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CD Review
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The Whole Music Experience, CD Review >>
A Scottish Gaelic tune, Mo Ghaoil, makes an appearance on the Irish sextet Altan’s 25th Anniversary Celebration CD. This recording strolls down memory lane, bringing out favorites of the band and performing them over Fiachtra Trench’s lush arrangement compliments of R.T.E. Concert Orchestra. Altan, considered one of Ireland’s proponents of traditional music delivers the goods here with hearty reels, ethereal ballads and fiery jigs performed on bouzouki (Ciaran Curran), accordion (Dermon Byrne), guitar (Mark Kelly), fiddle and whistles (Ciaran Tourish) and topped by co-founder Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s crytstal-clear soprano vocals and fiddle.
The orchestration combined with the sextet’s passionate performance breaks new ground and sounds spectacular, fresh and even raw in regard to its pioneering spirit. I imagine that fans of Celtic music will jump on this recording in the same manner as Celtic music audiences jumped on the RiverDance many years ago. Whether Altan performs gentle ballads such as Cití na gCumann or I Wish My Love was a Red Red Rose, with gorgeous vocal phrasing framed by the orchestra or breaks out into a spritely set of jigs or reels, (Roseville), you can feel passion dripping off of the musicians.
This excursion into the past 25 years, with a tribute to Ní Mhaonaigh’s late husband and flute player, Frankie Kennedy (co-founder of Altan) who died from cancer in the 1990s, stretches across the globe with tunes hailing from as far flung as Canada’s Cape Breton and as nearby as Scotland, though most of the repertoire hails from Ireland, particularly Donegal.
In recent decades the Irish government pumped cultural grants into its traditional music which allowed bands like Altan and Lunasa for instance to bring Irish music to the rest of the world in an uncompromising manner. And Irish musicians have been able to make a living recording and touring, but it’s not just about money as Ní Mhaonaigh cites in the press notes, “Now with the recession, I see people being more reflective, and more in touch with who we are in this world, and asking what can we give the world that is different.”
I couldn’t have expressed it better myself. Altan’s music, with its gentle melodies, uplifting instrumentation and lush orchestration brings its gift to the world. And for that, I’m truly grateful and I feel honored to review this anniversary CD. Bonne Anniversaire! 03/07/10 >> go there
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