Celtic Tides: Traditional Music in a New Age

Desmond Maley is the music librarian at the J.W. Tate Library,
Huntington College, Laurentian University, and the editor of Newsletter
of the Canadian Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and
Documentation Centres.

In recent years, Celtic music has emerged from obscurity as an offshoot
of the New Age genre to claim its own place in popular culture and on
record shelves across the world. Women have often been associated with
the centuries-old oral tradition, while men are recognized on
traditional instruments like the harp, fiddle, uilleann pipes, accordion
and bodhran.

Melhuish briefly chronicles the turbulent history of Celtic
civilization, including the exodus of Celtic musicians from the British
isles, that contributed to the development of traditional and country
music in the U.S. and Canada. He also draws attention to the Celtic
traditions in England, France and Spain, as well as the confluence of
Celtic music with “world beat.” Much of the book is taken up with
insightful quotations from his interviews with John Allen Cameron, The
Chieftains, Clannad, Seamus Egan, Ashley MacIsaac, Dougie MacLean,
Natalie MacMaster, Old Blind Dogs, and the Rankins. There also is a
generous selection of traditional and contemporary song lyrics, color
and black-and-white photographs of Celtic musicians, a discography, a
guide to Celtic festivals, and a bibliography. Unfortunately, there is
no index.

Celtic spirituality is an area that could have been explored more.
Several times we are told the music has “Celtic soul.” It would have
been interesting to relate this to the religious tradition that had a
profound impact on Celtic culture, including the music. Nevertheless,
Celtic Tides, which is published as a companion to the film documentary
and compact disc of the same title, is an excellent and valuable survey
of the Celtic music revival.