WAlbannach, Scottish Gaelic for "Scottish," is a band formed in 2005 in Glasgow, Scotland. Their traditional music is heavily percussive, driven by bass drums, bodhráns, and a single bagpipe. Albannach released their first album, the eponymous Albannach, in 2006. Since, the band has independently released four additional studio albums and frequently performs music at Highland games, Scottish festivals, and Celtic cultural events across North America and the United Kingdom. With little exception, Albannach's discography is instrumental, though several vocal songs are included in live shows.
WAltan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. The group were primarily influenced by traditional Irish language songs from Donegal and have sold over a million records.
WBagad Cap Caval is a bagad located in the Bigouden area, started in Plomeur in 1984.
WBagad Kemper is one of the oldest bagad, Breton pipe bands. Formed in 1949, its first president was none other than Loeïz Ropars, renovator of the Fest Noz and kan ha diskan singer. This ensemble holds the record for the most national Championship title wins.
WThe Bagad de Lann-Bihoué is a bagad, a Breton pipe band. It is the bagad of the French Navy. It represents the French Navy and France in multiple national and international events. It has performed regularly in front of Heads of State. It is a source of cultural influence in Brittany, as in the rest of France.
WBarrule is a Celtic and folk trio from the Isle of Man. The band's three members are: Tomas Callister (fiddle), Jamie Smith (accordion) and Adam Rhodes (bouzouki). Barrule’s discography includes both original and traditional Manx language songs.
WBattlefield Band were a Scottish traditional music group. Founded in Glasgow in 1969, they have released over 30 albums and undergone many changes of lineup. As of 2010, none of the original founders remain in the band.
WBeoga are an Irish folk band. They were formed in County Kerry in 2002 at the All-Ireland Fleadh although the original four members of the band hail from County Antrim and County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. The line-up features Damian McKee on accordion, multi-instrumentalist Seán Óg Graham, pianist Liam Bradley and Eamon Murray on bodhrán and Niamh Dunne, from County Limerick, joined in 2005, on vocals and fiddle.
WDan Ar Braz is a Breton guitarist-singer-composer and the founder of L'Héritage des Celtes, a 50-piece Pan-Celt band. Leading guitarist in Celtic music, Dan Ar Braz has recorded as a soloist and with innovative Celtic harp player Alan Stivell. He represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996.
WCarreg Lafar is a contemporary traditional Welsh folk band. Formed in Cardiff by Rhian Evan-Jones, Antwn Owen-Hicks, James Rourke, Linda Owen Jones, and Simon O'Shea, Carreg Lafar means "a speaking stone", or "echo stone".
WCeltas Cortos is a Spanish Celtic rock group. They have sold over two million records during their career, making them one of the most commercially successful Spanish groups of all time.
WCeltic Woman is an all-female Irish musical ensemble conceived and created by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes, a former musical director of the Irish stage show Riverdance. In 2004, Downes recruited five Irish female musicians who had not previously performed together, vocalists Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon, Lisa Kelly and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, and fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt, as the first lineup of the group that he named "Celtic Woman". Downes chose a repertoire that ranged from traditional Celtic tunes to modern songs.
WCherish the Ladies is an American female super group that plays Celtic music. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985. It was the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene. The group took its name from a traditional Irish jig called "Cherish the Ladies", and the series opened to sold-out concerts. Their leader Joanie Madden plays flute and tin whistle. The other members of the group play a wide variety of instruments. Their albums contain both tunes and songs.
WThe Chieftains are a traditional Irish band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous with traditional Irish music and they are regarded as having helped popularise Irish music across the world. They have won six Grammys during their career and they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002. Some music experts have credited The Chieftains with bringing traditional Irish music to a worldwide audience, so much so that the Irish government awarded them the honorary title of 'Ireland's Musical Ambassadors' in 1989.
WClandestine is a Celtic music group from Houston, Texas. Featuring bagpipes, guitar, fiddle, and drums, they play traditional Celtic music as well as some modern tunes in a Celtic style. Some songs include additional instruments like the flute, bombarde and various whistles. They formed in 1991, stabilized as a quartet in 1996, and dissolved for a time in 2003. In their original incarnation, the band made 4 discs and toured heavily around the US and also performed in Europe. They were favorites at McGonigel's Mucky Duck Pub in their hometown of Houston, as well as the Cactus Cafe in nearby Austin.
WTadhg Cooke is an Irish musician, also known by his stage name "Tiger Cooke".
WThe Corrs are an Irish family band that combine pop rock with traditional Irish themes within their music. The group consists of the Corr siblings, Andrea, Sharon, Caroline and Jim. They are from Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.
WCulann's Hounds are a traditional Irish folk band from San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1999 by Steve Gardner and Michael Kelleher as The Irish Bastards, the band began playing gigs and soon adopted the more broadly appealing name.
WDervish is an Irish traditional music group from County Sligo, Ireland which has been described by BBC Radio 3 as "an icon of Irish music". They were formed in 1989 by Liam Kelly, Shane Mitchell, Martin McGinley, Brian McDonagh, and Michael Holmes and have been fronted by singer Cathy Jordan since 1991. They represented Ireland in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, singing a song written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. In 2019 they released an album on the US Rounder Records label called The Great Irish Song Book featuring a selection of classic Irish songs sung by a number of well known singers including Steve Earle, Andrea Corr, Vince Gill, Kate Rusby, Imelda May, Rhiannon Giddens, The Steel Drivers, Brendan Gleeson, Abigail Washburn, and Jamey Johnson. In 2019 they received a lifetime achievement award from the BBC.
WThe Duggans were an Irish musical duo from Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland.
WThe East Pointers are a Canadian contemporary folk music group from Prince Edward Island, who won the Juno Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year for their album Secret Victory at the Juno Awards of 2017. The group consists of guitarist Jake Charron, banjoist Koady Chaisson and fiddler Tim Chaisson. They perform Celtic-influenced original songs and instrumentals with contemporary influences.
WFlook is an Anglo-Irish band playing traditional-style instrumental music, much of it penned by the band themselves. Their music is typified by extremely fast, sometimes percussive, flute and whistle atop complex guitar and bodhrán rhythms. Flook is made up of Brian Finnegan, Sarah Allen, Ed Boyd and John Joe Kelly.
WThe Gothard Sisters are three American sisters from Edmonds, Washington, who perform Celtic music and choreographed accompanying Irish dance. They play nationwide at county and state fairs, as well as festivals, and at other venues. Greta, Willow, and Solana Gothard, are violinists, singers, and championship dancers, having added guitar, bodhrán, mandolin, and the pennywhistle to their repertoire. The trio has released several albums.
WGráda is a traditional Irish music band founded in 2001 whose members are a mix of Irish and New Zealand musicians. Gráda is based in Dublin and Galway, Ireland, but spent much time touring internationally. In 2006, Gráda played in 16 different countries. In 2011, members of Gráda disbanded to work on individual projects.
WThe Hennessys are one of Wales' foremost traditional folk music groups.
WIona was a progressive Celtic rock band from the United Kingdom, which was formed in the late 1980s by lead vocalist Joanne Hogg and multi-instrumentalists David Fitzgerald and Dave Bainbridge. Troy Donockley joined later, playing the uilleann pipes, low whistles, and other instruments.
WIrish Stew of Sindidun is a Serbian Celtic rock band from Belgrade. While initially playing Irish folk music, the band later made a shift towards light punk rock, inspired by Irish folk music and other genres. Beside their own songs, the band performs covers of Irish traditional songs and songs by The Pogues.
WKevrenn Alre is a group of music and dance of Breton traditional inspiration, created in 1951, by railroad employees of the marshalling yard of Auray.
WLuar na Lubre is a Celtic music ensemble from Galicia, Spain.
WLúnasa is a traditional Irish music group, named after Lughnasadh, an ancient harvest festival. They tour and perform internationally, and have recorded a number of albums of both traditional and contemporary Irish instrumental music.
WMad Dog Mcrea are a British folk band from Plymouth, Devon, England, their music blends a mixture of folk rock, pop, gypsy jazz and bluegrass.
WMànran are a Scottish band that was established in June 2010. Mànran is a Gaelic word for a melodic sound or a sweet tone. Since 2010 they have performed in over 30 countries worldwide including several international folk & world music festivals, won awards home and abroad and were invited to do a special one-off concert for the 2012 London Olympics.
WMilladoiro is a music band from Galicia. Often compared to the Chieftains, it is among the world's top Celtic music groups.
WModena City Ramblers is an Italian folk rock band founded in 1991. Their music is heavily influenced by Celtic themes, and can be compared to folk rock music. The band has sold over 500,000 albums. Known for their left-wing politics, their lyrics often speak out against the Mafia and fascism.
WLa Montaña Gris is a Colombian group of folk and Celtic music, which had its first appearances during 2001 in the city of Medellín.
WNew Celeste are a folk rock band from Scotland, originally formed in 1975, releasing seven albums over five decades, the most recent in 2016.
WNightnoise was a music ensemble active from 1984 to 1997. Their original blend of Irish traditional music, Celtic music, jazz, and classical chamber music inspired a generation of Irish musicians. They released seven albums on the Windham Hill label.
WNiteworks is an Electronic Celtic fusion band from the Isle of Skye. The band are known for writing new songs in Gaelic and melding the bagpipes and Gaelic songs such as puirt a beul with techno and house beats.
WOff Kilter is a Celtic rock band. Off Kilter was formed in 1997, and performed regularly at Epcot from their inception in 1997 through September 27, 2014. Their first album, Off Kilter, included some traditional songs like "Dirty Old Town" and "Fields of Athenry" as well as covers of popular rock songs generally from Canadian artists such as "Takin' Care of Business" and "Summer of '69." They have also produced covers of the Battlefield Band's "The Rovin' Dies Hard". It was announced on August 28, 2014, that Off Kilter's final performance at Epcot would be September 27, 2014. They were replaced with a lumberjack-inspired show at the Canada pavilion, which was canceled November, 2015. Off Kilter continues to perform, and is currently touring the country performing at many different venues.
WOrthodox Celts is a Serbian band which plays Irish folk music combined with rock elements. Despite their uncharacteristic genre in their home country, the band is one of the top acts of the Serbian rock scene and has influenced several younger Serbian bands, most notably Irish Stew of Sindidun and Tir na n'Og.
WPandemonio is a Lombardian folk band. Since the year 2000 they have been recovering and rearranging traditional Italian folk songs with elements from other sonorous worlds such as bluegrass, country and Irish music. The sound is based on acoustic guitars, mandolin, flutes and the bowed psaltery colored with polyphony voices.
WQuinta do Bill is a Portuguese Celtic folk rock musical group formed in 1987 near Tomar.
WRapalje is a Dutch Celtic folk band which performs Irish, Scottish and Dutch folk music and sings in Dutch as well as in English.
WSecret Garden is an Irish-Norwegian band specialised in new instrumental music, led by the duo consisting of Irish violinist and singer Fionnuala Sherry and Norwegian composer, arranger and pianist Rolf Løvland.
WSolas was an American musical group officially formed in 1996, playing Irish traditional music as well as original compositions influenced by the country, rock, and americana genres. With several members who are prominent performers, both solo and in other constellations in the irish traditional music scene, Solas has been described as a "Supergroup".
WThe Stubby Shillelaghs are a Celtic folk band from Greeley, Colorado. The band currently consists of four members: Eric Fischer, Ryan Knaub, Shaughnessy McDaniel, and Andrew Mithun.
WTéada, an Irish band, plays traditional music. Téada is Gaelic for "strings". The five members of the band are fiddle player Oisín Mac Diarmada, button accordion player Paul Finn, Damien Stenson performs on flutes and various whistles, Seán Mc Elwain switches between the bouzouki and guitar and bodhrán player Tristan Rosenstock.
WTempest is an American Celtic rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, based in Oakland, California. They fuse together the traditional Celtic music with Norwegian and European folk, American folk, and progressive rock.
WJames Patrick Baron, also known as Tiki King, is an artist, musician, and luthier. He was an artist in the tiki revival scene of the early 1990s. As a luthier he created the pineapple cutaway double octave ukulele and has designed ukuleles for celebrities such as Greg Hawkes and Bette Midler. He released three solo ukulele CDs as well as one with his lounge band Tiki King and the Idol Pleasures. He currently plays bass drum and ukulele in Tribal Celtic band the Wicked Tinkers who have released a total of nine albums.
WWe Banjo 3 is a band from Galway, Ireland that plays a blend of traditional Irish, old time, and bluegrass music they call Celtgrass. The band is composed of two sets of brothers, Enda Scahill and Fergal Scahill and Martin and David Howley. Earle Hitchner, music writer for The Wall Street Journal, described their playing as a "freshness and finesse bordering on the magical," and LiveIreland proclaiming them "the hottest group in Irish music." Their debut album Roots of the Banjo Tree was released in 2012 and was named "Traditional Music Album of the Year" by The Irish Times. This was followed by the release of Gather the Good in 2014. Siobhan Long, music critic for the Irish Times, wrote "We Banjo 3 are a musical Betty Ford Clinic, almost singlehandedly rehabilitating the much maligned banjo in 4 short years." In 2016 the band released their fourth album String Theory which debuted at Number One on the Billboard Charts.
WThe Wicked Tinkers are an American Celtic music group who perform at many Scottish/Irish festivals.
WWoods Tea Company is an American folk music group based in Vermont. They perform a wide variety of songs, including sea shanties, folk songs, Irish drinking songs, and Celtic music. The group is known for its energy, musical talent and dry sense of humor between songs.
WTri Yann is a French band from Nantes who play folk rock music drawing on traditional Breton folk ballads.