The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Celtic Music

by Eileen Ivers, Fiona Ritchie

a great book to read

Genres: Music

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

Reviews

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this in a used bookstore in Bangkok, Thailand somehow, for like $5. I figured it might give me more of an overview of the genre and some things to listen to, along with the stories behind many of the main songs. Mostly that's what it does, but less about the stories (which is just a short chapter), and more a big list of people and bands who are in this genre. However, a lot of it was focused on 60s and 70s musicians, and not as many of them were contemporary, despite this book being written in 2008 or so. I had hoped for some more modern inclusions, but didn't find too much of that. I skipped a large portion of the musicians mentioned in the big music chapter.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up on the sale shelf during one of my recent visits to Ireland. Started reading it but then put it aside until recently when I finished reading it. The first half is the real interest for just reading as Fiona Ritchie discusses Celtic music's history, cultural context, instruments, key artists, and how today's musicians are swapping influences, ideas, and examples back and forth. The latter half of the book is more a reference work as she presents notes on the best artists, their important recordings, identifies websites etc.. I drew on this part of the book to mine MP3 recordings to put on my Zune music player's celtic music list (it just barely fit in the remaining space!) and I'm now looking forward to some real great listening sessions!