Irish music

Charlie and the Bhoysare a Glasgow Celtic-themed Irish folk band from Scotland. They formed the band in the 1980s in Barlanark in the East End of Glasgow and played their first concert at the Squirrel Bar in the Gallowgate, Glasgow in 1989. They branded themselves as the "No.1 Glasgow Celtic Band in the World" in their early years but have since dropped this. The band have played the Glasgow Barrowland Ballroom 28 times.

In February 2015 the band wrote a charity song for Celtic superfan Jay Beatty for the charity Downs and Proud which reached the top 100 of the UK iTunes charts and top 10 of the iTunes Country chart.

In 2011 the band was due to play a St Patrick's Day gig at the East Kilbride Civic Centre but due to "safety concerns" raised as the result of an organised campaign by Rangers fans, South Lanarkshire Council cancelled the event. It was later reorganised and held at an undisclosed location on Blantyre after accusations of a "witch hunt" against them.

The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that originated in Toronto, Canada. Formed in 1963 named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover" they are best known for their international television series, contributing to the popularisation of Irish Music in North America, and for the songs "The Unicorn", "Drunken Sailor", "Wasn't That a Party", "The Orange and the Green", "Whiskey on a Sunday", "Lily the Pink" and "The Black Velvet Band".

The primary voices heard in the group's early songs were Will Millar (tenor), Jimmy Ferguson (baritone), George Millar and Joe Millar, and in the last twenty years, also John Reynolds and Ian Millar. Wilcil McDowell's accordion has been a signature sound of the band throughout their more than fifty years.

The Chieftains are a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous with traditional Irish music. They are regarded as having helped popularise Irish music around the world. They have won six Grammy Awards during their career and they were given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Some music experts have credited The Chieftains with bringing traditional Irish music to a worldwide audience, so much so that the Irish government awarded them the honorary title of 'Ireland's Musical Ambassadors' in 1989.

Rawlins Cross is a Celtic band that formed in 1988 in Atlantic Canada. With members from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario, the band took its name from an intersection in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Rawlins Cross was formed in St. John's in the late 1980's by songwriting brothers Dave Panting (guitar and mandolin), Geoff Panting (keyboards and accordion) and Ian McKinnon (highland pipes and tin whistle). They then added drummer Pamela Paton and bassist Lorne Taylor to the band.

The band started in the East Coast recording scene in late 1989 with its first Indie recording, A Turn of the Wheel and a video for the single "Colleen." Weeks after its release, "Colleen" had a top ten radio slot on Toronto's CFNY station. In 1991, Lorne Taylor left the band, with Derek Pelley briefly replacing Taylor on bass. Prior to the recording of their sophomore album, Crossing The Border, Pamela Paton left in late 1991, to be replaced by Tom Roach. Bassist Derek Pelley left in early 1992, and was replaced by Brian Bourne.

Gaelic Storm is a Celtic band founded in Santa Monica, California in 1996. Their musical output includes pieces from traditional Irish music, Scottish music, and original tunes in both the Celtic and Celtic rock genres. The band had its first big break in 1997, appearing in the film Titanic and recording songs on the movie's soundtrack album. Their most recent album, Go Climb A Tree, was released on July 28, 2017.

Gaelic Storm's origins can be traced back to 1996, when Patrick Murphy and Steve Wehmeyer joined with Steve Twigger, drummer Shep Lonsdale, fiddler Samantha Hunt, and Uillean piper Brian Walsh to perform at O'Brien's Irish Pub and Restaurant in Santa Monica, California, of which Murphy was the manager. This led to a number of pub performances for the next year.

The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s, recording several hit albums and singles. MacGowan left the band in 1991 owing to drinking problems, but the band continued – first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals – before breaking up in 1996. The Pogues re-formed in late 2001, and played regularly across the UK and Ireland and on the US East Coast, until dissolving again in 2014. The group did not record any new material during this second incarnation.

The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-year career, but the group's success was centred on lead singers Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew. The band garnered international success with their lively Irish folk songs, traditional street ballads and instrumentals. The band were regulars on the folk scenes in both Dublin and London in the early 1960s, and were signed to the Major Minor label in 1965 after backing from Dominic Behan who was paid by Major-Minor to work with the Dubliners and help them to build a better act fit for larger concert hall venues. The Dubliners worked with Behan regularly between 1965 and 1966; Behan wrote numerous songs for this act including the song McAlpine's Fusiliers created specifically to showcase Ronnie Drew's gravel voice. They went on to receive extensive airplay on Radio Caroline which was part owned by Phil Solomon CEO of Major Minor, and eventually appeared on Top of the Pops in 1967 with hits "Seven Drunken Nights" and "The Black Velvet Band". Often performing political songs considered controversial at the time, they drew criticism from some folk purists and Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ had placed an unofficial ban on their music from 1967 to 1971. During this time the band's popularity began to spread across mainland Europe and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States. The group's success remained steady right through the 1970s and a number of collaborations with The Pogues in 1987 saw them enter the UK Singles Chart on another two occasions.

The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk group that initially developed as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular in the 1960s, they were famed for their trademark Aran jumpers and are widely credited with popularising Irish traditional music in the United States and revitalising it in Ireland, paving the way for an Irish folk boom with groups like the Dubliners and the Wolfe Tones.

The Clancy Brothers, Patrick "Paddy" Clancy, Tom Clancy, and Liam Clancy, are best known for their work with Tommy Makem, recording almost two dozen albums together as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Makem left in 1969, the first of many changes in the group's membership. The most notable subsequent member to join was the fourth Clancy brother, Bobby. The group continued in various formations until Paddy Clancy's death in 1998.

"I'll Tell Me Ma" (also called "The Wind") is a well-known children's song. It was collected in various parts of England in the 19th century and again appears in collections from shortly after the turn of the 20th century. In Ireland the chorus usually refers to Belfast city and is known colloquially as "The Belle of Belfast City", although it is also adapted to other Irish cities, such as Dublin. English versions refer to the "Golden City" or "London City". This song is Roud Folk Song Index number 2649.

The song accompanies a children's game. A ring is formed by the children joining hands, one player standing in the centre. When asked, "Please tell me who they be," the girl in the middle gives the name or initials of a boy in the ring (or vice versa). The ring then sings the rest of the words, and the boy who was named goes into the centre.

Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.

The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st century, despite globalising cultural forces. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music influences from Britain and the United States, Irish traditional music has kept many of its elements and has itself influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the United States, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll, punk rock, and other genres. Some of these fusion artists have attained mainstream success, at home and abroad.

The Corries were a Scottish folk group that emerged from the Scottish folk revival of the early 1960s. The group was a trio from their formation until 1966 when founder Bill Smith left the band but Roy Williamson and Ronnie Browne continued as a duo until Williamson's death in 1990.

In the early 1960s, Bill Smith (born William Smith, in 1936, in Edinburgh), Ron Cruikshank and Andy Turner had formed a trio called The Corrie Voices. The trio was named after Bill Smith's daughter "Corrie", but because as a corrie is a deep bowl in a mountain, the name was particularly appropriate as it evokes imagery of the Scottish landscape. After Turner dropped out, In 1962, Roy Williamson teamed up with Smith and Cruikshank to form the Corrie Folk Trio. Their first performance was in the Waverley Bar in St Mary's Street, Edinburgh. After a few weeks, Cruikshank left due to illness. They had already accepted an engagement at the Edinburgh Festival so Williamson suggested that Ronnie Browne should be brought in to make up the numbers.