Keening is a form of vocal lament associated with mourning that is traditional in Scotland, Ireland, African, African-American, and other cultures.

"Keen" as a noun or verb comes from the Irish/Scots Gaelic term "caoineadh" (to cry) and references to it from the seventh, eighth and twelfth centuries are extensive.

Written sources that refer to the practice in Ireland and Gaelic Scotland reappear from the sixteenth century on. It should be noted however that the principle of improvised vocal lament is in no way reserved to the Gaelic world and that laments are documented from various cultures around the world.

The Irish tradition of keening over the body at the burial is distinct from the wake - the practice of watching over the corpse - which took place the night before the burial. The "keen" itself is thought to have been constituted of stock poetic elements (the listing of the genealogy of the deceased, praise for the deceased, emphasis on the woeful condition of those left behind etc.) set to vocal lament. While generally carried out by one or several women, a chorus may have been intoned by all present. Physical movements involving rocking, kneeling or clapping accompanied the keening woman ("bean caoinadh") who was often paid for her services.

Áine Minogue (born 27 May 1977) is a harpist born in Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Ireland, now living in New England in the U.S.A. She began playing the harp at age twelve.

William Coulter is a renowned Celtic guitarist, performer, recording artist, and teacher. Since 1981 he has explored the world of traditional music as a soloist with ensembles including Isle of Skye, Orison, and the Coulter-Phillips Ensemble.

William Coulter was born in 1959 in Ridgewood, New Jersey, the son of a classical singer who founded the Pro Arte Chorale, a professional choral group. William's early exposure to the classical techniques of choral music influenced his own guitar work. At the age of nine, Coulter began taking piano lessons, practicing on a borrowed piano. In his teens, the piano was replaced by an electric guitar, which he practiced in his basement accompanying Neil Young records. At the age of eighteen, Coulter traded his electric guitar for a classical guitar after attending a concert by noted classical guitarist Andres Segovia.

After graduating high school, Coulter performed with several bands. In 1980, he moved to Santa Cruz, California, where he studied classical guitar and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California-Santa Cruz. He went on to earn a master's degree in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Deeply interested in American folk music as well as traditional Celtic music, he went on to earn a second master's degree from the University of California-Santa Cruz in Ethnomusicology.

Jordan Reyne is an experimental musician originally from New Zealand, now living in the UK. Jordan's sound has been variously described as "industrial-tinged folk“ and "antipodean Steampunk“ yet defies any cut and dried description. She combines the two usually disparate genres of folk and industrial, bringing in celtic vocal melody, historically based narrative and the sounds of steam, iron and industrial "found sound". Several of her releases are set in the time of the Industrial Revolution.

Jordan has been nominated three times for a New Zealand Music Award and released six full length CDs, several of which were produced with the assistance/ funding of Creative New Zealand, the New Zealand Arts Council. "How the Dead Live" (2009) was an Arts Council and Department of Conservation commission based on one of New Zealand's first pioneer women who arrived in New Zealand from Gravesend London in 1874. Her most recent release, "Children of a Factory Nation" (2012) is similarly a series of song-form tales based on fact - this time, a Welsh family who lived near Cardiff in the 1880s, and who dispersed to the workhouses of London after the death of the father at sea.