Steve Mulhern - Mirthical Reel

Celtic music is, broadly speaking, the traditional music and songs of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and, to some extent, the border country of northern England. There is also a lot of influence from Brittany. The traditional music of Ireland had all but disappeared by the end of the 1950's until a revival began in Dublin and in pockets of western Ireland in the early 1960's. One of the best known musicians instrumental to this revival was the piper Paddy Moloney who went on to form and lead The Chieftans who enjoyed worldwide success from the late 60's to present day. Their instrumentation includes Uillean Pipes, (the bagpipes that are filled with air from bellows pumped by the elbow as opposed to blown, and have a number of drones which can be altered in pitch by keys as well as a melody chanter) penny whistle, flutes, fiddles, harp and bodhran (hand held drum) most of the music is heavily tune-led often with no bass line or harmony. Much of the music's origin is as an accompaniment to dance.