Eluveitie

The Shimmer of Sounds

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 2 Comments

Jazzy and electric

Jazzy and electric

The first few chords of Coburg St Nights from their second album  reveal the adventurous spirit of Buille. Formed in 2004 by Armagh born brothers Niall and Caoimhín Vallely along with Paul Meehan and Brian Morrissey, Buille became a fresh force in the Irish trad scene. Their music has a universal appeal. The production almost makes you think  of reflections on a clear pond. The instruments shimmer with transparency and gossamer smoothness. Everyone in this band is in top form. Guitars, fiddles, and percussion parts sound fresh as if every bit of them have been polished to make sure only the smooth silky finished bodies of sounds get to the listeners.

The debut album was released in 2005 while the second was in 2009. I don’t have news for the new album yet. It would be great to hear about new music from these wonderful musicians!

http://www.myspace.com/buille

http://www.vallelymusic.com/buille.htm

http://www.niallvallely.com

 

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Spotlight Instrument: Hurdy-Gurdy.

The hurdy-gurdy made waves in the mainstream top 40 in 1997. Musician Nigel Eaton performed this instrument in the video of The Mummer’s Dance by Canadian superstar Loreena McKennitt. MTV made it one of their most played music videos at that time. I  think a lot of people started noticing this instrument after. Resources were not available until recently. It sounds like a bagpipe, but has the mellifluous quality of the violin. These days you get to hear this  in the Celtic metal band like Eluveitie . In this video, Alison Gowan of Canadian band The Swamp Ward Orchestra talks about her own hurdy-gurdy and folk festivals. I have to say this. They sound amazing!

http://www.myspace.com/theswampwardorchestra

“Eluveitie – New Wave Of Folk Metal”..

/ mrbaxteria2008 / 6 Comments

They don’t have any Celtic bands in their collection but musically they are OK.

Ok, this thing fell on my hands . It’s Metal but it is also using Celtic styles. I hear pipes and whistles, a little bit of the fiddle jig there and yes the wonderful melodies. However I am a bit hesitant here…I checked up the band’s site and I don’t see anyone from the band giving reference to any Celtic bands that I know of. They all listen to typical metal music. So it makes you ask…are they or are they not?

Here’s one interesting info I got from Wiki: The lyrics are often in the extinct language Gaulish. Eluveitie is Helvetic Gaulish for “I am the Helvetian”, referring to an inscription dating to the earliest record of the Celtic Helvetii tribe from what is now Switzerland.

So is it really Celtic music plus Metal or are they just using Celtic music as a way to gain more acceptance from a number of people who might follow both styles of music. Either way this song really impressed me.