MUSIC OF THE CELTS and CELTIC MUSIC
(Sonerezh ar Gelted ha Sonerezh keltiek)

These Breton characteristics (when affirmed), I have also found in Gaelic music, without denying the differences and variations. 

A misleading distinction is the greater ambitus of the latter. I attribute this to certain lingering aristocratic elements (as with the lyrics), lost in Brittany since the Breton lais and neumes, with rural music narrowing these ambitus to a few notes. In reality, this is more a social difference than a national one.

In the realm of poetic writing and language, the convergences within the Celtic linguistic family naturally produce musical convergences as well. For example, the “Scotch-snap” rhythm is found in all Celtic countries, even in Welsh choirs that are so musically “polluted,” and their counterparts in Léon (which are less polluted, by the way). 

Another illusory distinction is the use of different types of dances. We forget that jigs, reels, gavottes, and andros are mostly imports and that identity manifests itself through their TRANSFORMATION (for example, Erik Marchand doesn’t understand this logic). It’s clear that dance types should not be considered to distinguish Brittany from the nations across the Channel.

Brittany, Scotland, and Ireland use various ancient modes on the diatonic scale (Dorian, Hypophrygian, etc.). All of them use, more than the French and English provinces, defective scales, including pentatonic scales. The proportion of defective or diatonic scales varies depending on the location. Ulster and Scotland use pentatonic scales more frequently than southern Ireland. This relativity prevents us from opposing Gaelic countries and Brittany, even if the pentatonic scale is rarer there (but less rare than among our neighbors).
It is difficult to know if a more pronounced use of this scale indicates a return to ancient Celts, or even further back to the Neolithic.

I have studied the music of the French provinces and other European regions, and nowhere else have I found the same convergence of trends (as I pointed out for Brittany) as in our Celtic music. CONVERGENCE is the key word. Each separate characteristic does not define a music style. It is only when they are all present that I speak of Celtic Music in its profound sense. A scholar criticized my assertions without fully understanding this aspect (especially since he only read part of my text!).

That it is very minority is not the issue. And the fact that it is lost or reduced to a homeopathic degree in non-Celtic-speaking regions (Pays Gallo, Galicia), or diminished by Welsh Protestantism, does not take away from the respect it deserves. In Wales, I introduced in my discography some Welsh themes unpolluted by Protestant hymns. I was able to sing one or two Gallo themes at Monterfil, showing affinities with Celtic trends. Nothing unusual about this, as French or Occitan neighbors have also lost 90%, not 100%. With Carlos Nuñez, I became aware of certain convergences in Galicia in older forms.

And nothing prevents the use of the term in a more light and “citizen” sense: the music of the Celtic countries and their diasporas and overseas territories. This is the meaning given by festivals, labels, and media. I do not oppose its use, even if some find it “commercial.” Being “marketable” is not a flaw. It proves that a popular demand has been created for something that was once destined for oblivion.

“Friedrich Gennrich: The principles of the lais incorporated in Arthurian romances still define the originality of today’s Celtic musicians. Whether they majestically improvise serious variations on a piobaireachd urlàr or playfully elaborate on a bombard player’s endless incisions in a Pourlet gavotte or a Fisel dance…”.
Celtic music can press against the earth, become one with the ground, only to liberate itself from gravity and lift the listener into levitation, into a state where earth, water, and wind come together… (“Telenn, the Breton harp”).