Re: Celtic Kate

[jchokey@leland.Stanford.EDU (James Alexander Chokey)]

In article <9406117739.AA773972329@zdlmail.ziff.com>,
Miller, Ben <bmiller@zdlmail.ziff.com> wrote:
>
>New Age music.  In fact I would describe Stivell's songs as spacy Celtic.  
>Stivell plays harps and pipes and assorted other instruments while others 
>proivde the other instrumentation, as on Kate's track. Shane McGowan, late of 
>the Pogues sings on a few of them.  Most of the lyrics are in Gaelic.   
							       ^^^^^^
	No, they are in Breton, the traditional language of Britanny. Of
course, Breton is a Celtic language and is indeed related to Gaelic (of both 
the Scottish and Irish varieties) and to Welsh--  but they are different 
languages.  

	As a side note, I would reccomend Stivell's music for anyone who 
like's Kate's more Celtic-sounding stuff (like "Jig of Life" and "Night of
the Swallow.")  Although he did go through a pretty heavy new-agey period
in the early-to-mid eighties, I don't think I'd really characterize _Again_
as "New Age" or "spacey".  Compared to the stuff he's been doing for the 
past 15 years, it's really quite rocking, much like the stuff he wrote 
in the early seventies.  (Actually, the album _Again_ *is* the stuff Stivell
did  in the early seventies, just done with new arrangements, new musicians,
etc.)  To get a good feel for the originals, I reccomend checking out 
the Alan Stivell compilation released on Polygram France's "Master Serie"
label, which is widely available as an import in the U.S. and in Canada.
	
	Also, in case anyone isn't aware, Stivell plays harp and 
does background vocals on "Between a Man and a Woman" on _The Sensual
World_.  

	(If anyone is interested in a Stivell discography, I post one 
monthly on rec.music.celtic and rec.music.folk.  I will also e-mail 
copies of it upon request.)

	--  Jim C.


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| James A. Chokey 		             jchokey@leland.stanford.edu | 
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