The Celtic Social Club is a musical band formed in 2013 and led by Manu Masko. The band is formed by a group of

Bretons The Bretons (; br, Bretoned or ''Vretoned,'' ) are a Celts, Celtic ethnic group native to Brittany. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Common Brittonic, Brittonic speakers who emigrated from Dumnonia, southwestern Great Britain, par ...

and Scots musicians, members of

The Silencers ''The Silencers'' is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm. Plot summary When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her, he f ...

Red Cardell Red Cardell is a Breton rock band that mixes Breton music with rock, folk, blues, world music and chanson réaliste. The group was formed in 1992 by Jean-Pierre Riou (vocals, guitars), Jean-Michel Moal (accordion) and Ian Proërer (drums). With t ...

and Ronan Le Bars Group with guests related to the world Celtic, inspired by their elders of the

Buena Vista Social Club Buena Vista Social Club is an ensemble of Cuban musicians established in 1996. The project was organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González. They named the g ...

and the New Orleans Social Club which aims to popularise

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

by opening it to current music. The music of The Celtic Social Club is a contemporary adaptation of traditional Celtic tunes performed by a group of seven musicians and guests chosen for their diverse backgrounds such as

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

or hip hop.

Biography

The idea of the Celtic Social Club was germinated in February 2012 when Manu Masko and Jean-Pierre Riou from the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

band

moved to New York City to mix an album with producer-mixer Ariel Borujow and when they watched a live video of the Fest-Rock ( Bagad Kemper and

) with him during a break. Ariel Borujow, interested, shared his discovery with

Frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

and

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

, producer. The group formed around the three musicians of Red Cardell (Jean-Pierre Riou, Manu Masko and Mathieu Péquériau), adding

Jimme O'Neill Jimme O'Neill is a Scottish singer and guitarist who has been the lead singer of Scottish rock band The Silencers since 1984. Having started his musical career with Cha Burns in Fingerprintz in the new wave music scene, they joined Martin Hanlin ...

singer and Irish-Scottish guitarist, leader of

and Ronan Le Bars virtuoso of

Uilleann Pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

and fellow violinist Peter Stephan. Bassist Richard Puaud, longtime companion of Manu Masko, completed the team. Other collaborators include the Jamaican

Winston McAnuff Winston McAnuff, also known under the stage name Electric Dread (born 1957) is a Jamaican singer and composer of reggae and dub music. Life and career McAnuff was born in Manchester Parish, JamaicaCampbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013)A New Day f ...

(Scottish origin), the New Yorker rapper IC Will (Irish origin), the indie-folk singers Colline Hill (Breton resident first in Ireland and then in Belgium),

Louise Ebrel Louise Ebrel (27 July 1932 – 30 March 2020) was a Breton singer whose parents Eugénie Goadec (one of the Goadec Sisters) and Job Ebrel were themselves singers. Her repertoire was composed of traditional Breton songs, either for dancing ('' ...

, and Steven Bodénès the penn-soner (conductor) of Bagad Kemper, The

Quimper Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography The ...

pipe band. Jimme O'Neill et Red Cardell

During the showcase and the official press conference of the project on 4 April 2014 in

, the

Vieilles Charrues The Vieilles Charrues Festival (french: Festival des Vieilles Charrues, ; br, Gouel an Erer Kozh, ; literally: Old Ploughs Festival) is held every year in mid-July in the city of Carhaix, located in western Brittany, France. This festival is the l ...

revealed the presence of the group as the creation of the year of the festival, 18 July between benefits of

Tinariwen Tinariwen (Tamasheq: , with vowels , pronounced ''tinariwen'' "deserts", plural of ''ténéré'' "desert") is a collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali. Considered a pioneer of desert blues, the group's guita ...

and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Keltia Musique Keltia Musique is a French independent record label and distribution company specializing in Celtic music. It was founded in 1978 in Quimper, Brittany, by Hervé Le Meur. History The company was founded by Hervé Le Meur, co-founder of Bagad ...

announced its participation as coproducer with the release of an album on 18 June. The Celtic Social Club gave its first concert on 18 July 2014, in front of 50,000 spectators. The collective began a tour early 2015 in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

and announced a French tour and dates in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

(

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

) and Germany ( Rudolstdat). In December 2015, Jean-Pierre Riou announced his departure from the group to focus exclusively on

. A few days later The Celtic presented its new member in the person of Gouven Hamel, a Breton musician that played with Les Nus and

Miossec Christophe Miossec is a French singer and songwriter born in Brest, Brittany, France on December 24, 1964. Beginnings Christophe Miossec was not new to the world of music when he met his first great success. Between 14 and 17, he was in a teen ...

. In January 2016, the new team was in residence at La Sirène in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...

to record new songs and prepare a 2016 tour including dates in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. For these sessions the band appealed to producer John Reynolds (

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...

, he was her first husband, U2,

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

Natacha Atlas Natacha Atlas ( ar, نتاشا أطلس}; born 20 March 1964) is an Egyptian-Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western music, particularly hip-hop. She once termed her music "'' cha'abi moderne''" (modern popular music). Her mu ...

Musical style

The music of the Celtic Social Club is a modern adaptation of Celtic music from different territories (

, Ireland,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, Galicia, Asturias,

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

). From traditional Celtic melodies from all sources, the group creates a musical synthesis of both contemporary and traditional.

Band members

Current members

* Manu Masko (2013–present): drums, percussions, leyboards, samples, loops, backing vocals /

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

* Ronan Le Bars (2013–present):

Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

low whistle The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Make ...

* Pierre Stéphan (2013–present):

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Mathieu Péquériau (2013–present): harmonica, washboard, backing vocals * Richard Puaud (2013–present): bass, backing vocals * Goulven Hamel (2016–present):

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

* Taylor Byrne (2022-present):

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Former member

* Jean-Pierre Riou (2013–2015): lead vocals,

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

bombard __NOTOC__ Bombard may refer to the act of carrying out a bombardment. It may also refer to: Individuals *Alain Bombard (1924–2005), French biologist, physician and politician; known for crossing the Atlantic on a small boat with no water or food ...

(2013–2018): lead vocals, Acoustic and electric guitar * Martin Kelly (2018): lead vocals, Acoustic and electric guitar * Dan Donnelly (2018–2022): lead vocals, Acoustic and electric guitar

Guests

: lead vocals * I.C. Will: lead vocals *

Faada Freddy Daara J (pronounced , which means "the school" in Wolof) are a Senegalese rap duet that consists of N'Dongo D and Faada Freddy. Their music takes influence from hip hop, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and reggae and is performed in English, French, Span ...

: lead vocals * Colline Hill: lead vocals, acoustic guitar *

: lead vocals * Steven Bodénès:

Roy Harter Roy Harter (born March 6, 1973) is a New York Emmy award-winning, composer, sound designer and audio mixer, best known for his work in television and film. He is also a multi-instrumentalist for various performing and recording artists. Harter i ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

Discography

References

External links

Official The Celtic Social Club website
(English and French languages)
Official Manu Masko website
(French language) {{DEFAULTSORT:Celtic Social Club Breton musical groups Musical groups established in 2013 2013 establishments in Scotland