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The Original Celtic Renaissance?

by Bard Marc Gunn
June 23, 2002

I was recently contacted by someone who obviously has never played music professionally to explain how we could call ourselves "The Original Celtic Renaissance."

"Haven't you ever heard of the Gypsy Guerrilla Band, Celtic Stone, Cantiga/New World Renaissance Band? They've been around for 20 years!"

Well, I don't know much about Celtic Stone. I understand they broke up at least five years ago and their music pretty is no longer available. But for the other two, I've seen and enjoyed, but I decided to go look them up. No where on the website did I see anything about playing 'Celtic Renaissance music'.

In fact, this person also condemned us for playing showtunes. Yet, I thought it was interesting that the Gypsy Guerrilla Band at least includes musical styles from "baroque to reggae". Interesting...

Well, let me clear the air and say for starters that most professional musicians deplore the idea of putting labels on their music. Yet, in order to book gigs, you must do just that.

I admit that I am the guilty party who came up with the term "The Original Celtic Renaissance"? The term was created largely due to our instrumentation. The recorder and autoharp have a very "Renaissance-y" sound when played together, but in fact, you'll note that we do not play Renaissance music... wait! We have one traditional Renaissance tune recorded and three or four others we occasionally play when the need arises. But for the most part we don't play Renaissance music!

Oh, my goodness, ye know what. We don't play Celtic music at all either! Well, depends on what you define as 'Celtic music'.

In the United Kingdom, 'Celtic music' is pretty much limited to the the traditional tunes of the Celtic nations, aka reels and jigs. The United States has a much broader definition. Here, Enya's unique brand of New Age compositions are also considered 'Celtic".

So by a strict definition... wait... by a strict definition?

'Renaissance' comes from an Italian word meaning "rebirth". So by a 'strict definition', we are a "The Original Rebirth of Celtic music". Wow! Holy moly! Guess what? That means we don't *need* to play Renaissance music to be 'The Original Celtic Renaissance'!

Course there's still the thingy about playing 'Celtic music'. Even here in the U.S., we've been lectured that we don't play Celtic music, and most of our songs are the traditional songs of Ireland and Scotland.

But again, look at the definition. "Renaissance in Celtic music"... "The Original Renaissance in Celtic music".

Yes, when we started playing music together nearly six years ago, we had very little clue about Renaissance and Celtic music. Neither were reflected in the music that's for certain. Instead, we defined (or redefined) the term. All it is is words... a cheesy way of saying, we play what we want to play. But if ye think about it, it has taken on new meaning.

I see our music as more Celtic folk with a touch of contemporary New Age thrown in. I see it as sorta fringe Celtic, if you will. The entryway drug to Celtic music. Yeah, we play some traditional Celtic music, but we also play contemporary songs, Broadway musicals, Star Wars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer filks. We are not limited by our definition even though our definition is not limiting in the least.

We make new fans all the time from people hearing "Do Virgins Taste Better Medley." Then they hear our other pieces, and they fall in love with our traditional Celtic songs. Next, we introduce our fans to our many friends online who have their own unique and not-so-unique styles of Celtic music.

But there's another aspect to being "The Original Celtic Renaissance". The term also entails innovation... "a rebirth". Just about any Celtic band out there will tell you that we have led the New Music Revolution by making our MP3s readily available. We've given away our six album catalog time and time again. There are literally over a hundred of our MP3s floating around the internet, helping to promote our group.

So while you may note, that we don't use the term "The Original Celtic Renaissance" as often as we used to, I still stand behind the description now more than ever. Our musical style is the old, blended with the new. Our promotion is fresh and inspiring. Our instrumentation unveils the simplicity of music cloaked by the complexity of its sound. We are indeed... The Original Celtic Renaissance!

¹ Since this article was originally published, several people contact me regarding Celtic Stone including a founding member, Robyn Hilliard. Robyn informed me that they were one of the first bands to sell tapes at Ren Faires selling over 200,000 copies of their first release.

Does this discount us being called "The Original Celtic Renaissance"? Again, no. Read the rest of the article.

Bard Marc Gunn is a Celtic & Folk musician singer/songwriter for the Brobdingnagian Bards. Marc has helped hundreds of Celtic music groups due to the popularity of his weekly publication, the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine, and he is dedicated to helping increase public awareness of Celtic music and culture. Subscribe to one of his newsletters for free gifts, including: MP3s, CDs, eBooks, and more.