Ceili Moss's Page

CEILÍ MOSS is an acoustic folk-rock band from Belgium founded in 1996. We describe ourselves as « acoustic folk-rock with guts and melodies, with a Northern European edge, not afraid of colouring a bit outside of the lines ». Perhaps it is Genevieve Williams from Widdershins who described us best : « They are not as punk as The Pogues, but they have a bit of that attitude and it gives them an edge many folk groups lack ». Other frequently heard comparisons are Ambrozijn, Tri Yann, Jaune Toujours, Les Ogres de Barback, the old Clannad …

Like many, we started with (and still enjoy playing) a “Spanish drunken Danny rover of the County Down in the jar” repertoire, we have nevertheless constantly broadened our musical spectrum: Celtic, Flanders, Scandinavia, klezmer, medieval music, French chanson, Eastern Europe, ska, Balkanbeat, kleinkunst, singer-songwriter, blues, we take whatever we like, put it in our cauldron and whoever says it’s not “orthodox” or “as it should be” gets a smack bottom… We play an approximately 2/3-1/3 mix of our own tunes sung in English, French or Dutch, and of mistreated traditionals.

Ceilí, I guess most of you know, is an Irish word for a party with traditional dance music. Moss was the nickname of Alain Mossiat, boss of the pub “L”Eblouissant”, in Namur, where we first learned to deal with stage fright, back in the early 90s.

We are currently busy recording our fourth album, which we hope to release in the spring of 2010.