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Celtic punk is punk rock mixed with traditional Celtic music. The genre was founded in the 1980s by The Pogues, a band of punk musicians in London who celebrated their Irish heritage. Celtic punk bands often play covers of traditional Irish folk and political songs, as well as original compositions. Although the plight of the Irish people is often a topic of their songs, it's not considered an overtly political genre. Prevalent themes in Celtic punk songs include Ireland, Irish Republicanism, the Irish diaspora, drinking, and working class pride.
The typical Celtic punk band includes a rock instrumentation as well as traditional instruments such as bagpipes, fiddle, tin whistle, accordion, mandolin, and banjo. Like Celtic rock, Celtic punk is a form of Celtic fusion. Celtic punk is considered part of the broader folk punk genre. Many Celtic punk bands emerge from predominantly Irish communities in cities such as Glasgow, London, Melbourne, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. A related genre, Scottish Gaelic punk, is punk rock sung in Scottish Gaelic. Foremost of these bands are Oi Polloi from Edinburgh and Mill a h-Uile Rud from Seattle.
[edit] History
The roots of Celtic punk are in the folk rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s who first electrified the music of Ireland and the United Kingdom — and in more traditional Celtic folk bands such as The Dubliners and The Clancy Brothers. The Dunfermline, Scotland band The Skids were possibly the first UK punk band to add a strong folk element, as they did on their 1981 album Joy. Around the same time in London, England, Shane MacGowan and Spider Stacy began experimenting with a sound that became The Pogues. Their early sets included a mixture of traditional folk songs and new original songs written in a traditional style - all performed in a punk style.[1] Other early Celtic punk bands included The Men They Couldn't Hang, Nyah Fearties, and Australia's Roaring Jack.
More recently, Celtic punk has gained popularity with the success of bands such as Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, and The Real McKenzies. Three media outlets of Celtic punk include Paddy Rock Radio, the webzine Shite 'n' Onions(which releases compilation CDs), and a podcast called The Scallywag Show With Barnacle Brian.
[edit] Notable bands
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Scanlon, A. The Lost Decade. Omnibus Press, 1988
[edit] See also
