“To the human ear music echoes the deepest grandeur and the most divine intimacy of the soul.”  John O’Donahue

“A man of rank must always keep his harp in tune.” [1]

What do you associate with music?

What do you associate with Celtic Music?

What comes to mind first for me is Guinness Beer.

The first time I tasted Guinness was 1994 in Adelaide, Australia.  We were on our way back from serving as missionaries for three years in Papua New Guinea.  The Enga Province where we had lived was “dry”, so I hadn’t tasted any beer, or other alcohol for that matter, for a very long time.  Imagine the pleasant surprise for my taste buds when I took my first sip of that dark, smooth, robust liquid!  It was heavenly.  But that occasion was surpassed by the time, twenty years later, when I had a Guinness at the mother ship—the Guinness brewery in Dublin.  I tell you, beer NEVER tasted so good!  I understood then why they call Guinness “mother’s milk”. 

But what does this have to do with Celtic Music?  Precisely this:  There is a symbol for this beer that captures one of the key components of Celtic Spirituality.  Do you know what that symbol is?  (Hint:  The answer is found in italics above.)  Yes!  A harp!

The harp symbolized on Guinness is called the Brian Boru harp.  Legend has it that he was the leader who drove the Vikings out of Ireland.  That harp is also found on Irish coins.  The harp was, and is, a very important musical instrument for the Celts.  That shouldn’t surprise us, for we are probably familiar with the significance of the harp in the Old Testament, as it recounts how David played the harp in order to quell the demons afflicting King Saul.  But the harp was also significant in Celtic myth.  Mcintosh recounts the story of how Dagda (the divine good god) overcame his enemies by simply playing the harp.

As we know, the harp is not the only instrument the Celts hold dear. In fact, most of us would associate the Bagpipes first with Scotland and Ireland.  Oh, the sound of the pipes!  What could possibly be better than listening to Amazing Grace played on the pipes?  One of the most memorable funerals I ever attended included exactly that. 

Can you think of any other instruments that are dear to the Celts?  How about the flute?  Or the human voice?  Yes, the voice is an instrument which God has given to each of us, though at times it might require a bit of tuning. Singing was also highly prized as a gift of glorifying God.  Both Columba and Pelagius were renowned for their singing.  There are two hymnic poems attributed to Columba, both based on Psalms and in the abecedarian format, which means that they begin with the letter “A” and continue with each letter of the alphabet. No doubt he got the idea from Psalm 119.  There is a type of singing called “Sean-Nos” that very well may be based on that.  It is a cappella, haunting, and done in Gaelic.  I would invite you to listen to it.

In fact, dear friend, I would invite you this day or this week to listen to some form of Celtic Music, whether the harp, bagpipes, flute or songs.  And maybe even sing along!

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[1] Tenth Century Law of Wales.  Taken from “Water From an Ancient Well” by Kenneth McIntosh