Celtic Fever

Hi.

Every once in a while, I encounter a longing for something that amazes me and boggles my mind. Something mystic and foreign, that somehow resonates with me - something quite like a Celtic Dream (this link is the song to read the post with ^_^).

You find references to it and inspirations drawn from it in literature, music, and even the arts. If you doubt me, just take a look at Lord of the Rings! The hair, the clothing, the songs, the music, the drinking... There is just something magical about the place and it's culture, and I have wanted to visit Ireland for a very long time. It's a place I wouldn't go to go out drinking, or party late at night. It would be a trip to leave the hustle and bustle of the world, and escape if you will, and experience the thrills of the geography and the climate. And what manages to fascinate me even more is the way that the place has built its own independent culture, full of superstitions and magical happenstances, that has persevered despite the changes in the world around it.

Sure I may be romanticizing the entire idea of Ireland, but really I blame the music.

The music is really what drew me in the first place. From PBS broadcasts of the Celtic Woman and then my own interests in Riverdance, I just fell in love with the music. There is a real earthy feel to the music. It's like it creates a pull that doesn't let you go. And for me, there is this yearning that builds in me when I hear strains of a fiddler playing a Celtic tune. Maybe it's the way that they play with the violin, with the trills and the syncopation of the fast paced melodies. Or maybe it's the chords in the music that make me wish I could be a part of that rich culture, so that I could learn the ins and outs of the soulful songs. It's just the way that the music can make my heart race to dancing tunes or slow me down and cradle me in its sustained harmonies. And what makes it that much more amazing is that there are the occasions that I can even hear a phrase or turn of melody reminiscent of Indian music. Sure the similarity stops right there. But the fact remains that these two worlds without any interaction have those similarities within their melodies. And it all brings me to love the music just that much more.

And of course I wouldn't be me if I had no interest in the dancing. Irish stepdancing fascinates me. I want to know how to move your feet like that. Of course the most popular Irish stepdancing is the Irish musical, Lord of the Dance (later reworked as Feet of Flames). Every 2 years I find myself invariably sitting down and searching for the same videos and music (while looking up the order of the acts on wikipedia). And I just can't seem to stop till I've watched the videos all in order and at least once, if not more. Sure there isn't much to the dance, but frankly I feel that my interest mostly stems from the fact that I love the music they dance to, and the rhythms they step to.

And let's not forget that there have been quite a few novels (going back to middle school) that I have read over the years that embrace the Celtic culture into the plots of the stories. And when a good author writes about the mystical creatures and the traditions and of romanticizes it all, well, it just makes me wish I could experience something like that. And the turns of phrase that bring to mind a landscape you could actually live within. Now don't get me wrong, I don't expect anything supernatural to happen when I go visit Ireland, but the idea that you are visiting a place where the mythology was created is quite thrilling.

In the end, it all comes back to the music. The music that transports you to another world where faeries, leprechauns, and sprites wander the land. Where things are not what they seem, and what you see may not be real. It's not the music for every day of the year, but for that moment in time you find yourself lost in a Celtic fever.


To start you on your journey into the music of the Emerald Isle:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheEgyptMau#p/search/2/XDX6oXCad3Q


P.S.: For those of you interested in more of this music, stay on the same youtube channel. Under the uploads you will find other music from Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames (One of the fiddlers is now part of Celtic Woman too!). You can even check out the dancing ^_^.