Sounds Like a Fun Place: Capercaillie and "Finlay's"

Funky? Scottish? Capercaille brings the funk to a Celtic tune! Capercaillie is a Scottish folk band formed in the 1980s. They are named after the Scottish wood grouse. They perform traditional Gaelic songs along with songs in English of their own composition or by others, and often mix traditional songs with modern recording techniques, rhythms and instrumentation. At first sticking fairly closely to traditional styles and instrumentation, in the 1980s they added funk bass lines, synthesizers and electric guitar to traditional songs. In 1992, their EP A Prince Among Islands was the first Gaelic language record to reach the top 40 of the UK singles charts They have since been moving back toward more traditional music while retaining a slight fusion sound. This song, Finlays, is from their 1997 album Beautiful Wasteland, and this version of the song is from their 2002 Live in Concert album (they end this version of Finlays with a snippet of Puirt a Beul, a song from their 1987 album Crosswinds). BTW: This is the band that started my long foray into world music after I saw them in the early stages of their career at Milwaukee's Irish festival in the late 1980s.