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Which would be an awesome name for a band
March 17th, 2009 by witherow
In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, and of my late little Irish grandmother who used to love this holiday, here’s a tribute to all things Irish.
Wait. “All things Irish” is probably going to necessitate a much longer post than I’m willing to write. So how about I just talk about one thing Irish, that thing being Irish music.
I actually listen to Celtic music all year round, not just in March. I’ve always liked it, but have been more interested since I went to the Scottish Festival last June (see the post “A Wee Bit ‘O Scottish Fun) (yes, I know all of the pictures are gone) (yes, this makes me sad and I am trying to work on a solution to this).
By Celtic music, I’m referring to traditional or mostly-traditional Irish/Scottish/etc. I like interpretations of old folk songs, because I’m fascinated with people and cultures, and folk music is like a snapshot into the world of common people.
I am not so fascinated by synthesizers. So I’m not into a lot of music that’s labeled Celtic.
Right now my favorite groups are Altan and a now-disbanded group called Deanta (pronounced JAUNT-ta) (because Gaelic is like that). I like Deanta except for when they sneak ’90s-style saxophones into their traditional pieces. Because ’90s saxophones make me think I’m in a department store restroom or something. And they sound, so, well, ’90s.
But there are plenty of other Celtic groups out there (some that I like, some that I don’t) that have some pretty wicked awesome names, including:
- Niahm Parsons and the Loose Connections
- Old Blind Dogs
- Rig the Jig
- The Whistlebinkies
- Banshee in the Kitchen
Okay, “Whistlebinkies” probably doesn’t qualify as “wicked awesome,” but I did think it was funny.
There are also some great album names, including:
- The Girls Won’t Leave The Boys Alone (Cherish the Ladies)
- If We Were Us (Banshee in the Kitchen)
- Mouth Full of Potatoes (Quagmyre)
- Celtic Diva (just one of those ubiquitous collections, but the name makes me laugh)
- Give Us a Penny and Let Us Be Gone (Teada)
Actually, I’m thinking about maybe becoming a Celtic Diva myself. But there are some obstacles:
Obstacle one: my mediocre voice. Um, I’ll just sing low and crackly. Yeah, that should work.
Obstacle two: Backup music. Too many of my friends are musicians, which means they’re not going to play anything if I’m writing it or singing to it. Hmm.
I can’t play fiddle, harp or accordion to accompany myself. I could maybe pick up flute, but that would be hard to sing along with. My guitar skills are not quite what they’d need to be.
But I do play ukulele.
(no, for real, I do)
(don’t laugh, it’s a great instrument)
(I bet my ukulele could beat up your piano, so there)
So … maybe I’ll come out with a recording called Celtic Ukulele. Yeah, that’s a good name. And my band (or, uh, just me) could be called something like the Ukulele/Emerald Isle Connection. Or Uke in the Chimney. Or … Witherow and the Loosely Defined Concept of “Music.”
Oh, yeah. This is going to be bigger than Riverdance, just wait and see.
Posted in Uncategorized | | | 2 Comments
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on March 17th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Hey, pick on instruments your own size.
on April 11th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Oh yeah? Well my Clavinova can beat up your ukulele any day! Just bring it over and we’ll see who wins!