Carolina Chocolate Drops: Acapella Gaelic Medley by Rhiannon PIP 2008

[clockguy2]

Lots of Scotch-Irish heritage in North and South Carolina so it's not that much of a stretch for them to pick that up...Wonderfully done indeed!

[RebeccaBrown]

Afro Celtic -- way amazing.

[Josquinquin]

This group is FANTASTIC!! .. So imaginative in everything they do. I love them!! Keep goin' guys!!

[rollantumble]

rollantumble approves.

[mabonwy]

There were Gaelic speakers in North Carolina up until the 1960s and it's very much part of the heritage. It's not as strange as all that for someone in a band called the "Carolina Chocolate Drops" who play old-time music from the area to bust out with some Scottish every once in a while.

[PhillyGirl1]

NICE

[secondsoprano150]

Rhiannon in a trained opera singer. She is fabulous and infuses everything with energy!

[klue45]

does anyone know where these lyrics are? i wana sing it so bad.. yes.. in gaelic :)

[Rabbitohsforever]

Rhiannon ! Musically gifted. Visually gorgeous ! Rare talent!

[Broblem12]

She sings this quite well and I am quite impressed by her here and the group as well. Fine posting.

[TheAprilbowman]

Many people from the Carolinas are highly infused with Scotch-Irish blood, including people of African American and Native American descent. My Great Grandmother spoke Gaelic and I am part Native American. I absolutely love the Carolina Chocolate Drops!

[nogalesmaestro]

Isn't the first one the song that Sting incorporates into his "Christmas at Sea?"

[freetomato]

She's a Carolina mountain gal and bluegrass has Celtic roots...it makes sense. I just discovered this band and I love them so much.

[KancerKowboy]

WOW

[Gypsymoonfarm]

What else can she do? I'm impressed.

[Achbar]

I like this

[c477681]

The music is nice, but I could only understand when she said Renault at 0:30 =)

[beautamous1]

Her father is Irish, her mother is African American.

[goldentruth22]

I think she studied gaelic music at some point.

[eshegheman]

Cute, great Gaelic with a US accent :)) Saw them very recently, got everybody going + acapella hard to do - done brilliantly :)

[stevenkoehler]

These guys are really terrific! I saw them in San Francisco recently, and they blew me away. Each one of them is an excellent musician. They are big fun!

Go see them live if you can.

[zoso1]

kills it on the fiddle, banjo, kazoo, and she knows traditional irish songs?! wtf!

[sailortitan]

Always awesome when cultural traditions collide, especially neat to hear a black person singing "white person" music when it's more common for the opposite to happen. I'd love to see more ethnic variation in the celtic music scene!

[oldmtnfart]

@sailortitan you do realize her husband is an Irish Lad?

[sailortitan]

@oldmtnfart I do now ;-) Not really that surprising; there's a lot of people of irish descent in the states. Most people I know have at least some irish blood in them, including myself.

[jhhouse11]

She's married to an Irishman. See my earlier post. :-)

[susulovesjesus]

Well....I am out of breath just listening to that!

Outstanding!

[Doohanfan]

This woman used to be an opera singer, from what I heard. She is definitelly showing a lot of that training here. Especially with the breath control. She never runs out of air & anybody that has sung anything will tell you, that's hard to do!!

[reikibrarian]

Beautiful. Gaelic is a hard language. I am very impressed.

[REDMANNATION]

I THINK SHE'S IRISH

[Joannawysiwyg]

@REDMANNATION In a former life at least, eh?!

[LetsPLAYnice100]

@Joannawysiwyg

Nah see there was this place called America, a land of immigrants, some forced and others voluntary, and sometimes they got together and mixed, ya know both biologically and culturally. Crazy shit huh?

[webguy21]

@REDMANNATION now I understand what they mean when a person says they're "black IRISH" lol

[CinnAlla]

@REDMANNATION No, her husband is.

[natandjujusgrandma]

@REDMANNATION Aren't we all?

[nickdubya1215]

goddamn this is amazing

[Laffington]

Good music is truly universal....

[zphil]

The first seems like Gaelic with some French accents, which sounds really nice. The second sounds like a 'waulking' song the women of the Scottish islands used to sing when weaving. I love this group, great melange of influences.

[CinnAlla]

@zphil Not weaving, but rather the process of pounding the wet cloth to soften it ("waulking", known elsewhere in English as "fulling").

[zphil]

@CinnAlla Thanks for that :-)

[hammerthumper]

Super hawt. They're comin' to my town tomorrow.

[JThos99]

Rhiannon Giddens is a Celtic dancer and a featured artist on Indian Summer from 2007 with Talitha Mackenzie.

[Reenuh1982]

I was absolutely blown away when I heard her singing this in Charlotte, NC last Friday. They are just awesome.

[IcyScythe]

man I wish I lived in the days when this shit was being sung aorund campires :(

[CarlSchwamberger]

@IcyScythe Light a fire and start singing man :) You might be suprised.

[ladymadagascar]

She is the Queen! Love the Chocolate Drops, they rock!

[CarlSchwamberger]

In the AfroCeltic Tradition

[siklopz]

great stuff. the only version i'd heard before was talitha mackenzie

[REVOfusion]

Blown away... just awesome and brilliant

[bakedsushi]

awesome.....

[ptwlane]

SO talented! Great melody!

[2c4u22]

You're SO cooooooooooooool!

Thank you for another GREAT performance!

[herbrampe]

You make us smile, thanks

[sunryse1]

I cannot say how much I love you Rhiannon.

[genusrightwingus]

World Class Talent!

[murphmanin]

Hoooooooolyyyyy shit!!

[pcfrost232]

WONDERFUL!!

[herbrampe]

Talk about multi talented

[hais49]

Is she already married? Darn.....

[a45shooter]

Excellent

[jhhouse1]

She's married to an Irishman

[dbadagna]

How did she pick up these Gaelic songs? Quite unexpected, and pleasantly so. Her pronunciation seems very good.

[phonemonkey3]

@dbadagna I know the Drops were in Derry not too long ago. Great band.

[CinnAlla]

@dbadagna Well they are Scottish "puirt-a-beul", the first of which (at least) I recognise from the singing of the duo "Sileas" (pronounced "shee-lish", approximately). Rhiannon's husband is Irish, so she does have a tenuous link there to the Gaelic sphere-of-influence. My guess is that she simply heard Gaelic "mouth music", liked it, and learned it. Her accent is pretty good.

[boguspurr]

@dbadagna The start of that medley has been recorded several times by Scottish Gaelic singers.

But I haven't heard that version of "Paddy's Leather Breeches" (0:50) before and it can't be very old (the tune itself isn't). "Celtic roots" BS explains nothing. I presume she got it first-hand from a Scottish singer.

I forget what the last tune is, she kinda falls apart on it. Great energy though.

[IcyScythe]

@dbadagna shes married to a scot for one thing... I'm sure that has something to do with it.

[MaggieKnox]

@dbadagna Some of the original settlers of Appalachia were Scotch-Irish, who were some of the biggest influences on Mountain music like the stuff this band plays. It's only natural that these songs would be passed down and kept within the community.

[dbadagna]

@MaggieKnox

The Scotch-Irish heritage is from the Lowlands of Scotland (near the north of England), not the Highlands or the Hebrides where the Gaelic language and traditions are preserved. Lowlands folk music is much closer to the folk music of England than to that of the Highlands and Hebrides, and Lowlanders are generally not Gaelic speaking (they speak English and Scots dialect, both of which are Germanic, not Celtic languages).

[LawsonZHunley]

@dbadagna

Why is it unexpected?

[dbadagna]

@LawsonZHunley

Because she is not Scottish or from Cape Breton Island, and is already known as a performer in two other genres (opera and old-time music). Additionally, one would not expect to encounter a cappella songs sung in perfect Scottish Gaelic to be presented by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group known primarily for its interpretations of old-time, ragtime, and similar American roots styles. I've seen them perform many times and have never seen them do such repertoire.

[PreservedbyaPromise]

@dbadagna In a live performance where I saw the band, she mentioned that she picked it up from her husband and his heritage.

[scalliwagrx8]

she has an awesome voice and they are one helluva talented band. There are some great vids of them

[tmt292929]

she has a awesome voice!!