The Elusive Celt departs from previous work in the wider ethnomusicological field about traditional Irish music within its home contexts by adding a central and eastern European perspective on perceptions of Irish musical culture and images of 'the Celtic.'
Rina Schiller is an ethnomusicologist from a multicultural background, with roots in Ireland and in continental Europe. She lives in Belfast, where she has played and studied music for many years. She plays traditional Irish music on mandolin, whistle, concertina and bodhrán, and Turkish folk music on the baglama (saz). Rina regularly participates in local Irish session playing, and for her Turkish repertoire she has been adopted as honorary representative musician by the Turkish Association of Northern Ireland.