Afro Celt Sound System

Afro Celt Sound System (for a period billed simply as Afrocelts) is a British-based musical collective formed in London in 1995, celebrated for fusing traditional Celtic music—principally Irish, with Scottish and Breton elements—with the music of West Africa and contemporary electronic dance production. Founded by producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson and closely associated with Peter Gabriel's Real World Records, the group brought together performers such as the Guinean kora player N'Faly Kouyaté, the Senegalese percussionist Moussa Sissokho, the British-Asian dhol player Johnny Kalsi and the Irish sean-nós singer Iarla Ó Lionáird. Widely regarded as pioneers of "world fusion" or "ethno-techno", the collective achieved international success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with albums including Release (1999) and Further in Time (2001), the latter earning a Grammy Award nomination.

Background and Formation

The group originated with Simon Emmerson, formerly of the 1980s jazz-funk duo Working Week, who in the early 1990s co-produced albums by the Senegalese singer Baaba Maal, including Firin' in Fouta (1994). Working within the orbit of Peter Gabriel's Real World organisation and attending its WOMAD festivals, Emmerson conceived the idea of combining Irish uilleann pipes with West African drumming and club grooves, inspired by encounters between Celtic and African musicians on the festival circuit.

In 1995 Emmerson convened a series of improvised sessions at Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire. Participants included the uilleann piper Davy Spillane, the Kenyan singer and nyatiti player Ayub Ogada, the Breton harpist Myrdhin, bassist-keyboardist Jo Bruce (son of Jack Bruce), programmer Simon Richmond, engineer-keyboardist Martin Russell, dhol player Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation, Guinean griot N'Faly Kouyaté and Senegalese djembe player Moussa Sissokho. The results were compelling enough for the project to be signed to Real World Records, and the collective was named Afro Celt Sound System, the phrase "sound system" deliberately evoking club and DJ culture.

Recording History

Sound Magic and the early years (1996–1998)

The debut album, issued in 1996 as Volume 1: Sound Magic, was assembled from the initial studio jams and produced by Emmerson with Richmond and Russell. Featuring the sean-nós singing of Iarla Ó Lionáird, it made an immediate impression on both world-music and dance audiences: tracks such as "Whirl-y-Reel" and "Sure-As-Not" received substantial club and radio play, and the album reportedly sold several hundred thousand copies, becoming one of Real World's most successful releases of the decade. During this period the live band consolidated around Kouyaté, Sissokho, Kalsi, Ó Lionáird, flautist and piper Emer Mayock and accordionist and whistler James McNally, formerly of the Pogues. Jo Bruce died in 1997.

Release and Further in Time (1999–2002)

Volume 2: Release (1999), the group's second album, adopted a more song-oriented approach and featured Sinéad O'Connor