Re: Folk/Celtic Looping

[Peter Harlan <pharlan@efn.org>]

Not sure what label(s) to put on this band, but if anybody hasn't heard
them, I'd recommend Mouth Music. Nice blend of indigenous Scottish music
with African beats and technoish electronics. Definitely some loop-like
stuff in the mix at times.

-Peter

Michael P. Hughes, Ph.D. wrote:
> 
> >I recall hearing a few things on this subject occasionally from some of
> >our brothers in the U.K.  I'm interested because I've just finished an
> album of
> >traditional Scottish/Irish/English music that includes some looping, as
> well as
> >traditional Folk instruments, etc.  What is going on in the Folk scene
> over there?
> >Here in Canada no one's doing the Folk (we call it "Celtic") looping 
>thing.
> 
> We call it Celtic here too!  Though Folk is sometimes used, the Scots and
> Irish use the phrase Celtic to distance themselves from the English.  
>Must
> be all that Morris dancing...
> 
> I'm really not aware of any Celtic loopers per se.  There is a big
> techno/Celtic crossover movement - Shooglenifty, Afro Celt Sound System,
> Peatbog Faeries, etcetc - Shooglenifty describe themselves as "Acid 
>Croft"
> (a croft is a traditionan farm - er  - house).  But I don't know of 
>anybody
> actually looping.
> 
> A lot of Celtic music uses one band member to repeat a figure over and 
>over
> whilst the others make the tune around it; it's often struck me that the
> music IS amenable to looping, I just don't know of anyone doing it.
> 
> For the record, I play in a Ceilidh (Scottish dance) band, but don't loop
> (the badleader frowns on such things).  I loop but don't play Celtic 
>stuff,
> though I do put Celtic-styled bits in.  I'm still immersing myself in it,
> having not long moved here from Wales.
> 
> Michael
> 
>  Dr. Michael P. Hughes, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK G12 8QQ
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>  www.elec.gla.ac.uk/~pycraft               m.hughes@elec.gla.ac.uk