The day was March 7, 1998, Saturday night at the North Texas Irish Festival. My (then) wife and I we were attending our first festival together, her first ever and my third. I had started going to NTIF as a way to be Irish for a day. For those who hadn't thought about it, I am of more than 3/4's Irish ancestry.
But on this day, I heard something that changed my life:
It wasn't from walking upon the sea
That took my legs from the ground to my knee
You can't win a race
with a cannonballThe song is Cannonball by the Houston based Celtic band Clandestine.
Something I need to explain to you first. Music has never meant that much to me before. Sure as a kid, I listened to what everyone else, more out of pop culture reasons than anything personal. And in my adult life I have become a sports and news talk junkie.
But on that March day in 1998, for the very first time in my life, music reached in and grabbed me deep inside, and five years later, it hasn't let go. If you were to visit my house and look inside my CD changer, you would find 40 Irish music CD's along with a handful of american folk (Indigo Girls, 10,000 Maniacs), performance artist Laurie Anderson and some broadway musical soundtracks.
My father I think put it best after I got him hooked on it to. "No matter how bad a day is, as soon as the bagpipes start playing, I can't help but smile."
There is something very true in that statement. Celtic music is full of such energy, such joy of life. Yes I know the Celts are well known for their sad ballads too, but the tunes with the pipes and fiddle and drum, for my money and my needs there's nothing better.
Someone once said something to this effect, "You know what I like about you, is that you like what you like, even Irish music, regardless of what other people think." Again, that's not an exact quote, but you get the picture. And while I laughed at that I was also thinking, "It's not like I'm talking about Bulgarian Polkas (with no offense to fans of this particular music)", but also, "well of course I do, it's me, what else am I to do?"
My love of this music inspired me to start up a website called CelticJigsnReels.com, a site devoted to promoting Celtic music and the people that make it happen. Unfortunately, as of Feb. 2005, the site is out of commission, and I am spending part of this summer trying to get it going again.
If you haven't ever listened to this genre of music, I invite you to take a few minutes, go to MP3.com and type in Battlefield Band, Killdares, Glengarry Bhoys, or go just type in Celtic Music and go from there.
And if you've never been to a Celtic Music Festival, get out to one. Almost every city has one at some point in time during the year. Again, either my website's festival calendar, or the SCMA - Southwest Celtic Music Association site should be able to help you find a local festival.
If you have any questions about the music, please feel free to email any questions to [email protected].
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