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Celtic Airs And Graces
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A rant regarding the abuse of the term "Celtic" as applied to music. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF MUSIC THE CELTS PLAYED (IF ANY)!
singersongwriter fingerstyle guitar acoustic guitar songs fingerstyle guitar songs
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Triangular songs of unrequited lust on gatling-gun fingerstyle acoustic guitar...
Dave Keir picked up the guitar at a very early age - too early, in fact, to learn any extant songs or tunes so he became accustomed to picking out his own tunes from the very start. The habit become so deeply and irrevocably ingrained that even a concentrated effort to mend his ways during an interregum in the 80s and 90s had little effect - a relapse was always just around the corner. Dave's pedigree includes many years playing and recording in London and touring the UK and Europe before he retired from the professional scene in 1981 for family and personal reasons. But he always kept a finger on the pulse. And the songs just kept popping up. With the advent of project studios, Dave equipped himself accordingly for the purpose of recording the now substantial back catalogue of songs that had accrued during these years and also to record local musicians who happened by. One late example of these collaborations resulted in the release of a CD of fiddle tunes for some local musicians. Not suprisingly, this marked the beginning of the end of the hiatus. Dave's songs have been described as "quirky", "wry", "sly", "wiry", "muscular", "poignant", "scurrilous", "sleazy", "philosophical" (huh?), and "tuneful" - it depends on the song, he says (duh!). But always, they are "about" something. They range from being almost journalistic about his experiences to wild extrapolations from a single glance or passing smile. Tax worries and mountaineering play a big part in some of the songs - but a higher proportion yet appear to be about unrequited lust. Dave's guitar playing has been described at "gatling-gun", "complicated", "fast", "slow", "simple", "bright", "dark", "dense", "spare", "percussive", "songfull", (yes, I know - it depends on the song). It happens that he's a left-handed guy who plays guitar right-handed. There is no space here to muse on the net effect of that. As for so many independent artists, the coming of the internet has given Dave a new window of opportunity to reach an audience whom, some would say, may be called "niche", and difficult to reach by traditional means. All this has enabled the production release in 2006, of this CD, "Interim Reports", which has been thoroughly welcomed wherever it has been heard. Dave's public performances are, at the time of writing, limited in number and scale, however wherever he does play, the performances are enthusiastically received without exception. So he is now embarked upon a path of recording and issuing songs that are either freshly composed or have been accumulated through the years. However, nothing will get released on a CD that hasn't served time in front of an audience, so the recording and performing sides of the work are closely connected. Plans for the future are centred around not only playing regularly throughout the UK and Europe again, but also to open up new horizons by way of performances in the US. That's it. Thanks for taking the time to read these few lines and if you have been listening to a few of the songs from "Interim Reports", we hope you have enjoyed them!
Song Info
Charts
Peak #150
Peak in subgenre #21
Author
Dave Keir
Rights
2009 Dave Keir
Uploaded
October 01, 2010
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.2 MB 192 kbps 3:03
Story behind the song
My relationship with traditional folk music has always been ambivalent. This is due to me being called a “contemporary” folk musician and being in competition with “traditional” folk musicians for the affection of fans of acoustic music. The fact that each feeds off the other seems to escape the notice of those who align themselves under the banner of either one. Such is the nature of human tribalism. This song is my attempt at an ironic response to traditionalism. A phenomenon which now extends even to the invention of the spurious term “Celtic” being applied to certain traditional music (I am Scottish, not Celtic). The fiddler in this piece is not a real person but the embodiment of acoustic music held hostage by traditionalists.
Lyrics
Misty-eyed and moody A true Celt for sure Bellicose and broody Genetically pure She can play the fiddle Like you’ve never heard before Hey, diddle-diddle, Play for me some more She is sponsored by the Secretary of State A guardian of my culture Isn’t that just great? She’s talking Gaelic to the Tourists Over in Portree But you can catch her at the ceilidh In deepest Dundee I’m told she is living Out upon some rock Holding back the ocean And turning back the clock I hear she comes here From time to time If our paths should ever cross I’ll try to make her mine
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