Celtic stuff: Some favourites of mine!

Hi guys!

As you may know, music is the thing that got me into Celtic studies and I still love Celtic music so much! I did some posts on Irish music before but I wanted to share some more songs with you, and this time not only songs, but some movie tips as well! :)

Songs

Julie Fowlis is a Scottish singer and she sings in Scots Gaelic :) This song is called 'Tha mo ghaol air àird a' chuain' (literally 'my love is on the high seas'). I don't speak Scots Gaelic myself, but I recognise some words and grammar from Irish, which I am secretly kinda proud of.

 Sinéad O'Connor is one of the more known Irish singers. She isn't a native speaker of Irish, but has made an album 'Sean-nós Nua' (New Sean-nós) with some Irish traditionals, also in English. This one, Paddy's Lament, is about a young Irishman that migrates to America in the 19th/early 20th century during the Celtic migrations. I love this song, especially the melancholy about it. 'I wish I was at home in dear old Dublin..'

This is the soundtrack to 'Brendan and the Secret of Kells' (see below.. one of my movie tips!) I love this piece of music so much!


Movies
I have two Celtically related (I don't know if that's a word..) movies for you. One was very popular and won an Oscar if I'm corrected, the other is less known but just as amazing.

Brendan and the Secret of Kells!
An animation about the book of Kells. It has a lot of inside jokes about Pangur Bán, Colum Cille and other medieval Irish texts and history. I enjoyed this movie tremendously and I think I've watched it four times now.. Ánd, the book of Kells is as gorgeous in real life as it is in the movie!! So be sure to check it out when you're in Dublin.

This one you've probably heard of. Brave! It has some typically clichés in it (witches and magic etc.) but it has great music, even a Scots Gaelic one, and it is very funny. In the opening sequence you can see some Pictisch inscriptions that are actually real!


Well that's it for now, I'll probably do a blogpost like this more often because there are a lot of tips I'd like to give you :)
Until next time,
Lian