If you dare mix the guitar, fiddle, flute or stand-up bass too loud and drown out the crystal clear vocals, you will certainly hear about it from musicians and audience alike.
Celtic rock is the newest aspect of this genre and it has won my heart. The first time I heard a Celtic rock band, my jaw hit the floor. In my mind, rock ‘n’ roll died the final death in 1995.
But I was wrong. It simply went underground, and now I’ve found it again but with such an unexpected twist. I had no idea bagpipes and fiddles could rock out so hard! The variety is incredible and I’ve heard influences from the Beatles to Pink Floyd.
To be fair, the Celtic rock bands spill easily over into the World Music category. It’s fresh, lyrical and driving and this is where you really can ‘mix ‘em like a rock band,’ because that’s exactly what they are.
But don’t kid yourselves. These guys have just as much musical talent and savvy as any traditional fiddle player. Indeed, after the festival you will most likely find them in the hotel bar taking an equal seat in the ceili circle with the rest of the musicians.
“What’s a ceili?” you might ask. On the evening before a festival begins, and each evening during the event, you will almost always find a rather large group of the performers (and some avid attendees) gathered together in the nearest drinking hole having a grand old jam session.
It’s a great place to sit back and listen to some wonderful totally acoustic Celtic music without having to work.
Lest I forget, the fifth category would be pipes and drums. You really don’t have to worry about what to do with them. A chorus of bagpipes speaks for itself.
It’s amazing, however, at how many people will flock to a performance of a group of pipers and stay for the entire set.
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Celtic festivals are almost unanimously family affairs and should be approached with children in mind, because they will be everywhere. The production company that dresses badly, comes with an attitude and isn’t flexible won’t be asked back.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a challenge and lots of fun, and exercise your skills at mixing, you’ll win the hearts of the musicians and word will get around.
Our biggest festival is the North Texas Irish Festival, held the first weekend in March at Fair Park in Dallas. It’s reputed to be the largest (and they proudly say the best) Celtic festival west of the Mississippi.
It lasts three days, with Saturday being the big attendance day, and has seven music and dance stages. We’ve had 20,000 pass through the gates on a Saturday alone.
My point is that these really are viable festival events and if you like mixing great music in a congenial atmosphere, this is an excellent genre to get into as long as you have the right people with the right skills to service them.
And for the women in our readership, men really do look great in kilts!
Teri Hogan is co-owner of Sound Services Inc., a sound company based in Texas. Also be sure to check out Teri’s related article, Accordions & Didgeridoos: Microphone Techniques For “Exotic” Instruments