minstrel: RE: "Celtic" music

[nickolas kaugon]

i don't have any problem with the convient use of
seltic. it's one of the oldest words for celt. used by
ceasar and by greeks and found in celiberian wriring.
it;s alsp found i ireland in the annals. as for the
music from these diverse people, they share some
distinct and charastic simmilarities. hence celtic
music.

it is also a living tradition--which is what really
bothers the critics i think. if there is an early
music tradition unbroken to the present then one must
either adopt and recognize it or find ways to reject
it if you are into authenticity. most"celtsd aren't
but you get used to having to argue these things in
the sca.

on the topic of performing. i genuinely think that the
mental attutude is most important. with only one or
two exceptions in my whol;e life, every good performer
in any style , that i have known spents no time
putting down other muscians, particularily good
performers. if yoy are into that you ought to look
instide and find out why, and when you get over it you
will likely have made the first real step to being a
genuine crowd pleasing performer--in any style.

i have busked with a maeieval cittern, an electric
guitar and everything in between and i try to engage
people with what ever i'm doing, that's what
performers spend their time thinking about. how to do
it better. most every one has a skill they can play
on. on stage or on the street. as an old boss of mine
used to say:"there are very few circumstances that
life hands you that with a little creative thought
cannot be turned to your advantage". and he lived a
totally bohemian and independent life , with joy
accordingly.

some things are alot easier to sell in the sca than
others, admittedly. filks are the easiest. i don't do
any filks and if i'm at an event i can get a crowd 
without them. i'm not against filks but most of them
are too topical for my interest.

as to traditional, i do collect a lot of traditional
stuff. i arrange it myself , usually quite
distinctively and hence hold a copy write on my onw
material(the stuff i didn't write). i actually don't
like most of the stuff i write, so it usually falls
out of my repitiors in a few mnths. i've got some jigs
ans reels that i'm proud of and oddly for a celtoid a
few modern classical guitar pieces that i occasionally
try to get the odd classicaly guitarist i know(who
records) to record. only one has and it dissipeared of
the in print lists at the speed of light. 

however there is a lot of published music that has an
author that is given as traditional. i mostly record
nova scotian and new foundland songs. i know miost of
the living biggies of the area and can find if
something is traditional but you'll be surprized how
often i've dug up an author and had to junk recording
a great tune. (sometimes they go for it as i'm not
exactly on the charts.)

the great newfoundland lament, "the union from saint
john'" has a known author. as has kelligrew soiree,
and i'se the by'se, so you either have to look around
or get permission if you don't want trouble later.
there are some very popular fake books like rise up
singing that appear to make no attempt to find authors
from anything even a bit obscure. and they freely
alter lyrics they consider to be politically
incorrect. see gordon lightfoot"s "early morning rain"

many of the manuscripts i quoted are in my opinion a
nd in that of many i know in early music, intended to
be the base to improvise upon. there are several
authors in scotaland that claim that many of the airs
in the stralloch and rowanallan are a preservation of
early gaelic harp music. i think they make a
convincing arguement, but it's based on
ethnomusicological arguments so some will not accept
this. many also think piobreacht for bag pipes
preserves the gaelic harp music, adapted for a new
instrument.

the robert ap huw manuscript is a difficlut, though
interesting manuscript. there are now at least two
versdionsa and i'm sure there will be more. i don't
think anyone knows for sure how to read it but it
still forms the basis to work with.

so ta ta  i'm on the frozen road for three weeks so
may not get to a computer

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