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Selkie and Music go hand in hand, an integral part of the culture of the Selkie.

Although the cliche of all Selkie having mastered an instrument is a bit too much, many Selkie have some form of proficiency in musical subjects, even if it is only singing the songs.

History

Myths and Legends

Traditional Instruments

Voices and Singing

Fiddles and Strings

Pipes and Fifes

Drums of all sizes

The Harp

Guitars

Newer Music

Selkie Country Music

Selkie Country Music is began its life in times almost ancient, and never fell out of popularity. Granted, it never enjoyed the country-wide success of Selkie-Rock, but at the end of the day, it's the kind of music, that everyone in any given group of Selkie can get behind.

While the classical Selkie Country Music is played by soloists, the classical composition is for fiddlers, but guitars both electric and acoustic conquered a huge swath of the genre since the 18th and 19th centuries, any number of instrumentalists can be in a band (either voluntarily, semi-voluntarily or shanghaied) performing.

The music usually carries simple tunes of ballads and dances, but can be quite complicated. Simple forms and lyrics (especially far-spread among the guitar playing musicians) that touch the topics of typical life, from love to yearning for home, to yearning for a home, are part of the catalogue of topics.

The classical dance called to by the fiddler, the most characteristic and cliche expression of Selkie-Music, falls into this genre. One of the most famous musicians of this cliche is Waari, who took the genre into a new direction with Aingeal as a singer, creating a duo on stage, a format often copied (among others by Enya and Finnegan Sáraigh of the Tribe of Wexford. A typical guitarist of this genre is Kaylee Paisúile of the Tribe of Galway.

Selkie-Rock

Selkie-Rock is a musical style originating in the Early 60s, when Rock-Music celebrated its breakthrough in the Free Lands. While early rock bands focused on translations of foreign songs into Selkie, from the Mid-70s onwards, bands like Sinsear (internationally The Progenitors) took off with own compositions and themes, usually focusing on the desperation of the Yard Crisis, which saw its height in 1975 with the Unrest of 1975. As people would later remark, Selkie-Rock provided the soundtrack.

Selkie-Rock focuses on the rhythmic pulse, The Beat, and the technique, both of which make Selkie-Rock still a music to dance to. Topics range all over the spectrum, although politcs are not taboo - in fact, politics became more and more of a topic in times of upheaval, examples being during the Yard Crisis and, in more recent times, during Operation Spartacus. Many Selkie-Rock Bands are either of two or of three members, an example for the former would be Dísréad, an example for the latter .

A subgenre is Selkie Hard RockLeannáin and Móinéar being good and often-quoted representatives. No one knows, why (and many interpretations exist), but somehow, the Schwarzes Kreuz (a decoration of the Teressian Fürstliche Streitkräfte) became an often used symbol and image, sometimes in variations or adaptations. 

Selkie Soft-Rock is a more melodious genre, easy to listen to (thus, soft) and usual topics are "the beauty of the world - and the perversion of that", in the words of the most popular musician of that style, Viola Macnasach of the Tribe of Sligo.

Mórbhileog is an often-quoted example for Selkie-Jazz-Rock-Fusion, keeping the improvisation intact but adding instruments of Rock, taking the harmonies and melodies of both. Songs of this genre are easy to dance to.

Duo Rock

Duo Rock, so called because of the duo performing, usually consist of two guitarists, one of which or both of which can act vocalists. One of these guitarists may be a bass guitarist.

Electronic sequencers and similar equipment are heavily frowned upon.

Trio Rock

Trio Rock is the form of Selkie-Rock with three musicians,

Selkie-Industrial

Selkie-Industrial came into being in 2020, the band Foirnéis Soinneáin usually being called the first, who played it. It became a typical style of music in the Selkie-Diaspora in Port Arthur, soon becoming what Selkie-Rock once was: Protest Music, the outlet for a new generation and the problems they saw with the world around them, of their feelings concerning the strict and tight corset of Selkie-Culture and its traditions, their feeling of not fitting in and, in some cases even, of not belonging, their feelings of the world and the problems it faced, the problems the Free Lands faced.

Especially accepted in the Mainland was this music in Ironcastle and the surrounding areas, soon encroaching into the other industrial centres of the Free Lands.

Drawing onto the traditions established by Selkie-Rock, Selkie-Industrial is mostly characterized by its aggressiveness and high volume, although bands, who count themselves as part of this genre, always make a point out of having one calmer song on each album, a tradition established by Foirnéis Soinneáin. The instruments are exclusively electric, an aggressive and loud playing style leading to much noise, distortion and screaming adding to it.

Lyrics often touch onto subjects, which aren't touched upon by Selkie-Society, are taboo and which are found provocative, from deformities, sexuality, politics, guilt and shame, suicide, violence, abandonment and Selkie-Militarism. The strict societal corset, and the black-and-white view attached to it, also finds commentators and opponents. Selkie-Tribalism is opposed by many of its creators and in some songs, that is shown.

Occasions

Dancing

Dancing and music fit together like two sides of the same coin. They are, to the Selkie, inseparable. The idea of sitting still and listening to music was completely foreign to them until a few centuries ago, which led to some rather interesting anecdotes. But music by Selkie-Musicians is usually made to be danced to as well.

Dances know many different forms, though the Selkie-Dance is usually improvised, freeform, low to the ground and relaxed, but still fitting the music - it can be danced alone, but also as pairs. Male-only and Female-only pairs, even among friends, are not unheard of. Flips and artistic figures are especially far-spread among youths wishing to impress the ladies. It is unusual for this style of dancing, if the dancers touch each other.

Other forms include the Lover's Dance, which is danced in close embrace, the Set Dance, religious dances, theatrical dances and, although by now more of a sport, the Marcach's Sworddancing.

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