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.
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.
Battlefield Band is a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, none of the original founders remain in the band.
Altan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. The group were primarily influenced by traditional Irish language songs from Donegal and have sold over a million records.
Daniel Edward Lapp is a Canadian folk musician based in Victoria, British Columbia and Pender Island.
Natalie MacMaster is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. She has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss, and has recorded with Yo-Yo Ma. She has appeared at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton, Celtic Connections in Scotland and MerleFest in the United States.
The Paperboys are a Canadian folk music band from Vancouver that formed in 1991. The Paperboys blend Celtic folk with bluegrass, Mexican, Eastern European, African, zydeco, soul and country influences. The band has had a variety of members and line-ups since its original formation, with Landa remaining as the sole founding member, although veteran banjoist/bassist Cam Salay often returns as a guest performer. Known for consistently creating pop songs with melodic hooks, their music has been called versatile, with a wide range of influences, melding diverse musical influences more successfully than some other Irish rock bands have previously.
The Peatbog Faeries are a largely instrumental Celtic fusion band. Formed in 1991, they are based in Dunvegan on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Kevin Burke is an Irish master fiddler considered one of the finest living Irish fiddlers. For nearly five decades he has been at the forefront of Irish traditional music and Celtic music, performing and recording with the groups The Bothy Band, Patrick Street, and the Celtic Fiddle Festival. He is a 2002 recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Welcome to Dun Vegas is the third album by Scottish Celtic fusion group Peatbog Faeries, released in July 2003 as the first release on the band's own Peatbog Records label. The album was recorded in a cottage on the banks of Pool Roag, near Dunvegan, on the Isle of Skye. Following the electronic-infused Faerie Stories (2001), Dun Vegas was co-produced between Calum MacLean and the band's drummer Iain Copeland. The album is experimental, mixing traditional and modern Celtic music with other genres and styles such as African music and electronica and featuring experimental effects including backwards drumming and a track based around a kitchen cooker timer.
Frigg is a Finnish folk music band that plays contemporary folk music, which takes its name from the goddess of Germanic mythology Frigg.
Eluveitie is a Swiss folk metal band from Winterthur, Zürich, founded in 2002 by Chrigel Glanzmann. The project's first demo, Vên, was released in 2003. Vên was a studio project of Glanzmann's, but its success led to the recruitment of a full band. The band then released a full-length album, Spirit, in June 2006. In November 2007, Eluveitie was signed by Nuclear Blast. The group rose to fame following the release of their first major-label album, Slania, in February 2008. The album peaked at number 35 in the Swiss charts and number 72 in the German charts.
Catriona Macdonald is a fiddler, composer, researcher, and lecturer from Shetland, located some 320 km north of the Scottish mainland. She is considered to be among the world's leading traditional fiddle players, and one of the top exponents of the Shetland fiddle, a branch of traditional music with clear connections to the music of Scotland, but which features differs slightly in its overall feeling. The music of Shetland has been shaped for centuries by visitors and various musicians from abroad, including Scandinavians, and has been influenced by styles such as the music of Orkney, Norway and Ireland.
Winifred Horan is an American violinist/fiddler of Irish descent. After classical training, she played with the all-female Celtic music ensemble Cherish the Ladies before becoming an original member of the Irish traditional music group Solas.
Celtic Fiddle Festival is a group of Celtic fiddlers active since 1993. Representing three branches of Celtic culture, the members were Johnny Cunningham from Scotland, late of Silly Wizard, Kevin Burke from Ireland, best known for the Bothy Band, and Christian Lemaître from Brittany, member of Kornog. Since Cunningham's death in 2003, the group has continued to perform, replacing him with André Brunet from Quebec, formerly of La Bottine Souriante. In 2015 Andrè Brunet left the band and was replaced by Scottish Fiddler, Charlie McKerron, who is also in the band Capercaille.
Breabach is a Scottish folk music band formed in 2005. In 2011, they received nominations for ‘Best Group’ at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. They won Scottish Folk Band of the Year in 2012 and Live Act of the Year in 2013 at the Scots Trad Music Awards.
The Celtic Social Club is a musical band formed in 2013. It was led by Manu Masko.
Barrule was a Celtic and folk trio from the Isle of Man. The band's three members were: Tomas Callister (fiddle), Jamie Smith (accordion) and Adam Rhodes (bouzouki). Barrule's discography included both original and traditional Manx language songs.
The Crossing are an American traditional Celtic music band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1984, they have released seven studio albums, Look Both Ways (1988), Rise and Go (1990), Dancing at the Crossroads (1993), Dochas: Hope (1996), The Court of a King: A Celtic Christmas Celebration (1998), Standing Stones (2002), and Baile (Home) (2010). They released these albums with Grrr Records.
Jamie Smith's Mabon were a Welsh folk band renowned for their live performances and their seven albums released between 2001 and 2018. Founded in 1998, the band disbanded in 2020.
