Clannad, Chieftains Help Us Feel Celtic Heart ;

Hey, you.

Yes, you.

Curled around the commode wrapped in the "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" sofa throw and clutching the "Irish Drinking Team" T-shirt you won for hitting every pub in town on parade day.

It's 2 in the afternoon.

Time to get up.

You were as "Irish" as you're ever going to be yesterday, but today you're just plain green.

I'm not going to tell you what you did to get kicked out of the police station. Suffice to say, the theme from "Hill Street Blues" wasn't written for the kazoo.

Neither was "Danny Boy," but at least it's Irish, and when you're nursing yourself back from a bout with too much bottled blarney, the songs of the Emerald Isle and its resilient folk are just the ticket.

GOTTA HAVE HEART

For whatever reason(s), Irish music has enjoyed mushrooming popularity over the past 10 years, with a wide and eclectic range of artists interpreting the sounds of the ancient Celts and the songs of their descendants.

At the heart of it all, I think, is just that -- heart. Irish music has an earthy folksiness that is as tied to its birthplace as Guinness and (close your eyes, hangover sufferers) corned beef and cabbage.

Whether found in the more traditional renderings of The Chieftains and The Irish Tenors or the eclectic, often awe-inspiring innovations of Clannad and their offshoot, Enya, the spirit of Irish music flows directly from the spirit of the people.

Far and away my pick of the contemporary Irish music litter is Clannad, who have given the sounds of their Celtic heritage a universal voice, almost single-handedly inventing the "world music" genre.

CLANNAD ART

Sung in both Gaelic and English, Clannad songs are like aural paintings that reverently render a window on the Irish countryside, its history and people. I've never physically been to the birthplace of my ancestors, but Clannad has taken me there more than once in my mind.

Just in time for post-parade day healing, the band has released "Greatest Hits," an 18-track tour of Clannad's best and brightest meanderings through their homeland.

Songs like "Caislean Oir," "Buachaill on Eirne" and "Coinleach Glas An Fromhair" soar with English-titled counterparts like "In a Lifetime," "Lady Marian" and "The Fairy Queen" because the music -- as is most often the case in any genre -- transcends the boundaries of language and culture.

"Greatest Hits" is a truly comprehensive look back at the band's wonderful catalog, and a heady look ahead at great things just over the next rise.

CHIEFTAIN POWER

And speaking of hangovers, it's hard to beat The Chieftains for sheer staying power on the global music scene. If you love Irish music, you're devoted to The Chieftains.

The storied troupe's latest effort, "The Very Best of the Claddagh Years," is a 12-song primer on the Irish story-song, with enough characters to populate a thousand "Brigadoons."

Just give a (bed)spin to "The Foxhunt," "Strike the Gay Harp Jig" and "Three Kerry Polkas" and you'll be up on your bonny feet before you can say, "corned beef and cabbage."

So peel yourself off the floor, grab a bar of Irish Spring and hop in the shower.

You may or may not still be Irish today, but you definitely smell like corned beef and cabbage.

CHRISTOPHER J. KELLY is a staff writer and music critic for The Times-Tribune newspapers.

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