LUAR NA LUBRE, GALICIAN SONGS AROUND THE WORLD

Arriving to Barcelona

The Grandma and Claire Fontaine have flown back from Palma to Barcelona.

This trip has been very exciting for The Grandma and she has preferred to stay at home resting and checking her last photos, videos and memories of the island.

During the short flight from Palma to Barcelona, The Grandma has been studying a new lesson of her Elementary Language Practice manual (Vocabulary 6).

More information: Vocabulary 6-Jobs

Claire Fontaine is younger than The Grandma and she has continued her intensive and social life when she has arrived to Barcelona. Tonight, she has gone to Barts Theatre to listen to one of the most amazing and wonderful Galician groups, Luar Na Lubre, which has presented their new album Ribeira Sacra in the Catalan capital. Claire has enjoyed the concert a lot and she has discovered new legends and sounds from the Galician lands.

Luar na Lubre is a Celtic music ensemble from Galiza. Luar is Galician for moonlight; lubre is a magical forest in which the Celtic druids cast their spells.

During its career, this musical group has spread Galician music and culture. The band became famous worldwide after Mike Oldfield took interest in their music. Oldfield fell in love with their song O son do ar, The sound of the air, composed by Bieito Romero. Oldfield's cover is on his Voyager album, entitled Song of the Sun.

More information: Luar na Lubre

In 1992 he offered help in their worldwide tour. Their tour together was called Tubular Bells 3. Now it is one of the most famous groups from Galicia. Their first singer Rosa Cedrón is also featured with Mike Oldfield in some songs from his live concert at Horse Guards Parade, near St James's Park, London.

Rosa Cedrón left the band in 2005 and Sara Vidal became the new singer (nowadays is Irma Macías). In 2010, the group's leader, Bieito Romero, said the group was "fully fit". The group recorded a version of Gerdundula by Status Quo.

The folk metal band Mägo de Oz made a cover of Luar na Lubre's song Memoria da Noite. The epic metal band Runic made a cover of Luar na Lubre's song Nau.
 

Claire listens to Luar Na Lubre in Barcelona

Their most famous singles are Memoria da Noite, Os Animais, O son do ar, Tu gitana and Chove en Santiago. Most of their lyrics are in the Galician language. Their song Nau, written by Bieito Romero is about Galicia as a ship with no direction.

Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerably to include everything from trad, traditional, music to a wide range of hybrids.

These styles are known because of the importance of Irish and Scottish people in the English speaking world, especially in the United States, where they had a profound impact on American music, particularly bluegrass and country music.

More information: Folkways

The music of Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Brittany, Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias and Portugal are also considered Celtic music, the tradition being particularly strong in Brittany, where Celtic festivals large and small take place throughout the year, and in Wales, where the ancient eisteddfod tradition has been revived and flourishes.

Additionally, the musics of ethnically Celtic peoples abroad are vibrant, especially in Canada and the United States. In Canada the provinces of Atlantic Canada are known for being a home of Celtic music, most notably on the islands of Newfoundland, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. The traditional music of Atlantic Canada is heavily influenced by the Irish, Scottish and Acadian ethnic makeup of much of the region's communities. In some parts of Atlantic Canada, such as Newfoundland, Celtic music is as or more popular than in the old country.

Further, some older forms of Celtic music that are rare in Scotland and Ireland today, such as the practice of accompanying a fiddle with a piano, or the Gaelic spinning songs of Cape Breton remain common in the Maritimes. Much of the music of this region is Celtic in nature, but originates in the local area and celebrates the sea, seafaring, fishing and other primary industries.

More information: Celtic Wedding Rings

Celtic music will always be around, 

even if with the mainstream crowds it dies out.

Natalie MacMaster