The Luck of the Irish. (and other cultures too.)

The music that immediately pops into my head when I hear the word “ethnic music” or “music from another culture” is Celtic music. Despite my UBER Italian last name, I am actually half Irish and have been in love with Ireland and its music for practically my whole life. My grandmother on my dad’s side is 100% Irish (complete with the Irish accent!!!), and is the first person in her family to come to America. I’m not sure what my favorite Celtic song is (I have way too many), but some of them are My Lagan Love, Carrickfergus, Danny Boy (naturally), Maid of Culmore, The Butterfly, and many more.

I think I really began to love Celtic music through Irish dance. I am a tap dancer, and Irish hard shoe dancing isn’t really that much different. We even had a VHS that taught Irish dance steps, and I absolutely loved the music. The mixture of the panpipes and accordions and fiddles is the best combination in the world. Not long after, we saw a Celtic Woman concert on PBS, and I IMMEDIATELY fell in love with the songs as well as the instrumental music. I frequently looked for more Celtic Woman concerts on PBS just so I could hear more.

 Another thing that really cemented my love for the Celtic music and Irish dancing was when Natalie, my mom and I saw Lord of the Dance at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan. (We lived there for 6 years.) We had sort of bad balcony seats and the stage was really small, but it was just so exhilarating to see and hear the music and dancing live instead of on TV. The combination of the hard Irish dancing shoes and the drums and fiddles and the synchronism of the dancers were just overwhelming. I’m just as crazy about it as I was when I first discovered Celtic Music, probably more considering I’m listening to Celtic Woman as I type. An interesting fact bout the shoes is that the heels are made of plastic, so it is easier for the dancers to click their heels together.

I thought Celtic Woman was the only Celtic singing group there was, until I discovered Celtic Thunder (again on PBS).Celtic Thunder is basically the male version of Celtic Woman . As soon as the concert was over, I grabbed my dad’s Blackberry and looked up all their versions of the songs and bought a couple off iTunes not long after. There is nothing better to listen to when you are stressed out to be completely honest.

 Another culture's music that I've been exposed to is Greek. There is a Greek festival in my original hometown every year that we have gone to since I was at least 5 years old. Not only is the food absolutely amazing, but the music is so cheerful! They always had Greek music playing over loudspeakers in the building where the food was served, and it just makes you want to get up and dance!!! (Which I might have done once or twice.)

 

Yet another culture of music that I have experienced Is Mexican music. There are a great amount of Mexicans in my current hometown, and there are some at my church. We frequently eat at the local Mexican restaurant and there is always Spanish language music on in the background. I have noticed that there are different styles of them, some sound more traditional and others sound like Spanish pop songs. We sometimes get invited to parties held by some of the Mexican parishioners at our church, and it is always so interesting to see all the different traditions they have at their parties, birthday parties especially. (The funniest one is the birthday person gets their face smashed into the cake!) I’m not sure if that is a cultural tradition or one made up by the family , so correct me if its not a real tradition.

I am excited to add more knowledge of different cultures to my current list.