What’s better?..Scottish or Irish music?

hmmmm!

Basque, if we’re really wanting to be separatists about it… Maybe it depends on what incense I feel like burning at the time, or water-of-life in hand? There is a problem here though, as there is no one ‘Irish’ or ‘Scottish’, things are never so ‘pure’. And then there’s all those damned pesky off-shoots ~ Orkney, Shetland, Cape Breton, Donegal, Fermanagh, Antrim, Kerry, Clare, Dublin City, Irish-Canadian, Irish-American, Quebecois ~ etc., and then there’s the instruments and tune forms… Damn, it can get so confusing, I think I feel a Slivovic moment coming on…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmCeFxqxBOY

play video

Depends who’s playing it……………

Why don’t we just call it Regional Celtic Music…….RTM……..yes, that’ll do for now.

Better? How can you possibly say that one is better than the other and who cares. Enjoy and celebrate them both for their unique and rich and distinctive characteristics. Recognising that each has been influenced by the other as well as growing organically in its own way.

Now where’s that book of mine on Ethnomusicology!

You lent it to me Jon Baiey, and you’ve forgotten… Look into my eyes, yoooou’ve fooorgoootttten! 😉

Of course you can’t say one is better than the other!































Scottish music - it is obvious really! 😉

Was that a ‘pregnant pause’ or were you just drawing a deep breath before the sin of judgement?

Alarming!

Well we have discussed this before when I started a similar thread and it got me into a lot of trouble so if you think I am going to go down the same path again then you have another thing coming Ceol! 🙂

It depends on whether you like to hear Jim Reeves songs in a Scottish accent or an Irish one, really…

Why restrict it to Scottish and Irish? What about classical, jazz, blues, country and western - come on everyone, parity of esteem must be complied with in these PC times!

The English came up with the occasional folk tune as well you know…

Who are they?

No cause is without alarm… 😎

You know, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard Jim Reeve’s mentioned. I was talking to a lady from the Shetlands that was a big fan. I sang "He’ll Have to Go" at a club in St Louis, and everyone loved the song, and few had ever heard of him.

Maybe Ireland and Scotland has done for good ol’ Country music what Cape Breton did for Scottish music. I was hoping to sit in on a few session when I come over this year. Maybe I better spruce up my country reportoire, too ?

Regarding Scottish and Irish music, I love them both. That includes the offshoots, too. Absolutely love Fiddler’s Bid.

Cheers!

"Maybe Ireland and Scotland has done for good ol’ Country music what Cape Breton did for Scottish music."

What? Do you mean kept it stuck in the past?

😀

American Old Time is simply the best . . better than all the rest . .

What’s wrong with the past? You can keep your Garth Brooks and give me old timers, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Johnny Cash, George Jones (… the list goes on) any day!

"Depends who’s playing it……………"

OK Kenny - Supposing *you’re* playing it, which is better?

"Was that a ‘pregnant pause’…?"

What does a pregnant pause give birth to? How do you distinguish two adjacent pauses from one long pause?

Two adjacent pauses would need to be ‘cut’ by a noise - even briefly. If you played the ‘cut’ noise properly then it would not sound like a real noise within the proper scale but it is there in order to seperate two identical noises.

Used a lot by pregnant pipers!

If I’m playing flute, Irish is better. If I’m playing whistle, Scottish is better. What about you ?

I know it’s not too serious a question, but there are both great and crap tunes out of both traditions. And thankfully both traditions are being constantly replenished with new compositions, players and so on. But as Ceol says, there’s so much regional variety and crossover it’s becoming impossible to compare, even if you were foolish enough to seriously contemplate doing so.

I think how you like Scottish music in general depends a lot on how much you like the sound of piano-accordion, big button-accordion and Highland bagpipes. Fortunately I do, but piano-accordion in some hands can sound very dull.

"What about you ?"

Who me? Each one’s worse than the other.

The Pretenders VRS Westlife

Marty Pellow Vrs Bono

Jameson Vrs Black and White

Macartney vs Lennon





or Linda vs Yoko?

Or bagpipes (Uilleann or Highland) —-

Give us a Squeeze VS Give us a Blow……

Er, scratch that last.

Sorry.

I like both traditions, and actually noticed that, although I play more Irish than Scots music, my listening tastes run in the other direction. We are doing a wedding next month, so we are working on some highland tunes, and our flautist, who is Irish through and through, finds the "snaps" something of an alien concept.

I’ve played with both types of bands in my day. Great tunes in both traditions but the Scots have a more disciplined approach to their music, and their music can have a brighter style to it and probably more key changes. The Irish tunes are a bit more laid back and some of them can be a lot more sweeter, probably because there are more Irish tunes in Em.

Dont’ forget the Welsh…

Charlotte Church won’t let ya…

In my opinion, it is fine to decide for yourself which you like better

although irish is alot better