DUBLIN, TRIPLIN' ...\Popularity of Celtic music soars as Enya, Clannad, Chieftains,\others fill the airwaves with ethereal sounds.

Byline: Rob Lowman Daily News Staff Writer

Long after the ringing in your head stops from too much St. Paddy's Day revelry, the pulse of Celtic music will continue to soothe your soul and move your feet.

Recording artists such as Enya, Van Morrison, the Chieftains and Clannad have been tapping their Celtic musical roots and turning it into gold. (Enya alone has sold 28 million albums.) And the influence of Celtic music can easily be heard in such pop acts as U2, the Cranberries, Sinead O'Connor and the Pogues.

Meanwhile, Celtic-style tunes are flooding our consciousness, popping up in numerous films ("L.A. Story," "Rob Roy"), TV shows and commercials. There are even labels dedicated to nothing but Celtic tunes.

"Celtic music in general has captivated people for a long time, and if we say why, it may demystify its magic," says Fiona Ritchie, host of "The Thistle & Shamrock," a Celtic music program on National Public Radio.

So just who are these magical Celts?

First of all, it's usually pronounced Kelts - a K sound.

Secondly, Celtic music isn't all Irish. The Celts were a tribe that spread throughout Europe around 500 B.C. Eventually, they were driven by the Romans to the eastern edge of the continent. Traces of their culture remain throughout Europe today, but they mainly flourished in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany in France.

So while the Irish may be most identified with Celtic music, there is no simple way to define the music or how people interpret it.

Sure, you're likely to hear the strains of "Danny Boy" during your St. Patrick's Day celebration Sunday, but that hardly covers Celtic music's impact on the world music scene.

The Chieftains may have started as a traditional Irish folk act, but their collaborations with rock stars have served them well. Last year, their "Long Black Veil" album - with guest artists such as Van Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Sinead O'Connor, Sting, Marianne Faithfull and Ry Cooder - went gold in the United States.

And while the Chieftains have picked up a number of Grammys in the traditional categories, their song with Morrison - "Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?" - won a Grammy award for Best Pop Collaboration, beating out the Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men tune "One Sweet Day." If you wonder why, just listen to it. "Have I Told You ..." is a tune so romantic and soulful that only the hardest of hearts wouldn't want to sweep up a loved one and slow dance across

the living room floor.

Romance and new age elements are definitely part of Celtic music's lure. UCLA professor of ethnomusicology James Porter thinks there is somewhat of a new romantic movement afoot.

You go to a concert by Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt, he says, and you see "Loreena clones in the audience - women with long red hair cultivating an otherworldly look."

Otherworldly, romantic, ethereal are all adjectives that describe the brightest star in Celtic music firmament, Enya, who has brought her lush, ethereal sound to the musical mainstream. And although she sings mostly in Gaelic, that hasn't deterred millions of her fans.

"Watermark," her first major label album, has remained on Billboard magazine's back catalog albums chart for almost five years, and her "The Celts" for nearly one year. Meanwhile, her current offering, "The Memory of Trees," was No. 17 on last week's Billboard 200 pop albums chart after three months.

While some critics and traditionalists, Porter notes, have dismissed her music, there is no doubt Enya has contributed to the explosion of interest in Celtic music.

"Everybody's jumping on the bandwagon; the secret has gotten out," says McKennitt, a singer who herself reinvents Celtic music with a modern twist. "Celtic music is being played as a fashionable card - like the (chanting) monks recordings."

McKennitt admits this is worrisome to traditionalists, who may feel the music is being exploited. But McKennitt says that she, like many others, is drawing on the Celtic pool as inspiration. She also defends Enya, who she feels has "contributed in a positive way" to the higher profile of Celtic music.

There are now two labels, Celtic Heartbeat and Green Linnet, that solely focus on the music. Many of the acts on these labels - such as the Tannahill Weavers, a Scottish bagpipe band, and Altan, who some see as the new flag bearers of traditional Irish music - stick closely to their roots.

But the Celtic sound also has become part of the world beat genre. A number of bands, such as Mouth Music, are pushing the Celtic envelope by incorporating electronics, traditional sung rhythms ("mouth music"), African percussion and dance sounds. The result has attracted a diverse group of fans.

"The audience has always been a bit of everybody," says Maire Brennan of Clannad, a Celtic-folk quartet that moves gracefully between the pop and traditional worlds. "People who've gotten into us stay with us. I've looked out (in the audience) and seen a grandmother at one end and someone with an AC/DC T-shirt at the other end."

"Lore," Clannad's 15th disc, debuted atop Billboard's Top World Music Albums chart last week. Their 1995 album, "Themes," is a collection of tracks that have appeared in such films as "Patriot Games" and "Last of the Mohicans."

Brennan says that like her sister, Enya, she finds inspiration in traditional Celtic music.

"We have some of the same influences, the material and the haunting effect," Brennan said. "Enya comes more from the classical end of it. She was doing classical music at school, more than any of us. Plus, she was interested in jazz."

Celtic music is also flourishing locally. Guitarist-singer Keith Roberts is a founding member of the Young Dubliners, a Los Angeles-based band specializing in a rock-driven brand of traditional Irish music that enjoys a loyal local following. The group stems from a chance meeting between Roberts and singer-guitarist Paul O'Toole, both originally from Dublin, at a St. Paddy's party eight years ago. The pair formed a folk duo that stayed together for two years before other musicians were added with a view toward merging Celtic rhythms and rock.

The Dubs' latest CD, "Breathe," is receiving airplay on adult album alternative radio KSCA-FM (101.9), next to such mainstream pop and rock acts as Jackson Browne, Nirvana and Oasis.

"In general, Irish music has been influential on pop music around the world," Roberts said. "Celtic music has a resonance, a tradition that somehow speaks to people of all nationalities. Some call it soulfulness."

Another Irish emigre, Peter McGowan, whose Valley-based band, Finn MacCool, blends the traditional with rock, attributes Celtic music's popularity to its haunting melodies and lyrics.

"Jigs and reels draw people in," he says, "but the stories - which are usually tragic - keep them listening."

UCLA professor Porter points out part of this is due to the history of political repression by the British in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and ties in with a younger generation beginning to examine their roots. Celtic music has "taken on an ideological framework," he said.

But, he acknowledges, there is "a kind of rhythmic vitality about the music ... that transcends cultural borders."

This may be the key to ultimately explaining Celtic music's increasing popularity.

"So many Irish people moved to the States that there's an air of familiarity about the music. It also fed into much American music like bluegrass and country," says Ritchie, whose program is broadcast on 300 radio stations in the United States, including classical-music KUSC-FM (91.5) at 8 p.m. Saturdays.

"Celtic music strikes a familiar chord," she continued. "There's also an energy about it that appeals on an emotional level. Not just the reels and jigs, but the slower ballads, too. It reflects a vibrant living tradition that continues to grow. There's a sense of something very new as well as a tapping into something very ancient."

Which means that while you can be Irish one day a year, you can be Celtic all year long.

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Photo (1--Cover--Color) San Fernando Valley-based Celtic band Finn MacCool. Terri Thuente/Daily News (2) "Celtic music has a resonance, a tradition that somehow speaks to people of all nationalities. Some call it soulfulness," says Keith Roberts, front center, with other members of the Los Angeles band the Young Dubliners, clockwise from Roberts, Randy Woolford, Mark Epting, Jon Mattox, Bren Holmes and Jeff Dellisanti. Phil McCarten/Daily News (3) Enya is perhaps the best-known of today's Celtic artists, having sold 28 million albums. (4) "I've looked out (in the audience) and seen a grandmother at one end and someone with an AC/DC T-shirt at the other end," says Maire Brennan, second from left, with fellow Clannad members Noel Duggan, left, Ciaran Brennan and Padraig Duggan. (5) Irish band Finn MacCool will perform at Pasadena's St. Patrick's Day parade and various local venues on Sunday. Terri Thuente/Daily News