Fiddle Me This

Mention Irish music to most listeners and the names that come to mind are the Cranberries, Enya, U2, Sinead O’Connor and Van Morrison, to list only a few of the significant pop acts that have originated in the Emerald Isle.

But these are artists who have shaped their music mostly within the international dialect of pop. Only rarely--sometimes more than that with Enya, who once sang with the group Clannad--does their music suggest a connection with the deeper roots of Irish traditional music.

The ‘90s, however, has seen a surprisingly robust revival of those traditional sounds. A glance at Billboard’s recent world music charts reveals an almost overwhelming preponderance of Irish music.

Late last month, for example, the Top 15 listings included two albums by the Chieftains, an album by Clannad, Bill Whelan’s “Riverdance” show album, two collections (“Women of the World: Celtic” and “Celtic Treasure: The Legacy of Turlough O’Carolan”), a program of Irish tunes performed by flutist James Galway, a set of Irish-tinged music by Loreena McKennitt and the film score for “The Brothers McMullen.”

Nine out of the Top 15 would be impressive under any circumstances. Add to that the fact that Altan, an Irish traditional band described in the New Yorker as a “supergroup that has set new standards for Irish music,” releases its first album on Virgin Records this week. Expect it to enter the Top 15 as well; the band’s 1993 hit, “Island Angel,” was a fixture on the World Music chart for eight months.

On Saturday and next Sunday, the 22nd annual Great American Irish Fair and Music Festival brings 16 stages of Irish entertainment to Santa Anita Park Racetrack. And “Riverdance,” the colorful theatrical presentation of Irish music and dance, opens a two-week run at the Pantages on Nov. 15.

So what’s going on here?

“The word seems to be spreading like wildfire,” says Ciaran Tourish, fiddle player with Altan. “And not just about ourselves, but about Irish music in general. In fact, there’s been a lot of awakening to Irish music in Ireland lately, as well. Until recently, it wasn’t regarded as anything spectacular, but now there’s been a tremendous revival at home.”

Why the rush of popularity?

For several reasons. First, and most obvious, because it is so familiar. The rhythmic jigs and reels of Irish dance long ago found their way into bluegrass and country music. The laments of the old-style songs known as sean nos have impacted everything from country to the blues, and Irish “set” dancing resonates in country line dancing.

Equally important, Irish traditional music--especially in its acoustic manifestations--affords the opportunity to get in touch with a rich, ancient heritage.

“It’s music that has a powerful connection with the past,” says Los Angeles-based Irish singer Mairead Sullivan, whose album “Dancer” (on Lyrebird) mixes originals with traditional material. “The old songs, in particular, magnify one’s centeredness and one’s stillness. It’s almost a spiritual kind of experience.”

The current wave of Irish music popularity traces back to the folk revival of the ‘60s, when composer Sean O Riada, from Cork, added traditional instruments to his ensemble, Ceoltoiri Chualann, and began to play roots music in a classical setting. Paddy Moloney, a piper with the group, expanded on the idea by assembling his own band--the Chieftains--founded on the revolutionary (at the time) notion of performing traditional music in an ensemble rather than via the customary solos and duos.

Other groups followed, assembling their own mix of instruments drawn from the familiar pipes, flutes, whistles, violins, harps, accordions and bodhrans (or frame drums) of Irish music. For repertoire, they adapted music from an array of jigs, reels and ballads, drinking songs and love refrains stretching back into the mists of Irish history.

Among the more successful were the Bothy Band, De Danann, Planxty and Moving Hearts. In the early ‘80s, the Pogues went further, mixing Irish music with a punk attitude.

Does the growing popularity of traditional music reflect, as some have intimated, the emergence of a large-scale Celtic movement in the music business?

Certainly not in the context of something similar to, say, the British rock invasion of the ‘60s. But there’s no denying that the music has a universality that appeals to a wide audience.

Bill Straw’s independent Blix Street Records has been releasing Irish product since the early ‘90s--notably by singer Mary Black. Straw, however, has reservations about the notion of a large-scale Celtic movement.

“There’s a huge Irish population in this country,” he says. “But a large percentage of the Irish music it is interested in is basic, traditional music--the kind of recordings that are sold through Irish stores, and mostly through imports.

“The major labels aren’t interested in anything that isn’t going to sell platinum, and if they don’t break some platinum acts out of this traditional music genre, you’re going to see a lot less tradition and a lot more Cranberry-type groups.”

Perhaps understandably, Virgin artists and repertoire representative Declan Colgen takes a more upbeat position, especially in the case of Altan, the group he brought to the label.

“Altan are one of those rare groups,” Colgen says, “who have the potential to reach a much larger audience, many of whom would probably never consider buying a folk/world music album.”

Colgen is right about one thing: People who might never before have bought a world music album are out there buying CDs by Altan, Clannad and the Chieftains. But the appeal of these bands may have more to do with the essential communicability of the music than it does with style or ethnic identity.

“The truth,” Tourish says, “is that there are so many different types of Irish music that there don’t seem to be enough categories to cover them all. Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Enya are from the same place, but what they’re doing is completely different from each other. And that’s the way we like to see things--if it’s good music, people will turn on to it.”

The best domestic recording company sources for traditional Irish music are Green Linnet, Shanachie, RCA, Virgin, Celtic Heartbeat and the North Hollywood-based Blix Street. Here’s a brief look at a few of the leading names with a listing of their current albums:

THE CHIEFTAINS: After 32 years, two gold albums and four Grammy awards, the most influential group in the reawakening of traditional Irish music is as strong as ever. The band has recorded with artists ranging from Elvis Costello, Van Morrison and Rickie Lee Jones to Sting, Mick Jagger and Sinead O’Connor. Leader Paddy Moloney’s uilleann pipes join with fiddles and flute to produce one of the most compelling timbres in world music, amply evident in the Chieftains’ most recent albums: “Film Cuts,” a collection of excerpts from their film scores, and “The Long Black Veil,” both on RCA.

ALTAN: Originally formed from the duet performances of singer-violinist Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and her husband, flutist Frankie Kennedy, Altan established itself as one of the preeminent traditional Irish bands with its first five albums. The death of Kennedy in 1994 changed the composition of the group somewhat, but the pure, Donegal-based tunes at the heart of Altan’s style blend with Mhaonaigh’s enchanting Gaelic vocals to create irresistibly captivating music. Altan’s “Blackwater,” its debut for Virgin Records, comes out Tuesday.

CLANNAD: The ensemble consisting of three siblings and their twin uncles produces music that moves intriguingly between traditional sounds, jazz and ambient textures, convincingly demonstrating the fusion potential of Irish music. Clannad’s newest album, “Lore,” on Atlantic/Celtic Heartbeat, was released in February.

ANUNA: Founded by composer Michael McGlynn, Anuna is a choral group dedicated to the performance of medieval (and medieval-inspired) music, poetry and texts. The ensemble’s music is lush and atmospheric, filled with ethereal choir vocals. Anuna’s current album, issued late last year on Atlantic/Celtic Heartbeat, is “Invocation.”

SOLAS: A new ensemble of virtuosic players from Ireland and North America. One of the featured members is Seamus Egan, an exceptional multi-instrumentalist whose 1990 album “A Week in January” was the basis for his soundtrack music for “The Brothers McMullen.” The band is as effective with slow, lamenting ballads as with brisk, improvisationally inventive reels. Its first album, the self-titled “Solas,” was released in May on Shanachie.

Other groups not to be overlooked: the perennial Clancy Brothers (usually in tandem with singer Tommy Makem), the Dubliners and the Irish Rovers; newer groups Deanta and Four Men and a Dog (actually a sextet); the jazz fusion-oriented Nightnoise. And it’s well worth checking out albums by the seminal Moving Hearts and Planxty.

Finally, there are the singers, in many respects the essential keepers of Irish tradition. No list would be complete without the following artists: Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, Joe Heaney, Christy Moore, Mary Black, Dolores Keane, Maura O’Connell and Noirin Ni Riain.

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TimesLine 808-8463

To hear excerpts from albums by these Irish bands, call TimesLine and press * and the artist’s corresponding four-digit code.

The Chieftains *5724

Altan *5725

Clannad *5726

Anuna *5727

Solas *5728

In 805 area code, call (818) 808-8463.