significant in the 1970s. Though the merging of folk and rock music came from several sources, it is widely regarded that the success of "The House of the Rising Sun" by British band the Animals in 1964 was a catalyst, prompting Bob Dylan to "go electric", in which, like the Animals, he brought folk and rock music together, from which other musicians followed. In the same year, the Beatles began incorporating overt folk influences into their music, most noticeably on their Beatles for Sale album. The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, in turn, influenced the American band the Byrds, who released their recording of Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" in April 1965, setting off the mid-1960s American folk rock movement. A number of British groups, usually those associated with the British folk revival, moved into folk rock in the mid-1960s, including the Strawbs, Pentangle, and Fairport Convention.
Celtic rock is a genre of folk rock, as well as a form of Celtic fusion which incorporates Celtic music, instrumentation and themes into a rock music context. It has been prolific since the early 1970s and can be seen as a key foundation of the development of successful mainstream Celtic bands and popular musical performers, as well as creating important derivatives through further fusions. It has played a major role in the maintenance and definition of regional and national identities and in fostering a pan-Celtic culture. It has also helped to communicate those cultures to external audiences.
Tempest is an American Celtic rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, based in Oakland, California. They fuse the traditional Celtic music with Norwegian and European folk, American folk, and progressive rock.
"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" (Roud 1, Child 200), is a traditional folk song that originated as a Scottish border ballad, and has been popular throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. It concerns a rich lady who runs off to join the gypsies (or one gypsy). Common alternative names are "Gypsy Davy", "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies O", "The Gypsy Laddie(s)", "Black Jack David" (or "Davy") and "Seven Yellow Gypsies".
Celtic fusion is an umbrella term for any modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic", or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. 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 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.
Robin Duncan Harry Williamson is a Scottish multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and storyteller who was a founding member of The Incredible String Band.
The Fureys are an Irish folk band originally formed in 1974. The group consisted initially of four brothers who grew up in Ballyfermot, Dublin.
Irish traditional music is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
"The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad and is one of the ballads collected by Francis Child in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882–1898).
"A Sailor’s Life" is an English language folk song which describes the attempt of a young woman to find her lover, a sailor. Eventually she hears that he has drowned and mourns him.
Folk baroque or baroque guitar is a distinctive and influential guitar fingerstyle developed in Britain in the 1960s, which combined elements of American folk, blues, jazz and ragtime with British folk music to produce a new and elaborate form of accompaniment. It has been highly important in folk music, folk rock and British folk rock playing, particularly in Britain, Ireland, North America and France.
Renaissance de la Harpe Celtique or Renaissance of the Celtic Harp is a 1972 record album by the Breton master of the Celtic harp Alan Stivell that revolutionised the connection between traditional folk music, modern rock music and world music.
Sunken Treasures is the third release by Tempest. It is a collection of rare/demo tracks up until that point.
Celtic Solstice is an album by Paul Winter, released in 1999 through the record label Living Music. In 2000, the album earned him a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album.
Sue Draheim was an American fiddler, boasting a more than forty year musical career in the US and the UK. Growing up in North Oakland, Draheim began her first private violin lessons at age eleven, having started public school violin instruction at age eight while attending North Oakland's Peralta Elementary School. She also attended Claremont Jr. High, and graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1967.