About Afro Celt Sound System
Afro Celt Sound System are a European and African group who fuse electronic music with traditional Gaelic and West African music. Afro Celt Sound System were formed in 1995 by producer-guitarist Simon Emmerson, and feature a wide range of guest artists. In 2003, they temporarily changed their name to Afrocelts before reverting to their original name.
Their albums have been released through Peter Gabriel's Real World Records, and they have frequently performed at WOMAD festivals worldwide. Their sales on the label are exceeded only by Gabriel himself. Their recording contract with Real World was for five albums, of which Volume 5: Anatomic was the last.
After a number of festival dates in 2007, the band went on hiatus. In 2010, they regrouped to play a number of shows , releasing a re-mastered retrospective titled Capture.
On 20 May 2014, Afro Celt Sound System announced the release of the album Born. In January 2016, a posting to that website revealed that due to a dispute with Emmerson, who announced his departure from the band in 2015, there were two active versions of the band, a version led by Emmerson and a separate line-up headed by James McNally and Martin Russell. Emmerson's version of the band released the album The Source in 2016. The dispute ended on 21 December 2016, with an announcement on social media.
The band released their seventh studio album, Flight, on 23 November 2018.
The inspiration behind the project dates back to 1991, when Simon Emmerson, a Grammy Award-nominated British producer and guitarist, collaborated with Afro-pop star Baaba Maal. While making an album with Maal in Senegal, Emmerson was struck by the similarity between one African melody and a traditional Irish air. Back in London, Irish musician Davy Spillane told Emmerson about a belief that nomadic Celts lived in Africa or India before they migrated to Western Europe. Whether or not the theory was true, Emmerson was intrigued by the two regions' musical affinities.
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