Galicia being PURE CELTIC! is of course nonsense. Bagpipes are spread throughout Europe, in France and Germany and Holland and Sweden to name a few spots. Galicia has not had a Celtic language or culture any more recently than Paris or England, yet we don't consider THEM pure Celtic. Sure, there were once Celtic peoples in Galicia. Just like Turkey, Belgium and the Czech republic. But it's getting carried away to say the region is celtic.

Milladoiro sound the way they do not because of the innate Celticness of Galicia, but because they listened to a lot of Chieftains and Alan Stivell records in the 1970s. I am not just blowing smoke, I have asked them; I hosted a concert of theirs, and did an extensive interview which resulted in a magazine article back about ten years ago. They wisely do not overstate the Celtic influence in Galicia, saying just that it has Celtic influences, Latin influences, and most importantly, cosmopolitan influences due to the many people who come through on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

By the way, mary Garvey's rather cryptic reference is to the song "The Bantry Girl's Lament," in which Johnny "goes a-thrashin' the dirty king of Spain."   

How about "I Wish the queen would call back her armies, from the West Indies, America and Spain" from "As I Roved Out."