Celtic Utopia
(Útóipe Cheilteach)

“The winners write the history; the losers write the songs,” so says Branwen, one of a new wave of Irish musicians featured in this loose and likeable tapestry of Ireland’s contemporary folk music scene. Funny, talented, and politically outspoken, these rebel artists are redefining Ireland’s traditional folk music, acknowledging the country’s colonial past and its painful legacy, while looking toward a better future—if not a utopia, at least an improvement on what came before.

Unfolding like a musical jam session, we meet and listen to a wide array of musicians—young, old, white, Black, guitarists, and rappers—offering up alternative folk songs that evoke the past, yet, as one cheeky bandmate says, are played “to scare priests and politicians.” The film also contrasts their present with evocative archival footage of Ireland’s recent history depicting its deeply conservative roots. With a form as irreverent as its subjects, Celtic Utopia is a wry and raw celebration of Irish culture, language, and yes, its fighting spirit.

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