Where Fintan's comment doesn't apply 100% to our discussion is in his statement that "few players would describe themselves as playing anything other than 'traditional' or 'Irish' music." He means, of course, few players of traditional Irish music. That's what his book is about, but we're talking about a broader community. There are plenty of players who might describe their playing differently. Take folks like Pat Kilbride, an Irishman in a primarily Scottish band. Scottish, Welsh, Breton players, etc, would describe their music differently, obviously. And there are many people in Canada, the US, Australia, etc, who play in bands that combine all these musics together. Those people definitely describe their own music as Celtic.

It may be that "Celtic" now denotes an unease with "Irishness," as Fintan claims, but as I said before, it did not initially. Initially, when you had ceilidh bands using the word "Celtic" in their names, it was an expression of Irish pride. Now it is often an acknowledgement that one's music is not strictly Irish or traditional, both of which are healthy admissions to make.

Another imprecision in Fintan's remarks is his claim that while Breton music is "different to" Irish music, Welsh, Manx, English and Scottish are "connected to" Irish music. In fact, Breton music strongly connected to Irish music as well, particularly since the 1960s but very much so before that as well.

Chanteyranger, we may indeed be fated to disagree. C'est la vie! It's a fun discussion nonetheless.