Updated 16/5-99
Irish and Swedish Folk Music
This is a web-page dedicated to music and music alone. The contents are mainly folk music from Ireland and Sweden.
Most part of this page consists of links to different pages concerning MUSIC, but I hope you will find the information provided on this page of reasonable quality too. Since it may be quite hard (at least here in Sweden) to find what you are looking for, especially when it comes to records, when you are interested in folk music. Therefore I have added some links to suiting CDNow (online music store) pages to help you find your music.
I made this page to at least start what may become an
archive of folk music, so that it will be easier to find what one is looking for, but to succeed in such a task I may need some response from others who enjoy this page.
There have been visitors of this humble page (including this very visit) since 01/17/98.
If you are interested in seeing what has been added, or modified, ever since 12/4-98 you are welcome to follow this link to the What's New page. Every update since then is mentioned briefly.
Go to:
Altan
Ó Ceannabháin, Peadar
The Chieftains
The Clancy Brothers
Clannad
The Corbies
Dublin Fair
The Dubliners
Séamus Ennis
Enya
Tommy Makem
Noel McLoughlin
Christy Moore
The Pogues
Paddy Reilly
Andy M. Stewart
Various Links Concerning Irish Music
Draug
Draupner
Envisa
Folk & Rackare
Garmarna
Groupa
Hedningarna
Hulling
Åsa Jinder
Hjort Anders Olsson
Sorkar & Strängar
Sågskära
Valramn
Väsen
Various Links
Concerning Swedish Music
Search CDNow for a Record or Artist (of course not only folk music)
Irish Music
I can't really remember how I first was attracted by Irish
folk music, but I think it was through a LARP-friend. Well, I learnt some
songs and I can't say I loved them at first but I found them good. It didn't take a long time though, before I was caught.
Since then I have bought lots and lots of records and I just can't stop.
What I like most, I think, is the great enthusiasm and spirit that there
is in Irish folk music.
Altan started playing 12 years ago. Since five years they have unofficially been considered Ireland's most successful traditional band. They have received extremely good critics and also several music awards. The band was shaken a bit though in -94 since the founder, Frankie Kennedy, died in Cancer. Currently the band consists of six very competent musicians and their popularity and audience are constantly growing.
Altan's homepage
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Ó Ceannabháin is acknowledged as a very talented, if not to say exceptional, singer, especially when it comes to sean-nós (traditional unaccompanied singing in the Irish language). He comes from West Connemara, and the traditions there have influenced his singing.
Info
about Ó Ceannabháin and reviews of his record Mo Chuid Den
tSaol
This is another world famous Irish group playing folk
music. They are perhaps a little more concentrated on instrumental music,
contrasting for example the Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. Their music is built largely on Paddy Moloney's pipes. They started
playing in 1963 and still keep going. It was in the mid-70s that they had their big breakthrough. Partly because of the younger generation of Irish-American listeners, and partly because of a movie soundtrack that grew very popular.
They have also made a country-record
(A Different Country) together with lots of great American Musicians, but that doesn't really
belong to this site, but I felt inclined to tell about it.
The
Chieftains' homepage
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
The Clancy Brothers (Pat, Tom and Liam Clancy) are another
group of Irish musicians, that started playing Irish folk in the 50's and the early
60's. They all emigrated to the US, at first only Pat and Tom but Liam came some years later. So actually they performed mainly in the US, but their repertoire is Irish (and rarely American) folk music. They have made numerous records since then, and their success has
been enormous. One can almost say that they were the people that brought
Irish folk music to the people, playing it in ways that no one had done
before. The Clancy Brothers have made many successes on their own, but
very often the great musician Tommy Makem has
joined them. In fact he can almost be considered part of the "group" even though Makem performed on his own as did the Clancy Brothers from time to time.
Their breakthrough was when they appeared live on TV (Ed Sullivan Show 1961), thus reaching millions
of people and almost instantly they got fans in the U.S., Ireland and even
England.
Their style is very much like the Dubliners' and that's a reason why you
can find their repertoire and even their arrangements a bit similar sometimes.
I must admit that I find the Clancy Brothers an almost essential part of the Irish folk music. Without them the folk music would probably not have been the way it is today.
Clancy, O'Connel
and Clancy homepage
Paddy
Clancy
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Clannad plays some sort of mixture of traditional Irish music and modern music, the result is very good. They are very famous and have a good reputation. One can almost have it that they bridged the gap between the traditional Celtic music and pop. The members are the brothers and sisters; Maire, Ciaran and Pol Brennan together with their uncles Padraig and Noel Duggan. For quite some time their sister Enya (born Eithne Ni Bhraonain) also played with the group and that was a very important time of her early career. They have made some film-themes some of which are very well-known.
The
Unofficial Clannad website
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
I think The Corbies is the first Swedish band playing Irish folk music. They have played for more than twenty years and have released some albums (3 LPs and 1 CD). For those who are interested in music from Scotland, The Corbies are warmly recommended since their repertoire cover both Irish and Scottish music.
This is another Swedish band playing Irish folk music, even though many of the songs they have written themselves feel very out of place. They have received quite a lot of attention in Sweden. I think they are perhaps "the next generation" of folk musicians, quite like the Young Dubliners and the Swedish folk music performing Garmarna. Their style is not very traditional at all and there are lots of synthetic sounds but overall they are very good. They have recently released a new single so visit their page for more info (notice their new URL).
The Dubliners started playing together in O'Donoghues Pub, Dublin, at the start of the 1960's. Back then they had no idea that they one day would be famous all over the world.
Today, over 30 years later, they are Ireland's greatest ambassadors, spreading the Irish music and culture all over the world. Their enthusiasm and charisma ensures instant communication with audiences of all ages, regardless of cultural or social backgrounds.
Originally the members were Ronnie Drew, Ciaran Bourke, Luke Kelly and Barney McKenna but since then Ciaran Bourke and Luke Kelly has passed on, pretty much because of their exhausting lifestyle and the hard drinking. Ronnie Drew left the band quite recently. But fortunately they've been replaced one by one by other extremely competent musicians; Jim McCann, John Skeahan and most recently by the very famous Paddy Reilly.
So the Dubliners are still performing their traditional Irish tunes in a way that very few other bands do...
The
Dubliners' Discography
Info
About the Current Group
An
Article on the Group
Buy
records (at CDNow)
Séamus Ennis is nowadays quite like a legend. He was one of the best uilleann pipers of this century. He is also known as a collector of folk tunes throughout Ireland and Britain. He holds the traditional music in greatest respect.
The Return of the Master
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
This famous artist performs Irish or Celtic folk/world/new-age
music. Even though it is not pure folk music I decided that she should
be mentioned at least. Her popularity has grown tremendously the last few
years and her albums is not hard to find. The music is quite relaxational,
a bit abstract and very easy-listened. Many of her lyrics are Gaelic, thus
adding to the genuine feeling of her tunes. I think her music appeals to
lots of listeners, not only folk music-enthusiasts.
Enya played as a keyboardist with Clannad, founded by her siblings, for two years from 1980 until -82, when she wasn't really interested in the pop direction the group pursued.
The official
Enya page
The unofficial Enya
homepage
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Tommy Makem, the bard of Armagh, is a very famous Irish musician. He is often found performing together with the Clancy Brothers,with whom he has performed for a very long time. They have released lots of records and have had many appearances together.
Makem biography
Irish
Folk's Godfather Speaks
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
McLoughlin has recorded a remarkable number of Irish (and some Scottish too) records. His music is very easy to listen to and the song lyrics are often included with the CDs. Noel McLoughlin is really warmly recommended if one wants to learn some Irish tunes easily or something like that.
Christy Moore is an Irish singer and guitarist who has had a very succesful career. His music har really touched the hearts of lots of listeners, few are left untouched after hearing his songs.
The
unofficial Christy Moore page
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
The Pogues are, or should I say were since it broke-up '96, a great band playing music, with their very own, quite aggressive, style. They play _some_ traditional tunes, but most of their material is written by themselves.
Completely
Pogued (info about the Pogues)
Another great
info page
Discography
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Paddy Reilly has performed as a solo artist for a very long time and has grown very popular. He was, by Luke Kelly of The Dubliners, considered the best of Irish ballad singers, which is an awesome comment. He has recently joined the Dubliners and is a well-worthy member of the group. He sings very well and often plays the guitar while singing.
Paddy Reilly Homepage
Buy
records (at CDNow)
Andy Stewart is famous for his Irish and Scottish folk repertoire. He is a Scotsman, who grew vey interested in folk music, both Scottish and Irish. It is quite normal that such an interest at least partly comes from the parents or something like that, but Andy's parents were not at all that interested in folk music.
For a long time has was the vocalist in the Scottish band Silly Wizard.
He is very famed and renowned for his remarkable voice, some people even call him "one of Celtic music's most gifted singers".
Andy Stewart page with discography
HarbourTown's Andy Stewart Page
Buy
records (at CDNow)
Here you have some links to Irish music-related sites.
Amigo (a Swedish record label) with a great deal of Irish records
Cantaria with
lots of tunes, most with downloadable audio files
Ceolas Celtic Music Archive
Digital Tradition
- The best lyrics archive (according to me)
The Dirty Linen magazine
Folk Music Homepage
Irish Folk Songs Forum
Irish Music
Box
Irish Music Magazine
Lark
in the Morning
Swedish Music
I am also very interested in Swedish folk music, as it contains
the very soul of the Swedish people. There are a great lot of traditional
tunes in Sweden and that makes it even more interesting. There are also lots of competent artists that should be able to satisfy any folk music-adherents.
Unfortunately, but not very surprising, most of the Swedish Music-pages
I link to are in Swedish with no English translation available.
Draug (i.e. living corpse) plays folk music from Hälsingland arranged in their very own way. The band consists of only two persons, and the main instruments are flute, guitar and bouzouki.
Draupner is a Swedish group that started playing in 1994 and they have truly had great success since then.
Envisa performs Nordic folk music. The music is vocally based, which gives the traditional tunes a whole new dimension. The members all have a musical background, which partially explains their great talent.
Folk & Rackare (Folk and Rogues) started playing in
the early 70's. The founders of the band were Carin Kjellman and Ulf Gruvberg,
but for most of the lifespan of the band there were also the Nowegians
Jörn Jensen and Trond Villa. The band was quite unique since they
concentrated on song while Swedish folk music often was instrumental by
then. They did lots of research in order to find the old ballads. They
grew awesomely popular and made lots of tours in Scandinavia. The band
was kind of dissolved in 1985, but in 1996 they bowed to pressure and reformed for some appearances in Denmark and Sweden.
Unfortunately it is not very easy to get hold of their LPs, but I am doing my best to find them in different stores. If anyone has got any record of theirs for sale, please feel free to contact me (the e-mail adress is found below).
Garmarna is a quite modern Swedish folk music group. They
have made the music rock, but still they use almost only authentic instruments,
like the Jew's harp, hurdy gurdy and so on.
They have become very popular, mainly in Sweden of course but also in USA
and Germany. There are lots of people that have thought folk music boring,
until they heard Garmarna. Their style is, as I have said, modern but their
music are not modern at all, so if you've grown bored of the identical
drum-solos and guitars try listen to Garmarna and I can almost guarantee
that you will be spellbound even if you are not a folk music-fan.
If you want to hear the traditional tunes in the original manners, Garmarna
may not be the best of choices, but if you like folk-rock played in very
good manner Garmarna is warmly recommended by me.
Their first album was called Garmarna and is quite hard to find, but Vittrad
and Guds spelemän (eng. Fiddlers of God) are quite common and sound
very good.
Garmarna's
Homepage
Kontur (Where you can book Garmarna)
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Groupa is a Swedish folk music group, which has been "discovered" the last few years. They have been awarded with lots of Swedish Grammies. They play, as far as I know, only instrumental music.
Hedningarna (the Heathens) is a group playing Swedish
folk-like music. That is their style is quite "folkish" but they
don't play many traditional tunes, if they do play any at all. But they
have indeed fascinated lots of people with their harsh music. One good
thing with Hedningarna is that their music has a great potential to reach
people not (yet) interested in folk music, and thereby introducing people
to this vast world of folk music.
Their last album (hippjokk) contains a song written by Sorkar och Strängar, which shows that they have contact with each other.
An
unofficial Hedningarna page
A review of their Hippjokk
album
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Hulling was founded in late '92. They play Swedish traditional music together with lots of their own compositions. There are five members, and you can find some of them playing in other Swedish folk-bands too.Their instruments are quite traditional, they play for example the keyharp, the jew's harp, the mandola and other instruments like those.
Åsa Jinder is a Swedish "Riksspeleman", i.e. one of the country's foremost musicians. She plays a Swedish instrument called Nyckelharpa, i.e. the keyharp. She is very appreciated by the Swedish audience and has achieved quite a high status among the folkmusicians in Sweden. She used to make lots of traditional recordings, but nowadays she writes almost everything herself.
He is probably one of Sweden's most well-known folk musicians. He started playing the fiddle at an early age and had soon achieved the status of village-musician. His career wasn't over though, it didn't take long before he was a very successful concert artist. He was a very important person, for the preservation of the Swedish traditional music.
Sorkar & Strängar's music is has got some inspiration from the Nordic countries and also from Iceland. It was founded in 1994 as it sprung from the Live Roleplaying association Gyllene Hjorten (the Golden Deer). I don't think they play any traditional tunes, but their own creations are really outstanding.
Sorkar
& Strängar homepage #1
Sorkar
& Strängar homepage #2
They started playing in 1981 and has since been considered innovative and very important, especially when it comes to South-Swedish folk music. Their repertoire's time-span covers both medieval music and music from the 19th century and everything in between.
Their music is mostly acoustic, they play some kind of jazz-rock inspired folk and one can find both traditional and new compositions in their repertoire. Valramn has recently released a record.
Väsen is an extremely talented group playing Swedish music with roots. Their success is not contained within the borders of Sweden - they are very appreciated outside their country too. Their style is not very strict as such rather a bit more Rock-like. One thing I appreciate about Väsen is that they think that the most important thing about music is having fun, and I agree completely.
Väsen
- official page
Bart's
Väsen home page
Dirty
Linen's article about Väsen
Lena Willemark has made lots of tributes to the Swedish folk music. As a child she grew up with the music tradition of Evertsberg, in mid-west Sweden, where she was born. Later on she was inspired by jazz-music, and that has resulted in her being what she is today.
ECM Records: Lena Willemark
Buy
Records (at CDNow)
Amigo (a Swedish record label, with a searchable record-archive)
Folkmusikhuset
i Stockholm
Hurv Music (a Swedish
record label with lots of folk releases)
Swedish Traditional
Music Links
Musica
Sveciae
Svenskt
Visarkiv
Swedish
Traditional Music
Search CDNow to find what I have not related to (yet).
Please mail me: magnus.lundborg@mailbox.swipnet.se, I appreciate constructive ideas and I would be very grateful for information about Irish or Swedish folk groups, that I have not yet heard of or at least not written about. It would also make it much easier for me to customize this page, and thereby make everyone more satisfied. So please tell me what to do. Any improvements? Add frames? Go on just tell me about it!
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Folk Music Web
Ring site is owned by Magnus
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