Scottish Folk Music

17 Jan, 2012Featured, Styles

Today, we are going to be talking about Scottish Folk Music, or, the only folk music that is actually very good. I say this because I descend from a Scottish Highlanders, and because it is true. Normally when I think of folk music, it is that twangy, whiny, banjo-infested noise from Appalachia in the United States — or worse yet — that annoying 1960s protest music, usually played on solo guitars by very blase looking individuals of questionable body odor. Celtic folk music, however, is an entirely different style that emerged from a true, ancient culture with excellent taste and fidelity to the trials of the human condition.

Scottish folk ballads such as Fair Margaret and Sweet William, The Parting Glass, and Within a Mile of Edinburgh Town all tell meaningful stories with deep human connections to historic events. Granted, in the hands of talented Scottish bards, these events are typically upgraded a bit, from ordinary factual details to sudo mythical tales. It’s all for a reason: to make sure the events are remembered. Have a listen now to some really great Scottish folk music, and get a little taste of what the real stuff is supposed to be like.