About
Beltaine’s Fire: Revolutionary Hip Hop Fusion
There is a place where the rebel ballads of the Celtic bards, the storytelling of protest folk and the fury of revolutionary hip-hop music intersect. Beltaine’s Fire occupies that space. Their sound is both deeply rooted in tradition and history and completely original, combining ancient and modern in a bold fusion that Epitunes described as “that rare group that succeeds at combining seemingly disparate musical styles into an appealing new sound… unlike anything you’ve heard of before” and that Malcolm Carden of the Livermore Scottish Games described as “The new face of Celtic Music.”
Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, Beltaine’s Fire is comprised of Lynx, drummer Cozy T, bassist/backup vocalist Laura, cellist/mandolin extraordinaire K8R, and John on a custom-modified electric banjo. The band has a uniquely eclectic style mixing the cadence of rap with traditional Celtic sounds. The end product combines melodies reminiscent of the Wolfetones and Flogging Molly with the revolutionary energy of bands like Public Enemy, The Coup, and Rage Against the Machine.
The group has played everything from family-oriented cultural events and festivals to college campuses, folk venues, live radio, night clubs, Irish Pubs, and hip-hop shows. They have performed alongside such Celtic luminaries as Solas, Tempest, Enter the Haggis, Vishten, and Molly’s Revenge. With an infectiously danceable live show and some of the most insightful socially conscious lyrics in the business, this is a band that can do just about anything and sound good doing it.
Their debut album, Weapon of the Future was released December 2007. Liberty, the band’s second CD, came out in September 2008. Both albums are available from the band’s website as well as major retailers iTunes, Amazon.com, and many others. The third album will also be available through those venues.
Beltaine’s Fire has toured throughout the West Coast, and in 2008, the group headed east to New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia. They have played everything from family-oriented cultural events and festivals to college campuses, folk venues, live radio, night clubs, Irish Pubs, and hip-hop shows. They have performed alongside such Celtic luminaries as Solas, Tempest, Enter the Haggis, Vishten, and Molly’s Revenge. With an infectiously danceable live show and some of the most insightful socially conscious lyrics in the business, this is a band that can do just about anything and sound good doing it.
Liberty
Their second album, “Liberty”, was released Sept. 12 2008. Copies are available at shows and from this website. The new songs keeps the same razor-sharp political slant that fans of ‘the Fire’ have come to know and love – tackling issues ranging from the inequalities caused by neo-liberal globalization and structural imperialism to the long history of support for dictators and despots around the world by both Democratic and Republican administrations. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. As Emma Goldman famously put it “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be part of your Revolution” and Beltaine’s Fire has plenty of songs you can dance too - even their most philosophical tracks boast infectiously danceable rhythms. Throw in a few up-tempo tracks like Reclaim the Streets, 1234, and Kilted and you’ve got the perfect soundtrack for a revolution near you.
About the Name:
The name ‘Beltaine’s Fire’ is a reference to Beltaine, the ancient Celtic celebration of the first taste of summer – the midway point between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice.The festival is traditionally associated with the cleansing power of fire and flame, creation out of destruction. On this night the Druids lit giant bonfires to mark the changing of the seasons, believing all who passed through the smoke would be blessed with fertility, power, and wisdom. Starting in the 1890’s, Beltaine was reborn as Mayday, aka International Workers Day, which is recognized as a holiday throughout Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia and South America but not in the USA. Mayday began during the worldwide campaign to stop the execution of the Haymarket 8 – Anarchist labor organizers who were framed and murdered by the state of Illinois for their involvement in the fight for the 8 hour day. Since then it has become a celebration of defiance by working class people all over the world against Capitalism and Authoritarianism.
