Celtic sounding song from 80s/90s?
 

In the late 80s early 90s there was a songplayed on the radio that to this day is a melody that is stuck in my head but I cannot for the life of me find it again. I have searched all over for it. Was there a song of fast paced 'celtic' sound played back then on the radio in central Europe?

More detail you ask? this is where it gets really difficult as this is 30 years ago and worried i've skewered my memory over time; its the instruments used that i can hear; fiddle is certain, bagpipe maybe...very upbeat, had percussion, i have recorded an mp3 of the melody of me humming, not a great listen but it could give you an idea. happy to send it over to anyone who feels they can help.

well aware this is a long shot ;-)

I should add, that I don't think it's the Pogues, i went through their entire disco and couldn't find it, taht said, their "style" is in the right direction of what i am looking for.

lyrics, anything?

If it's a Celtic sound big enough to be played in Central Europe in the 80s you could try The Waterboys.

Yes, or it could be any of the plethora of Celtic Punk bands - Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys, The Real McKenzies, Fiddlers Green etc etc. Also The Sawdoctors, Bob Geldof, Revenants...

Will check the Waterboys and report back, thanks.

no lyrics from what I remember at all; chances are it was instrumental, which would seem a little odd for radio.

Definitely not Molly/Murphys/McKenzies and that wave of folk-punk, I'm into punk so would have thought of that and this is too long ago, ie 5 years before Dropkick were even a thing yet.

Never heard of the Sawdocters or Revenants so will check that and report back. Thanks in any case :-) :beer:

If it's instrumentals it might be The Chieftans.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8eeUiGjUZc

Or maybe this: (not the chieftains)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1IVZpk_rVo

The Corrs?

Really appreciate the help. None of the above, although I must say that Corrs instrumental as well as the Blood of Cu Chulainn, come very close as far as melody+vibe so I will dig deeper using them as reference.

going through the entire Chieftans discog right now, so many of their melodies/instrumentation comes very close.

recorded a small clip, apologies ; i am no singer :D

h--ttps://voca.ro/1huzBx0Fax8a <--- sorry for breaking the rules, it says I needed 15 posts to post a url.

Really just a guess, if it's not the song you're looking for then I hope you enjoy it anyways.

Black 47 "Funky Céilí" - YouTube

Adj84, have you considered some of the music for Riverdance? That was pretty big in the 90s.

Irish traditional music in general was HUGE late 80s up into mid 90s. I remember Secret Garden won Eurovision in 1995 on behalf of Norway, but their song (Nocturne) really ripped off the celtic fad that was rampant at the time. To me, it sounded more like something out of Ireland than Norway (though it's probably not what you're looking for).

If not riverdance, it might have been a modernized version of one of many traditional irish jigs?

I had not considered it, and will look into this weekend, thanks very much for the idea :)

As for a modernized version of a traditional irish jig, very possible --- but i've been browsing through every jig that i can on youtube and cannot find the melody (on page one there's a link to where I am humming it)

I think that's "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie

Omg OP, I registered only to bring you the answer you have been looking for (hopefully). I don't know if you are still around but the tune you might be looking for might be this (fast forward to 14 seconds to get to the tune)



The tune is from a french movie called "La soupe aux choux" ("the cabbage soup"), with Louis de Funes, very well known here. It is the main tune of the movie - if you type musique la soupe aux choux in youtube you will find it.

It's from around 1981 - the theme song of the movie became wildly popular and still is 40 years later - very recognisable here. It was remixed so many times by so many different artists, you might have heard a version of it - perhaps not the exact theme.
It's a folk/synthpop tune played on keyboard, inspired by some Bourbon traditional tune.
I hope I am not mistaken and this is the tune you were looking for - albeit perhaps not the exact one, you might have to dig a little more to find the version you heard!

Cheers