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.
Scottish folk music is a genre of folk music that uses forms that are identified as part of the Scottish musical tradition. There is evidence that there was a flourishing culture of popular music in Scotland during the late Middle Ages, but the only song with a melody to survive from this period is the "Pleugh Song". After the Reformation, the secular popular tradition of music continued, despite attempts by the Kirk, particularly in the Lowlands, to suppress dancing and events like penny weddings. The first clear reference to the use of the Highland bagpipes mentions their use at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547. The Highlands in the early seventeenth century saw the development of piping families including the MacCrimmons, MacArthurs, MacGregors and the Mackays of Gairloch. There is also evidence of adoption of the fiddle in the Highlands. Well-known musicians included the fiddler Pattie Birnie and the piper Habbie Simpson. This tradition continued into the nineteenth century, with major figures such as the fiddlers Niel and his son Nathaniel Gow. There is evidence of ballads from this period. Some may date back to the late Medieval era and deal with events and people that can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century. They remained an oral tradition until they were collected as folk songs in the eighteenth century.
Northwest Iberian folk music is a traditional highly distinctive folk style, located along Spain's north-west Atlantic coast, mostly Galicia and Asturias, that has some similarities with the neighbouring area of Cantabria. The music is characterized by the use of bagpipes.
The Superjesus are an Australian rock band formed in Adelaide in late 1994. Their debut album, Sumo, peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart, their second album, Jet Age reached No. 5 and their third album, Rock Music peaked at No. 14. Their top 40 singles include "Down Again" (1997), "Now and Then" (1998), "Gravity" (2000) and "Stick Together" (2003). At the ARIA Music Awards of 1997 they won Best New Talent for Eight Step Rail and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Shut My Eyes". The group disbanded in mid-2004, and reunited in 2013. The band has undergone multiple line-up changes, with lead vocalist Sarah McLeod and bassist Stuart Rudd serving as mainstays. As of 2022, they are joined by lead guitarist Cam Blokland and drummer Murray Sheridan.
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.
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.
Rare Air, formerly Na Cabarfeidh, was a Canadian band that played an eccentric mix of instruments, including bagpipes, flutes, whistles, bombardes, bass guitar, and keyboards. Its first two albums were released under the name Na Cabarfeidh and the following four under the new name, Rare Air.
The Tannahill Weavers are a band which performs traditional Scottish music. Releasing their first album in 1976, they became notable for being one of the first popular bands to incorporate the sound of the Great Highland Bagpipe in an ensemble setting, and in doing so helped to change the sound of Scottish traditional music. In 2011 the band were inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
Enter the Haggis is a Canadian Celtic rock band based in Toronto. The band was founded in 1995 by Craig Downie, the only remaining original member in the lineup, which currently consists of Downie, Brian Buchanan, Trevor Lewington, Caroline Browning (bass), and Tom Barraco (drums). For about a year, starting in late 2014, they recorded and performed under the name Jubilee Riots, and released their eighth studio album Penny Black under that name, before returning to the original name.
Road Kill is a pair of live albums released by Celtic rock band Seven Nations in 1998. According to the band, the discs were meant to portray the band's live act realistically, and to preserve "the intensity and energy that make our concerts so much fun both for us and our audiences." The band's lineup at the time was as follows:
Seven Nations is an eponymous album released by Celtic rock band Seven Nations in 2000. It shares many of the same tracks as the band's previous release, The Pictou Sessions, and can be seen as an update of that album. It also functions as a greatest hits package, as it includes many of singer Kirk McLeod's compositions from previous releases, newly arranged for the band's revised lineup. It also contains the recording of "Twelve" from The Factory by the same lineup of the band, which was as follows:
Jackdaw was a Celtic rock band from Buffalo, New York from 2000 to 2009. One of the group's members, George Tutuska, was a former drummer for the Goo Goo Dolls.
Glasgow-based Gaelic folk group Na h-Òganaich formed early in 1971, following a concert in Dunoon where Mod Gold Medallist singer Margaret MacLeod first met guitarist Noel Eadie. Margaret casually mentioned that her brother Donnie was learning guitar, so a decision was made to form a trio to enter the Folk Group competition at the Royal National Mòd.
Seven is the fifth studio album by the Scottish Celtic rock band Wolfstone. After the release of the band's previous album The Half Tail in 1996, numerous members left the band, and due to poor management, the band "split up" in 1998 after the band's label Green Linnet Records released an unrelated side-project as the Wolfstone album This Strange Place in early 1998. However, still contractually obliged to record another album for Green Linnet Records, the remaining members of the band regrouped chose to write and record the required album with full attention, rather than make a "half-hearted" album. Bassist Wayne Mackenzie said "we could have just gone through the motions and made a half-hearted attempt at an album, but we didn’t. The band and our fans mean far too much to us to do that." Titling the album Seven after where the album sits in the band's canonical album sequence, the album style was described as a particularly rock-edged variation of Celtic rock, although it does feature some mellower tracks. The album contains a mix between songs and instrumentals and diverse subject matter.
Red Hot Chilli Pipers are a Celtic rock band from Scotland. Formed in 2002, they became popular internationally in 2007 after winning the BBC talent show When Will I Be Famous?
Prydein is an American Celtic rock group formed in 1999. They are notable for their use of bagpipes in a rock band setting. They were formed in Burlington, Vermont, and have released five albums to date. Prydein has played many major festivals up and down the East Coast and the Midwest United States, including the Celtic Classic, New Hampshire Highland Games, and the Detroit Highland Games, and have been featured at the Eastern States Exposition for five years and the New World Festival for 10 years.
The Gaels are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic.
Skiltron is a folk metal band formed in Buenos Aires in 2004 by Emilio Souto. Since 2018, the band has moved to Europe. Skiltron are considered one of the few Southern American metal bands to fuse heavy metal and Celtic music, a style usually more common in many parts of Europe. They are also well known for incorporating bagpipes into their music. The name "Skiltron" derives from a variation of the word schiltron, a formation used by the Scottish during the Wars of Independence.
Skipinnish is a traditional Scottish band from the Gàidhealtachd, singing primarily in English. Both the band and brand Skipinnish was created by Angus MacPhail and Andrew Stevenson in 1999 who were both studying at the time at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow.
Celtic music in Poland has become more and more popular in culture, inspiring more artists to perform this type of music. Since 2003, in the last week of the summer holiday Celtic Music Festival ZAMEK takes place in Będzin. It is one of the biggest Celtic festivals in Central Europe.
