Shane ruled - from The Roxy Club to incoherency!

The real stuff is excellent, and so is some of the modernists. The Cheiftains are probably the most accessible for those looking to explore the genre. I also have a soft spot for some of the punk bands with clear celtic roots like the Pogues or to a lesser extent Great Big Sea and the Dropkick Murphies.

What I'm not a big fan of is the "music hall" variety, like the Irish Rovers, or the worst of Makem and Clancy (to be fair, much of M&C is pretty good)

My mother likes it, and she likes Celtic Women. I don't like it, but I can actually bear to listen to it for a little while, anyway.

I really like the Celtic sound. It really is relaxing and soothing to listen to.

Celtic music was the forerunner of bluegrass and folk. The strengths of the genre are the powerful rythyms and culturally significant narratives. The typical instrumentation sounds exotic to our modern ears, due to the homogenous format and shallow pool of instruments employed in popular American genres.

The real stuff is solid. Unfortunately, there's that other, corny, kind ..y'know...the shit like Mr. McGee and the amazing talking tree or Jimmy O'Toole and the magic bag of cupcakes that never ran out...

I pick up the odd cd now and then and always enjoy it.

Fine in small doses and there are a couple of brillient exponents. Too much of it can do your head in. Just spend 2 or 3 days at a folk festival and you'll know what I mean

I'd give Loreena McKennit at least a 5 but a lot of lesser talent seems to have jumped on THAT bandwagon.

There is one song i really like, thats the Christ Childs Lullaby. It's not all that bad, just depends on your taste

come on people celtic music is alright but there is no way that it is better than any other genre.What are you people thinking