This review first ran on Green Man Review.
I would imagine that more than a few people first encountered Celtic music through the public radio program Thistle and Shamrock, which has run on National Public Radio for over twenty years. That’s certainly the way it was with me. Hosted for all that time by Fiona Ritchie, the show is an institution that takes listeners on a weekly tour of Celtic music, sometimes focusing on the newest music available, sometimes focusing on more classic material, sometimes highlighting the grand “old names” of Celtic music, sometimes leaning toward the newest crossover artists. With Ritchie’s extensive knowledge of the music and the infectious enthusiasm and passion that fills each episode, it’s the most natural thing in the world that she should write the Celtic Music entry in NPR’s Curious Listener’s Guide series.
As the title suggests, this book is aimed squarely at “curious listeners.” In other words, listeners not already intimately familiar with Celtic music (although such listeners may find this a decent reference work). The first four chapters constitute a primer on Celtic music as a genre: what Celtic music is, where it comes from, what the differences are within its subgenres, and so on. It was this section of the book that I found most fascinating, because I know fairly little about the history and background of the music itself, as well as what the different musical forms used in Celtic music are. If you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between a reel and a jig (answer: the time signature), or whether the hornpipe is an instrument or a type of dance (turns out it’s both), you’ll find the answers here. Most fascinating, I found, are Ritchie’s discussions on how Celtic music flourished once it arrived on the shores of the New World and took root in places like Appalachia and Cape Breton.
The second half of the book is given to discussing the music itself, primarily as it stands today. For people who are interested in Celtic music but are daunted by the wide variety of music available on CD in a good music store, this is the part of the book that will be most useful. The longest chapter, “The Musicians,” is just that: an exhaustive look at many of the musicians who are currently the biggest names in Celtic music. Here you will find capsule bios on musicians such as Dougie MacLean, Lorenna McKennitt, Enya, Natalie MacMaster, Kate Rusby, and Davy Spillane, as well as entries on some of the dominant bands of Celtic music, such as the Battlefield Band, the Chieftains, Clannad, and Lunasa. In many cases, if not all, Ritchie offers CD recommendations for each artist. This chapter forms a virtual “score card” for who the heavy hitters in Celtic music are, the kind of music they perform, and where to find them
Then there is a chapter in which Ritchie discusses a number of the classic Celtic songs — the “standards” of Celtic music — that form the backbone of the repertoire, such as “Auld Lang Syne,” “Danny Boy,” and “The Parting Glass.” Helpfully, Ritchie offers suggestions in the case of each song as to where to find a particularly fine rendition. (For anyone who’s ever heard William Shatner singing “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds,” you’ll know that this is no small thing.) I would have liked to have seen some quotations of actual lyrics in this chapter, or musical examples (for the tunes that are in public domain, anyway), but the brief blurbs on each song are well-done, anyway.
And if the recording recommendations in the preceding two chapters weren’t enough, along comes a chapter called “Celtic Music on CD.” This is exactly that: a roster of recordings that Fiona Ritchie suggests as the basis for a good “starter” Celtic music collection. In no way, though, does she claim that this is a roster of definitive Celtic music recordings; she makes clear that her list is intended as a group of places to start, and she is emphatic that exploring beyond the list is essential. (Here, Ritchie might have mentioned that just about any large population center will probably have a band or two specializing in Celtic music, and that they deserve support through the buying of recordings and the attendance of live performances.) If there’s any better indication of this chapter’s value other than the fact that I’ve already carried the book with me as I perused the Celtic section at my local Borders, I don’t know what it would be. (Although, it must be admitted that true to my own habit I ended up buying two items that weren’t on Ritchie’s list at all, merely because they intrigued me so.)
The book is rounded out by a glossary of common terms in Celtic music, such as the instruments often heard and the music forms often used. While useful, I had two misgivings about this chapter. Firstly, no pronunciation keys are given, which strikes me as odd in a book so clearly aimed at relative newcomers to the genre. Gaelic and the other Celtic tongues are not languages whose pronunciations (like, say, Sanskrit) are immediately evident. (I, for one, spent years saying “Uilleann Pipes” as “You-lee-uhn,” which I have since discovered wasn’t really all that close.) Second, the book could have used some pictures in general. This was probably due to practicality, but a picture can make clear the difference between, say, a set of Uilleann pipes and a set of Scottish traditional bagpipes, or what a bodhran drum looks like. The final chapter is a suggestion of places to go for more information on Celtic music. Here are some book recommendations, periodicals, Web sites, and music companies that are all involved in the enterprise of Celtic music. This is a valuable collection of resources, even if it does omit GMR!
This is a book with relatively few drawbacks. Fiona Ritchie’s writing is clear and her love for her subject is infectious. I would gladly have paid for a book that included even more information, such as pictures, pronunciations, lyrics, and maybe even some maps of the Celtic regions discussed, but given the fairly low price of the existing book I suppose I really can’t complain.
(Perigree Books, 2005)
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