Issue 23 09/2002
FolkWorld CD Reviews
Carreg Lafar "Profiad"
Label: Sain;
Sain SCD2309; 2002; Playing time: 49.22 min
This album is another very strong reminder that the often less prominent Celtic
music scene from Wales has some real treasures on offer. There is a beautiful
atmosphere of harmony, thoughtfulness and peace in the music of Carreg Lafar.
The focus of the album is on slower Welsh songs and airs, yet they have also
a fewer livelier numbers in their repertoire. The instrumentation works extremely
well, with fiddle, flutes/whistles, guitar, hornpipe/bagpipes/mandola/ percussion
and, as guests, guitar/piano, cello and Robin Huw Bowen's Triple Harp. Carreg
Lafar have in Linda Owen Jones a lead singer with a beautiful voice, well suited
to slower songs, as well as, with Dylan Davies, a male singer with a warm voice.
"Profiad" means experience, and Carreg Lafar give a strong proof of
their experience in Welsh music and song. An album full of warmth, wonderful
for quiet winter nights.
Website of the artists: www.carreglafar.co.uk
Michael Moll
Mairi MacInnes "Tickettyboo - Orain Chloinne
(songs for children)"
Label: Greentrax;
CDTRAX211; 2002; Playing time: 52.23 min
Mairi MacInnes has a reputation as one of the outstanding Scottish Gaelic singers,
and this CD suggests that she must be also a star amongst children growing up
in Gaelic language."Tickettyboo" features songs from the successful
Gaelic BBC series "Orain is Rannan" (Songs and Rhymes), which Mairi
was asked to record. Alone for the second series, she recorded 60 programmes.
This CD presents Mairi's personal selection of songs from the successful TV
series. Among the 23 short songs, there are seven traditionals; most of the
remaining ones are composed either by Mairi or by the late Chris Dillon. Mairi
sings about new shoes, socks, Santa Claus, the wish for a tractor, dream professions,
the clock. Lullabies, songs with educational focus, fun songs. Some of the songs
can easily be recognised by the non-Gaelic speaker as children's songs, others
are simply beautiful. Musical support comes from two experts in Scottish music:
William Jackson of Ossian fame on Clarsach, Whistles, Keys and Bodhrán,
and Tony McManus on guitar and fiddle. Although the booklet (well designed with
photos from the series) contains also English transnaltions of the Gaelic songs,
the main target group should be Gaelic speaking small children - they are in
the end also the ones the songs have been composed for.
Website of the artist: www.mairimacinnes.com
Michael Moll
Gothart "Cabaret"
Label: Blackpoint; BP 0125-2; 2001; Playing
time: 60.00 min
Gothart was founded as a Czech historical
music ensemble in 1993. Their repertoire focused mainly on the Czech gothic
production. Since then many drops of water rushed down the River Moldau and
passed the beautiful city of Prague, thus the repertoire was further extended
and altered. The recent and 4th album, "Cabaret," includes ethnic dances from
Macedonia and the Balkan, as well as songs from Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Hungary,
and Albania. Terrific playing, clever choice of songs, and bouncing arrangements.
It is only irritating that the group's members break out into giggling after
almost every track. Once would have been enough and I would be less annoyed.
The song lyrics are given with English translation in the booklet, and that
makes, summa summarum, an excellent album altogether.
Gothart
Walkin' T:-)M
Ken Perlman "Northern Banjo"
Label: Copper
Creek; CCCD-0191; 2001; Playing time: 52.52 min
At the CD cover Ken Perlman sets out
in a canoe using his 5-string banjo as a paddle. Many years ago he pioneered
a new banjo style, by combining the clawhammer style with melodic techniques
to what he calls Northern clawhammer to distinguish it from the minimalistic
Southern approach. Thus transforming clawhammer (frailing) from an accompaniment
to a solo style. Ken has been performing on the folk circuit since the late
1970s. He is also an acclaimed teacher and has written some respected banjo
and guitar instruction books. On "Northern Banjo", Ken and guitarist Ken Brown
blended fiddle tunes from Cape Breton, played on the banjo of course, with syncopated
guitar rhythms. Some tunes Ken collected himself from traditional fiddle players
on Prince Edward Island, where the old Scottish fiddle repertoire and style
has been preserved. Guests include fiddlers Oliver
Schroer and Sandy MacIntyre, flutist Loretto Wood, piper Pat
O'Gorman, and bouzouki player Brian
Taheny. There's notes on all the tunes and respective banjo tunings in the
booklet.
Copper Creek
Walkin' T:-)M
Seán Tyrrell "Belladonna"
Label: Longwalk;
LMCD 003; 2002; Playing time: 67.43 min
The most intensely moving, soulful and talented singer of ballads and traditional
songs in Ireland today. (PJ Curtis) C. MacKenzie (Living
Tradition) once wrote that if Guinness could sing it would sound like Seán
Tyrrell, soft, but with a breeze of bitterness. I think it's rather an Irish
whiskey, triple distilled and as such of exceptional smoothness. But, alas,
we don't want to spread the mythology of drink and shall remain silent
from now on.
Seán has been born in Galway City in 1943 and took some time to mature into
a professional singer. In 1978 he accepted employment at the University College
Galway Research Station at Carren in the Burren, Co. Clare. where he is living
near Bellharbour ever since. UCG offered early retirement and Seán took the
music seriously again. His debut "Cry
of a Dreamer" appeared not until 1995. "The
Orchard" soon followed, and now another beautiful gem, "Belladonna".
His silken voice is equally melancholic, soulful, and rough, on classics such
as "An
Spailpín Fánach", or "John
O'Dreams". He accompanies himself sparingly and economically on tenor guitar,
mandocello, and banjo. Inbetween he displays his virtuosity on some instrumental
tunes. His trademark skill, however, is setting poems to music. He did this
to critical acclaim before with "The
Midnight Court", Brian Merriman's epic satire of 18th century sexuality.
Ralph Hodgson's "Time,
You Old Gypsy Man" has been the first poem Seán ever set to music in the
early 70's. Yeats's "The
Stolen Child" was written for Brian
Ferry who didn't use it. "Dead Kings" was written by Francis
Ledwidge who died at Ypres 1917; Seán dedicated the album "Songs
of Peace" entirely to him, and remarks: The `Great War', a term that
has always disturbed me. Atrocious, savage, yes, not great. What in the name
of hell is great about war?
Seán announces at concerts: I don't do Fureys,
Mary Black or Christy
Moore, and he certainly delivers the kind of unsanitised image
of Ireland that tourists rarely get to see. (P. Brennan) He freely admits:
Well, somebody described me recently as an Irish blues singer. Blues is
not just a black music form, it's universal. I sing the blues, I sing the Irish
blues. And issues the mental health warning: I have been accused of
being a romantic, melancholic and sometime cynic. This CD is liberally laced
with the first two and touches of the latter. The voice of past, present
and future Irland at once.
Longwalk Music/Seán Tyrrell
Walkin' T:-)M
Lehto & Wright "The Further Adventures of Darling
Cory"
Label: New
Folk Records; 3568; 2002; Playing time: 63.00 min
I already praised John Wright's (acoustic guitar, bass, mandolin, vocals) solo
effort (-> FW#17).
Again, I'm very pleased. His partnership with Steve Letho (acoustic and electric
guitars, mandolin, vocals) even increases the amount of pleasure (-> FW#18).
The duo from Minneapolis plays electrified Celtic/English folk in the Steeleye
Span idiom, at times a bit bizarre. Some traditional ballads, "Arthur
McBride", "Darling
Cory", some contemporary songs, some tunes. "Trouble with Strings" was written
out of frustration while learning The
Monaghan Jig. The thought was to write a guitar tune as opposed to a fiddle
tune. The "Monaghan Jig" then is played on the bass guitar. "Nancy
Whiskey" (in 4/4 instead waltz time) is very powerful; even the odd "Kisses
Sweeter than Wine" becomes a real gem. It's not my thing to become eloquent
and produce silly words, so I'm finishing off here and now. Just get it!
New Folk Records; Lehto
& Wright
Walkin' T:-)M
The Irish Brigade "Live at the Half Time Rec"
Label: New
Folk Records; 3567; 2002; Playing time: 66.45 min
An Irish pub band. Well, accomplished players they are: Sean Conway (flute,
fiddle, guitar, vocals) and Mike Wallace (guitar, bodhran, bass, vocals). These
are two skilled performers who put their all into it every night and who never
cheat an audience, says Martin Hayes about his old-time friends. Recorded
live in St. Paul, Minnesota, it's the instrumental tunes where the Irish Brigade
really shines. Then I'd like to transfer the boys to some of the Irish theme
pubs over here. John Wright (see review above) plays a lovely bass guitar on
the "Butterfly"
slip jig. No idea why the "The
Rights of Man" hornpipe became the "Rites of Mann". Americanization? Tom
Paine is tumbling in his grave. Though there is stuff like Michael
Smith's "The
Dutchman", there's also the best (or worst) of Irish pub music as well:
"Carrickfergus", "Ride
On", "Black Is the
Colour", "I'll Tell Me
Ma", and the lot. Songs that are not really bad, but it's really over-done,
when you get a dozen CDs each week with the same stuff on it. And doing Buddy
Holly's "Peggy Sue" is not that funny.
New Folk Records
Walkin' T:-)M
MeanTime "The Natives Are Friendly..."
Label: Own
label; WWCB001; 2002; Playing time: 59.25 min
Irish composer and musicologist Sean
O Riada, who put traditional music onto the concert stage in 1960, remarked
about (Irish) ceili bands: The most important principles of traditional
music - the whole idea of variation, the whole idea of the personal utterance
- are abandoned. Instead everyone takes hold of a tune and belts away at it
with as much relation to music as the buzzing of a bluebottle in an upturned
jam jar. Maybe, the Scottish counterparts avoid some of the pitfalls. There
are no drums and dull advance-and-don't-care-for-casualities, the legacy of
performing for dancers with non-existent amplification, but tight playing and
good tunes instead. Though around since a decade this is MeanTime's
debut CD. A traditional Gaelic ceilidh group, based on accordion, fiddle, highland
and lowland pipes, guitar, and piano, playing marches, barn dances, waltzes,
jigs, strathspeys and reels. This has not so much to do with the modern meaning
of the word `ceilidh' as a dancing event, but rather, as in the old times, visiting
the neighbours, gossiping, and let the music play. You can hear a lot of humour
between the lines. "Big Fran's Baby" has been written by Clint
Eastwood for his film "A
Perfect World". So, Sean, be friendly!
MeanTime
Walkin' T:-)M
Areesh "Song Shall Arise"
Label: Own
label; ARCD01; 2002; Playing time: 21.04 min
Now song shall arise on a porcelain sky, clear air and light in hollow-boned
pipes play the song of our flight. The group's name Areesh
(arís means "repeat" or "encore" in Gaelic), was chosen because legends
and mythical creatures will not die while they continue to inspire. It
is basically a duo, consisting of Irish-born songwriter Des Wade and Berlin-born
Ralf Schmidt (ex-Interzone),
both based in Adelaide, Australia. The six original pieces were inspired by
Celtic myths and music: the Children
of Lir who had been transformed into swans (they had the power to sing
songs of such beauty that ills were cured and the land was at peace); Oisin's
sojourn to Tir na nOg (the land of the young), the harp remains, never to
sing his songs again: In some forgotten room there stands a might harp,
who once gave voice to the tales of a poet's heart, for strings a spider's web,
spun lonely all the year. The harp's restrung again and shall be heard.
www.areeshmusic.com
Walkin' T:-)M
Eric Roche "The Perc U Lator"
Label: Inner
Ear; EARCD001; 1999; Playing time: 37.24 min
Eric Roche born in New York, raised
in Ireland, and based in the U.K since 1990, can truly claim to be one of the
world's leading fingerstyle guitarists. His style already has being described
as paving the way for an acoustic renaissance. (Guitarist magazine)
Violinist Nigel Kennedy begrudgingly
commented: He's f***ing incredible! Eric Roche makes the acoustic guitar
sound like a f***ing orchestra! I can only agree. Besides his own compositions,
we find stuff as diverse as traditional tunes like "Dawning of the Day" and
"The Water is Wide", the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood", Bach's "Brandenburg Hornpipe",
and Handel's "Water Music". There is also a more recent album available, "Spin"
(2001). I don't know why he sent in his older one for review. So check out both!
Inner Ear Music
Walkin' T:-)M
Celtibillies "Greenwoodside"
Label: Zygoat; 1002; 2001; Playing time: 57.34
min
"Hillbillies" is the American nickname for mountain folk in the Ozark and Appalachian
Mountains, because the Ulster-Scots who settled the hill country being strong
supporters of British King William
of Orange. But maybe this interpretation is mere legend and hillbilly is
just the rough, unschooled, and simple-minded mountaineer, poor
white trash, which only later became a commercially successful character.
O.k., this music here is no trash. But here we are with Celtic roots anyway.
The Scots-Irish immigrants brought their traditional music and song to the new
world. Take four musicians from southwest Virginia steeped in their native Appalachian
music, add today's repertoire of Celtic (i.e. Irish) music, and the result is
the Celtibillies. The band has been
formed in 1994 as a contra dance band, but soon included a wide range of traditional
Celtic and Appalachian old-time music and song as well as original music. The
band features Becky Barlow (hammered dulcimer, keyboard, bodhran), Jack Hinshelwood
(fiddle, guitar), Tim Sauls (banjo, bouzouki, guitar), and Patrick Turner (bass).
The band's second offering is a delicate mix of enthusiastic performing. I like
the dulcimer. In the planxty-like
air "The Bonnie Green Tree" it reminds me of the metal strung harps of old,
and in the famous polka
set of Planxty the
band the dulcimer is nicely rollicking around the melody. And what about
roots? Ya gotta have roots. If ya don't have roots, then ya don't have sustenance.
Celtibillies
Walkin' T:-)M
Fine Friday "Gone Dancing"
Label: Foot
Stompin'; CDFSR1715; 2002; Playing time: 49.00 min
Fine Friday is a promising outfit. This
Scottish trio of fiddler Anna-Wendy Stevenson (Anam
-> FW#7, FW#8,
FW#9, FW#14,
FW#18), flutist Nuala
Kennedy, and guitarist/singer Kris Drever (Leo McCann Band -> FW#16)
emerged from the weekly sessions at Sandy Bell's pub in Edinburgh. The selection
of material is beyond the usual suspects: the Irish reel "Julia
Delaney" is played in G minor. "Rock `n' troll" is a series of Norwegian
hardanger fiddle tunes. Kris sings the traditional ballads "Cold Blow", and
"Selkie",
Boo Herwerdine's "Humming bird", and Steve
Tilston's "Slips
Jigs and Reels" about outlaw Billy the Kid of Irish extraction: And
he did like the ladies, the rise and the fall of their ankles and dresses, down
on the dance floor, and rolling the dice and spinning the wheel, but he took
most delight in the slip jigs and reels. A very nice start of a promising
weekend.
Foot Stompin'
Walkin' T:-)M
Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé & Caoimhín Ó Sé "Ó Thuaidh!"
Label: Own
label; 2001; Playing time: 50.19 min
West Kerry is an unconscionably fertile place, where the musical tradition
is more deeply ingrained in the gene pool than eye colour or any of the more
usual inheritances of a small community. (S. Long) Maidhc
Dainín Ó Sé and Caoimhín Ó Sé, father and son, box and flute players, respectively,
are natives of the townland of Carrachán in the parish of Moore, west of Dingle
Town. "Ó Thuaidh!", i.e. "to the North," is the local battle cry of encouragement.
Standing firm in the tradition of West Kerry music, both play with maximum vitality.
While working in Chicago, Maidhc met many of the Irish musicians that lived
there, including the great box-player Joe
Cooley. Their céilí bands "The Hibernian" and "The Glenside" were competing
at fleadhs against each other, and Joe played at Maidhc's wedding. When Maidhc
returned from the States in 1969, he was offered a place in a band, but thought:
The family or the band, I can't do both and the family comes first. I wouldn't
do it for a living. I think it would take away from our music as music and I
love to be able to take a rest from it when I want to. His son Caoimhín
was playing regularly in pubs and hotels with his father from the age of 10.
Maidhc recently turned his interest to composing, though he wouldn't recognise
a crotchet from a hurley stick. "Codail, a Joe" (Sleep, Joe) is a tribute
to Cooley, "Stocaí Breaca Johnny na gConnollys" to melodeon player Johnny
Connolly, and, last but not least, "Kate from Castleisland" is dedicated
to his wife Caitlín. (More exactly, from the townland of Gleanntán, where Pádraig
O'Keeffe also came from.) The Dingle locality is immortalized as well: "The
Roundabout Way to the Church & The Shortcut to the Pub" are two polkas that
take their names from an old saying. "Joanie's Lane & The Road to Carrachán"
are named after the lanes close to Maidhc's house. "Brandon's Peak", the 2nd
highest mountain of Ireland, overlooks the parish of Moore.
Father and son, both sing a local song, "Réidhchnoc
Mná Duibhe" (Smooth Hill of the Dark Woman) about a man falling in love
with a fairy woman, and "Cois
Calaithe an Ghóilin", a conversation between Tomás Rua Ó Suilleabháin (1785-1845)
and a rival poet. Guests include Liam
O'Maonlai (The Hothouse Flowers),
who plays keyboards, harp and bodhrán, piper Con
Durham, guitarist Steve
Cooney, and Andrea
Power who disposes bodhráns on Dingle's Green Street.
Maidhc is an employee of Kerry Group, driving a milk truck between Dingle and
Listowel. Watch out for his distinctive head of `ash-blonde' hair behind
the wheel of his truck if you ever happen to be travelling this road! Be sure
to keep well in to the left as music is probably foremost on his mind!
Musical Kerry Gold!
www.dainin.net
Walkin' T:-)M
Jiggernaut "In Search of More"
Label: Off Hand Productions; OHPCD-002; 2001;
Playing time: 60:05 min
Houston calling! I sometimes feel that the folk rock thing is a bit
outdated. So good to hear when somebody breezes some fresh air into it. Jiggernaut
does. There's the devine voice of Deanna Smith, and the passion and power of
double pipes and accordion. Richard
Thompson's "Down
Where the Drunkards Roll" is a terrific opener. Brian
McNeill's "Best
o' the Barley" is turned American. Peter
Gabriel's "Solsbury
Hill" gets the folkie treatment. Their own "Amazing Grace Again" wonders:
Through endless competitions, and highland games, the songs remain the same;
the tartan, and the shortbread, and the single malt, and the `Mac' before the
name; mighty influential for a backwards place on the edge of the Third World;
strange how everyone becomes a Scot when the pipes begin to skirl. Call
it neo-celtic groove-a-latious mondo-pop indulgence or as you like.
Brian McNeill has more than one
hand in it and says: A band that knows how to rock, but hasn't forgotten
how to think. That's rare enough.
Jiggernaut/Off Hand Productions
Walkin' T:-)M
Oisín Mac Diarmada "ar an bhfidil"
Label: Ceol;
CEOCD 002; 2002; Playing time: 51.28 min
Téada "Téada"
Label: Ceol;
CEOCD 001; 2002; Playing time: 38.16 min
Téada (ir. strings) is the tight outfit of upcoming fiddler Oisín
Mac Diarmada (-> FW#18),
consisting of banjo and bouzouki player Seán McElwain, John Blake (guitar, flute)
and Tristan Rosenstock (bodhrán). Though born in Co. Clare, Oisín relocated
to Sligo to become raised on a diet of the great Sligo tradition of fiddle playing.
But still some Clare influences are breaking through. It seems to me rather
an highly individual style than to root him in any real landscape. In contrast
to the "Téada" album, "Ar an bhfidil" is the pure drop, featuring Oisín's solo
playing. Of course, there is some help of the Téada team, as well as John
Carty (fiddle -> FW#3),
Séamus Quinn (piano, see review above), and Damien Stenson (flute). Oisín is
no mean singer too, though, you won't believe it, he sounds three times of age
as he really is. Jeez, that's authenticity. "Peigín
's Peadar" is more laid back than the rousing Dervish
version (-> FW#3); "A
Bhean a' Tí" (Oh Woman of the House) is a song of the 1798 revolution. Forget
Coleman & Co. Here comes the
younger generation!
Ceol Productions
Walkin' T:-)M
Dick Glasgow "From a Northern Shore"
Label: Causeway Music; CMCD001; 2002; Playing
time: 46.02 min
Traditional music from the Causeway Coast, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland (->
FW#18). In long-forgotten
times, the mythical giant Finn
MacCool built a mighty
dam connecting Ulster with the Scottish coast. The famous Bushmills
distillery is close nearby, the Crosskeys
Inn pub a few miles south (-> FW#17).
Travelling eastward, the Glens of
Antrim attract with its rich legacy of distilling illegal whiskey and music.
Legendary fiddler Mickey
McIllhatton did both. That's the area where Dick
Glasgow, actually a Scotsman from Edinburgh, has settled. Dick is playing
a number of instruments, namely tenor banjo, mandola, mandolin, concertina,
fiddle, and bodhran. Some friends add their talents: Catherine McLean (flute,
whistle), Padraig O'Mianain (melodeon), Michael Sands (guitar, didgeridoo),
Ciaran Kelly (guitar), and Sabine Glasgow (vocals, harp). The tunes are mostly
original, with the traditional one here and there. Dick's own evoke memories
of fellow musicians, the local scenery and characters. "Halfhanged MacNaughten"
from Benvarden, Bushmills, was hanged in 1761 for murdering his sweetheart.
At the first attempt the rope snapped, so they had to hang him again. He was
offered pardon, but refused it, saying he could not go through life being known
as "Half hanged MacNaughten". "Dusty Rhodes" was the pen name of Glenaan poet
James Stoddard Moore. "The Toastrack" celebrates Europe's first hydroelectric
tram which ran from Portrush to the Giant's Causeway from 1883 to 1949. Well,
not every man on the Northern Shore is a giant, but Causeway people can give
you a listening pleasure anyway.
DickGlasgow@causewaymusic.co.uk
Walkin' T:-)M
V/A "H-Block"
HBCD2001; 1980/2001; Playing time: 31.29
min
The truth must be told so I'll tell it: The "H-Block" album was first
produced in 1980 in support of political prisoners in Long Kesh and Armagh Women's
jail, Northern Ireland (see the following links for the BBC's
and two Republican--I, II--
storylines). In 1971 the Northern Ireland government introduced internment without
trial. Most detainees were housed in long huts at a disused airfield at Long
Kesh, near Lisburn, which later would become His Majesty's Prison the Maze.
Paramilitaries were transferred to the "H-Blocks", four wings off a central
administration area. The Republican prisoners, demanding a political status,
refused to wear a prison uniform. Denied their own clothes they wore the bedlinen
instead, being on the blanket. They refused to wash and smeared their
own excrement on the walls. The Thatcher government took a hard line. In 1981
IRA prisoners started a hunger strike. Their leader Bobby
Sands--who wrote some fine songs and poems during that time: "Back
Home in Derry", "McIllhatton",
"Sad Song for Susan"--stood
for and won the Fermanagh-South Tyrone Westminster by-election. He died after
66 days on hunger strike. Another nine hunger strikers died soon after. Only
following the Good Friday
Agreement in 1998, over 400 prisoners were released.
The album kicks off with "The
Rights of Man" hornpipe, featuring Matt
Molloy on flute (-> FW#22).
We are later treated to "Repeal
of the Union" reel, and another couple of reels without political tongue-in-cheek,
with Noel Hill (concertina) and Tony
Linnane (fiddle) joining in. Dan Dowd (-> FW#6)
performs "Taimse i
mo Chodladh" (I am asleep, don't wake me) on the pipes. Mick
Hanly sings "On
the Blanket", Francie
Brolly the "H-Block
Song", and Christy Moore finds
himself "90
Miles from Dublin" (-> FW#1,
FW#2, FW#3).
Stephen Rea reads three
poems. Rare material, otherwise not available. But a thorough booklet with historical
or whatever notes and replenishing the half hour original album with other recorded
songs of the period (I think there are) would have made the CD more attractive
to the general public, so it is almost only a reminiscence for the party supporter.
Depending on your political point of view, this is mere history or the struggle
continues today. England, your sins are not over, the H-Block still stands
in your name, and though many voices have cried out to you, it's still your
shame.
Purchase at Sinn Féin Bookshop:
Hunger Strike 1981.
Walkin' T:-)M
V/A "Gold Rush at Copper Creek"
Label: Copper
Creek; CCCD-6001; 2002; Playing time: 145.26 min
Well the banjo came across from Africa, the guitar came from Spain, the
mandolin is from Italy; the white man had the fiddle tune, the black man had
the blues, they both put in a little gospel just to see what they could do.
(Jack Tottle,
"The Bluegrass Sound") In recent years, Copper
Creek Records was prospecting for an incredible wealth, unearthing both
established and upcoming old-time and bluegrass performers. To familiarize people
with the wealth of material, the label has assembled a double CD sampler, featuring
46 songs and dance tunes by 26 artists. Just to mention: Bluegrass
Alliance, Bob
Bovee & Gail Heil, Chris Brashear,
Gary Brewer, The
Crooked Jades, Bill &
Libby Hicks, Jones & Leva, Kathy
Kallick, Dick Kimmel, James
Reams, Ron Spears. There is
also some very good news: The set sells for only US$6. As a special offer, if
you order six Copper Creek CDs, you will receive the sampler for free.
Copper Creek Records
Walkin' T:-)M
V/A "Tønder Festival 2002"
Label: Millstream;
MIL-CD 2002-2; 2002; Playing time: 122.56 min
The Danish Tønder Festival continues its 28-year
successful story (-> Tønder 2001a,
2001b, 2000,
1999a, 1998).
But for the very first time, the featured performers have been assembled on
a double compilation disc. Celtic music such as Donald Black (-> FW#17),
Cherish The Ladies (-> FW#4,
FW#4, FW#10),
Croft No.5 (-> FW#20),
Dervish (-> FW#3, FW#3,
FW#19, FW#19),
Fiddler's Bid (-> FW#8,
FW#18, FW#21),
John McCusker (-> FW#6,
FW#17), Runrig (->
FW#6, FW#10),
Swap (-> FW#1), Waterson:Carthy
(-> FW#17), and the
Anglo-American folk and songwriting tradition, featuring e.g. Tim O'Brien (->
FW#11) Allan Taylor
(-> FW#18), and The
Waifs (-> FW#20). Look
out for some festival reviews in this and the forthcoming FolkWorld issue. But,
as The Dubliners rightfully advise,
there is another festival next year: Don't give up 'til it's over ...
Millstream, Tønder
Festival
Walkin' T:-)M
Mary Coogan and Friends "Christmas"
Label: Own label; COOG01; 2001; Playing time:
53.27 min
While shepherds watched their flocks by night, they saw a bright new shining
star, and heard a choir from heaven sing; the music came from afar ...
Yeah, the summer is rapidly fading away and wintertime is near. Thus the awkward
task of finding some appropriate presents. How about a Christmas album? Mary
Coogan usually plays guitar, mandolin and banjo with Cherish
The Ladies (-> FW#4,
FW#4, FW#10).
The contemplative, sometimes jaunty, instrumentals featured on Mary's Christmas
album are polished up with the help of Joanie
Madden (flute), Jerry O'Sullivan
(pipes), and Rich
Lamb (bass, synth). Kathleen Ludlow sings "Away
in a Manger", "Mary's
Boy Child", and "While
Shepherd's Watched Their Flocks, Pleading Savior". The album is closing,
what else to expect, with the all-time favourite "Silent
Night" (-> FW#12).
Concerning the music I get to hear every Christmas eve, I'm supposed to give
it away to my parents to make it a memorable feast. Happy Christmas, folks!
Cherish The Ladies are booked
for some Christmas
shows, so maybe you get to hear one or another of Mary's tunes.
Maryscd@aol.com; Cherish
The Ladies
Walkin' T:-)M
More English CD Reviews: Page 1 - Page
2 - Page 3 - Page 4 -
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More German CD Reviews: Page 1 - Page
2
Overview: CD Review Contents
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No. 23
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