Celtic World is a new music collective that features a fluid line up of renowned musical talents. It began life last year when Grammy nominated, Irish singer Éabha McMahon launched the inaugural Celtic World Forum, a three day event held in Ireland that attracted an audience from all around the world.
The Celtic World umbrella is designed to be a multi-faceted endeavour. As well as the annual three day forum event it will also stage occasional concerts both in Ireland and overseas. There will also be a series of music releases throughout the year which will feature the very best Celtic talent.
The first two music releases from Celtic World feature vocals from Éabha McMahon, Megan Walsh, Caitríona Sherlock and Fergus Cahillane, with Uilleann Pipes and Whistles from Tara Howley.
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The first release, ‘I Left My Heart’, a song originally written and recorded by rising Irish star Lucy Blue, poignantly captures the feeling of missing home and family whilst living abroad, something the Irish in particular have centuries of experience. No matter who or where you are, the draw for homeland remains and there will be times when thoughts turn to home and the people left behind. As sung in the song 'D’fhág mé mo chroí’ is the Irish language for ‘I left my heart’ and the song relays the longing for home as an emigrant, wherever home may be. For the Irish and their descendants the upside is that ‘home’ is always there. Even if it’s been generations since family emigrated, that feeling of finding your heartland in Ireland stays always, forever strong.
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The second release ‘Ireland’, is a song originally written and recorded by one of Ireland’s biggest home grown successes, Picture This. The song acts as a tribute to their home country and reminisces their memories of the place they are proud to call home and all that they miss, not just when away, but also what they miss about the land they grew up in, when the whole world seemed a much simpler place.
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These first two releases proudly embrace some of Ireland’s newer songwriting talent.
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Ireland has a long history of producing incredible storytellers and that ingrained quality can be heard in many of the numerous Irish artists whose music has been heard all across the world.
In the same way that traditional songs have been given new life by contemporary artists, it is equally fitting that more modern songs can be adapted to embrace more of their Irish Heritage, to reach an audience that may otherwise never hear those works. For these are the songs that in the future will provide the source, of what will then be considered, traditional songs, essentially songs that have stories that transcend generations.
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These two songs perfectly capture the essence of the aims Celtic World looks to achieve. Recognising the unanimous love of Ireland that people from all over the world have, and especially it’s culture, acknowledging the qualities of the Irish forebears who helped instil that global affection for Ireland, and also hopes to inspire a new generation of Irish to feel immense pride and understanding of their cultural roots and heritage and feel confident of their place in the world.
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