Feet were tapping to the sounds of strings and drums as the Donnie Carroll Band performed at The 10th Annual Celtic Festival Sep. 4. 

With a total of sixteen songs on a combination of guitar, violin and some use of a drum, the band played traditional Irish songs. Some as old as the eighteenth century.

Many songs had stories behind them. Donnie Carroll, the vocalist and lead, sang these stories to the audience. 

Stephen Anthon, a freshman kinesiology major, said he enjoyed the concert. 

“I really enjoyed it; I liked the more upbeat jigs than the slow ballads,” Anthon said. 

Anthon said he could hear the emotion in Carroll’s voice, happy or saddened.

Celtic music is very traditional. It is meant to get listeners to dance, clap and have a good time. Beats are created with either stomping or clapping. 

Vocal music was not the only music played. There were violin songs called “jigs” played, which is usually played solely for dancing. There were also horn pipes that played, which are songs played on the violin that goes in four beats.

Kristen Clingenpeel, a sophomore undecided major, said she likes listening to different genres of music.

“I loved it! It was so much fun, it was great and I love the variety they played,” Clingenpeel said. 

Celtic music differs drastically from today’s popular music. 

There was no profanity, or talk about drugs, and when women were mentioned, it was because of love, not sex. 

The music showed the downside of the use of crack-cocaine and alcohol in one song, versus putting “the hustle “ on a pedestal. While not all-popular music follows these descriptions, these are very common in today’s music.

Since the music is traditional, it also has a lot of meaning. 

There were songs sang about the civil war, immigration to America and the famine. 

Celtic music has a lot of emotional attachment to its home, Ireland. 

For songs to have been carried and sang for centuries later, it is obviously a big part of Irish and Scottish culture.