The Celtic Spirit describes the underlying spirit that is in every Celtic song we hear today. There is an element of mystery, enchantment, and delving into the past in all of them that entrances you and pulls you in every time you pop a Celtic CD in the CD player. I think one of the most expressive instruments of these things is the tin whistle. Listening to this wonderful instrument goes straight to my core and drives me wild. I love it. That's one reason why I play the instrument myself. The other is the human voice. Celtic artists make great use of their voices and sing beautiful songs to us. An artist with one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard is Connie Dover. You haven't heard the voice of an angel until you have heard her sing. (And guess what! I have sound clips of her on this page!!)
The Celtic music we hear today comes from the countries of Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, the Isle of Man, Brittany, and Galicia in Spain. This type of music is so lovely and beautiful that at times I get chills just listening to a simple song. On this page I'm attempting to bring together music from some of my very favorite artists in this expanding area of Celtic music so you can get an idea of lots of the different types of modern Celtic music. All of the song clips on this page come from many CDs I have collected over a period of about 5 or 6 years and compiling them all on one page took a very long time (at least a couple months.) I think the end result is very satisfactory and I hope you do enjoy everything I have in store for you here. Please note: these songs will take approx. 4 minutes or so to download so go make some tea, pop Riverdance in the VCR, read a book, or surf to another site until it's done. Then you can come back and download some more!
I added a lot of Real Audio files today for your listening convenience! Some aren't the best quality because I couldn't find any others but they're very quick to load if you have the RealPlayer. Enjoy!
Future plans for this page: I'm signed up with some program with Music Boulevard so soon you'll be able to buy your favorite Celtic CDs right off my site!
36 liked tin whistle
34 liked bodhran
22 liked flute
14 liked harp
5 liked mandolin
4 liked hammered dulcimer
Enormous thanks to everyone who voted!
Donal Agus Morag/The New-Rigged Ship
The Jug of Punch (this song is beautiful)
King of the Pipers (I've had many a fun time dancing a jig to this!)
King of the Pipers II (a cute MIDI version of the same song)
The Wedding Jig (this is a favorite of a friend of mine, so I had to post it)
Eiri' Na Greine (vocal)
Suil A Ruin (performed by Katie McMahon. She is in the US Cast of Riverdance)
Bridge Attack (from "Some Mother's Son")
Fr. Conry's Jig ("The Seville Suite")
The Road to La Coruna ("The Seville Suite")
And of course Kevin playing his bodhran....
Damhsa (the Irish dancer Jean Butler is the one you hear tapping) The Night That Larry Was Stretched Little Wing (recorded on The Corrs album "Forgiven Not Forgotten") I Will Find You (from The Last of the Mohicans) Bean Phaidin (this is one of the coolest Kevin Conneff songs ever!!) North Americay (the first song I ever heard him sing. lovely!) Heuliadenn Toniou Breizh-Izel (from Celtic Wedding. an example of some fine lilting) Galician Overture (very spiffy!) The Night That Larry Was Stretched (from Long Journey Home) Setting Sail (from Santiago. I love Spanish music can you tell? especially Spanish Celtic!!) Crowley's Reel (a very cool reel. James Galway is in this song!) Dreams II (Real Audio file) Erin Shore (trad. intro) (instrumental. beautiful stuff here) Forgiven Not Forgotten (cool song off their first album) What Can I Do (this is a favorite song of another friend of mine) On My Father's Wings (from the Quest for Camelot soundtrack. Andrea is the vocalist in this song from the movie backed by her siblings) Ubi Caritas II (a Real Audio version of the same song from a different part) Siuil A Ruin (this is the best version of this song I have heard yet) B Minor (I believe this was one of the songs they performed on Gael Force) Invernia Dancing With Rosina (I think they performed this on Gael Force) The Flight of the Earls (featuring The Chieftains) Galician Carol (this is sooo pretty) The Kiss (Light Jig) Main Title II (a cool MIDI version of the same song) Gypsy (MIDI) Stolen Kiss (MIDI) The Countess Cathleen/Women of the Sidhe The Countess Cathleen/Women of the Sidhe II (MIDI) Marta's Dance/The Russian Dervish The Journey Begins Mo Ghra Thu (vocal) Scarce O'Tatties (traditional Irish) On We Go (vocal) Spring Faire (beautiful song mixed with Nature) The Pigeon on the Gate (traditional Irish) The Rocky Road To Dublin (traditional Irish) Calliope House/The Cowboy Jig (anyone who has seen LOTD should recognize this!) Rosa Mystica (vocal) Bard Dance (Enya) Blarney Pilgrims (this was in Titanic) Caribbean Blue (Enya again. really pretty) A Fig For a Kiss (a favorite song of mine to play on my whistle) Jessica's Hornpipe (my friend nicely named this song after me since it has no official name! **g**) The Rakes of Mallow (another fun song to play) The Wearing of the Green (I had to put it up!) The ROAR Theme Song (this is the best tv show theme because it's sooo Celtic!!!)
