Authentica; Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu

The Zeltik music festival returned to Dudelange for its celebration of Celtic music, this year spread over four days, from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 March 2025.

The 29th edition of the festival kicked off on Thursday evening with a concert by The Kilkennys and Laurent Felten at St Martin Church in Dudelange. The celebrations moved to the opderschmelz cultural centre for high-energy performances over the weekend. Acts included Donegal sisters The Henry Girls, renowned bagpipe band the Red Hot Chilli Pipers and Irish rockers The Coronas, as well as Irish singer-songwriter Brian Brody and Luxembourg folk-Celtic fusion band Authentica, among others.

Chronicle.lu had the opportunity to attend the festival on Friday 14 March 2025. As Cliff Schmit from Ville de Dudelange / opderschmelz (communications) explained: “The Zeltik festival [has] come a really long way”. He recalled that there were three prior locations before moving to opderschmelz; in the 1990s, the event took place as “a big party” in “a big tent” in front of Dudelange town hall. It grew from a party/get-together to a bigger, “better equipped” musical and cultural event. “But it’s not that the charm was lost over all the years,” Cliff Schmit noted. “In the 1990s, there were a lot of Celtic festivals popping up because Celtic music became more popular, and then all the festivals disappeared, and […] now we are looking back on 30 years of Zeltik,” he explained, adding that the festival has become “established”, attracting newcomers but also “really great names like the Red Hot Chili Pipers and The Kilkennys”, who return to perform, as well as “a very loyal public” from the neighbouring countries and (English-speaking) expats in Luxembourg. “We're really happy to organise it,” he said, noting that Zeltik “has a really different feeling” compared to other festivals.

Brian Brody, a singer-songwriter from Dublin, noted that this was his third or fourth time performing at Zeltik. He recalled that the first time was just after the COVID-19 pandemic, when gigs resumed but people remained hesitant. He was the support act for Luxembourgish neofolk band Rome; the lead singer is his friend who convinced the organisers to let him perform at the band's outdoor gig at Zeltik. This year, Brian Brody was entrusted with five gigs (three last year). He said he felt the organisers kept asking him back in part due to his personality: “I'm not some guy who just gets on stage, and walks off and goes home. I like to hang out and talk to people. [...] To me, connecting with people that are the audience is still your gig. Like playing music on the stage is half of the show. Getting off the stage and talking to people [...] that's still part of your show,” he explained, adding that this connection was particularly important for folk music. “Folk music, it comes from the word folk, people, you know, so it's about people […] there's no [rock star] egos, there's no competitions. [...] The music is the rock star, you know.” He also described Zeltik as “such a good vibe”, noting that “Luxembourg people, they really take care of you”.

Also speaking to Chronicle.lu, Martina Menichetti from Authentica noted that Zeltik was an important event “because it's a way to connect with also the other bands that are part of this festival”. She explained that her band “play the folk music of Luxembourg giving it a new life with the Mediterranean joy of life and with Celtic music vibes. With me on stage I play the flute, I sing and play the keys and then we have a guitar percussion, accordion, other keys on stage”. Martina Menichetti continued: “Zeltik is one of those annual events that I always went to since I was little and I have always felt part of this community. I wanted to have one day the opportunity to play there myself with my own group and that's what happened”. Authentica has also performed abroad at other folk music festivals and recently released its debut album, with additional tracks in development. Speaking about the use of various instruments, Martina Menichetti said: “Each instrument has their own um expressiveness, be it a flute or keys or even the voice, and so each expressiveness is important to me to express my music.”

Updated to correct spelling of The Kilkennys