The Celtic Social Club

Manu Masko

The idea of the Celtic Social Club was germinated in February 2012 when Manu Masko and Jean-Pierre Riou from the Breton band Red Cardell moved to New York City to mix an album with producer-mixer Ariel Borujow and when they watched a live video of the Fest-Rock (Bagad Kemper and Red Cardell) with him during a break. Ariel Borujow, interested, shared his discovery with Frequency, Eminem and Snoop Dogg, producer.

The group formed around the three musicians of Red Cardell (Jean-Pierre Riou, Manu Masko and Mathieu Péquériau), adding Jimme O'Neill singer and Irish-Scottish guitarist, leader of The Silencers and Ronan Le Bars virtuoso of Uilleann Pipes and fellow violinist Peter Stephan. Bassist Richard Puaud, longtime companion of Manu Masko, completed the team.

Other collaborators include the Jamaican Winston McAnuff (Scottish origin), the New Yorker rapper IC Will (Irish origin), the indie-folk singers Colline Hill (Breton resident first in Ireland and then in Belgium), Louise Ebrel, and Steven Bodénès the penn-soner (conductor) of Bagad Kemper, The Quimper pipe band.

Jimme O'Neill and Jean-Pierre Riou

During the showcase and the official press conference of the project on 4 April 2014 in Quimper, the Vieilles Charrues revealed the presence of the group as the creation of the year of the festival, 18 July between benefits of Tinariwen and Elton John. Keltia Musique announced its participation as coproducer with the release of an album on 18 June.

The Celtic Social Club gave its first concert on 18 July 2014, in front of 50,000 spectators.[1]

The collective began a tour early 2015 in Brittany and announced a French tour and dates in Switzerland (Geneva) and Germany (Rudolstdat).

In December 2015, Jean-Pierre Riou announced his departure from the group to focus exclusively on Red Cardell. A few days later The Celtic presented its new member in the person of Gouven Hamel, a Breton musician that played with Les Nus and Miossec.

In January 2016, the new team was in residence at La Sirène in La Rochelle to record new songs and prepare a 2016 tour including dates in Beijing and Shanghai. For these sessions the band appealed to producer John Reynolds (Sinéad O'Connor, he was her first husband, U2, Björk, Natacha Atlas).

The music of the Celtic Social Club is a modern adaptation of Celtic music from different territories (Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Galicia, Asturias, Cornwall, Isle of Man). From traditional Celtic melodies from all sources, the group creates a musical synthesis of both contemporary and traditional.

• Official The Celtic Social Club website (English and French languages)
• Official Manu Masko website (French language)