The Celtic world covers a large area that ranges from Ireland to Northern Spain,

including Scotland, Wales, Brittany and part of Galicia.

It represents a strong economic and social reality, which invaders find it difficult to demolish.

As any other folk music, Celtic music has popular origins and at the beginning it was played

in the streets, in the barns, in the kitchens – often with no written form; so today we have

dozens of different versions of the same tune or passage.

Its aim was that of making people dance and feel happy; the fiddletunes (as the dance music of the time is called) – either jigs ( 6/8 time) or reels ( 4/4 time) – are generally accompanied by dancers wearing clogs ( heavy wooden boots) and stamping on the round to reinforce the rhythm.

The different instruments of the Celtic tradition (celtic harp, uillean pipe, violin, whistle, flute) are mostly melodic and often played in unison, except for the bodhràn, the celtic drum.

The style, which – as in the most of  traditional music – has the role of underlining the note on the downbeat in order to facilitate the dancers to perceive the rhythm, is here integrated by variations and ornaments which make it inique and unpredictable at the same time.

The group Antiqua Celtica is initially fascinated by composers like Turlough O’Carolan, who is able to combine the classical and the folk music  with a touch of baroque from Vivaldi, Corelli and Geminiani.

They go deeper into the Celtic music world and they pay particolar attention to its philology; they draw their inspiration from Celtic music and they blend it with their personal experiences.

They play original Celtic instruments ( or exact copies) together with modern instruments.

During their concerts the Antiqua Celtica play the guitars, the bouzouki, the violin,

the ethnic percussions, and a Celtic harp.

In the Celtic world the harp is something more than a mere music instrument. The most ancient harp, the legendary Born Harp, which is now at Trinity College, Dublin, is the symbol of Ireland and

it dates back to the XV century.

The members of Antiqua Celtica are well-known musicians, who perform both at home and abroad and who can  count – among others – important co-operations with artists ; they have been on tour – both as solo player or as a group - in Italy and foreign countries. The group offers Scottish, Irish and Breton dances, reels, jigs, slow airs and , of course,

the magic sound of a Celtic harp.

Recent events :

In 2007 Antiqua Celtica has taken part in important events such as “ Suoni delle Dolomiti”,

“ Art, Music and Poetry” an event organized by Fondazione Canova onlus and by

the association “Amici del Canova” to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Antonio Canova’s

birth by the Canova plaster casts gallery at Possagno (Italy).

In march 2008 they took part in a national contest and they were chosen to play at the

Spilimbergo Folkfest .