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Having recently added wunderkind fiddler Kendel Carson (also of fabulous alt-old-time band Outlaw Social), they still have founding member Tom Landa and they still rock! Over the years, The Paperboys have had quite an influence on the Celtic music scene of the Pacific Northwest, from the flute playing of Northwest native and Portland resident Hanz Araki to the fiddling of original member Shona le Mottee, who’s just released a new CD, Destination Grouville. The Paperboys hail from Vancouver, British Columbia and have been playing their particular blend of Canadian Celtic music for many years at festivals and clubs up and down the West Coast and throughout the US and Canada. Spirit of the West was one of the founders of this style and The Paperboys are one of the best known practitioners. Many bands have come out of Western Canada playing this blend of amplified folk music with Celtic ideas. Their new CD, Migrations, garnered a Grammy nomination, but it’s their eponymous CD, The Duhks, that has the more compelling vision of a modern Canadian folk music.Ĭanadian folk rock often has a strong Celtic influence. Podolak founded the group as a way to create a new folk sound based on a huge variety of traditional roots, but the Celtic influence in the Duhks’ music always comes shining through. Formed by eclectic banjoist Leonard Podolak, the Duhks includes Vancouver Island’s own fiddle prodigy Tania Elizabeth and the sultry blues vocals of Jessica Havey. Born from the ashes of an early group, Scruj MacDuhk, The Dukhs are taking North American by storm, as evidenced by their grueling touring schedule and many national festival appearances, including a great set at Seattle’s Bumbershoot in 2005.
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Another group incorporating a wide spread of Celtic styles is The Duhks. Of course, the fiddle is paramount in most of the Celtic traditions of Canada, though the accordion often plays a close second. The fiddle is at the forefront of this recording, as Donnell Leahy is one of the premier fiddlers in Canada and Natalie MacMaster’s husband. On their eponymous album, Leahy, they play tunes from Ireland, Scotland and Cape Breton as well as some American old-time tunes, some Down East tunes and a set of French-Canadian flavored tunes. The well-loved family group Leahy is an excellent example of this influence. The Celtic music scenes in Canada are often based on traditions that came from Ireland and Scotland primarily. Nearly all of these styles are Anglo-Canadian in origin, or are performed by English speakers, the major exception being the Francophone music of Newfoundland and the Ottawa Valley. In Canada, Celtic music refers to a wide variety of musical genres that range from the Celtic rock of Western Canada to the traditional dance tunes of Newfoundland. Of course, these similarities are not universal, and it has been argued that Celtic music as a definition has little real meaning. Stepdancing is shared across a wide number of Celtic countries as is “mouth music”, the tradition of sung instrumental tunes for dancing. Another similarity can be found in the rhythms, which are usually in variations of duple and triple time. This binary structure consists of tunes that have two parts, A and B, that repeat in this fashion: AABB. For one, a specific binary structure for instrumental tunes is common to Celtic music. However, there are some similarities that seem to travel well between Celtic countries. Of course, the traditional music of these places is not homogenous and there are so many differences between musical styles that they are often unintelligible from one another. In most of these cases, a native linguistic form of Gaelic is the main connection between cultures. These Celtic countries are generally said to include Ireland, Scotland, Brittany in Western France, the Shetland and Orkney Islands, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Gaelicia in Spain, and occasionally Northern Italy. Celtic music is usually considered to be defined as the music of countries and cultures that claim Celtic heritage.
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“Celtic music” is one of the more problematic labels in the world music industry, as it groups together many disparate cultures into one rather vague term.