Latest CD releases reviewed

MAIRÉAD Ní MHAONAIGH AND FRANKIE KENNEDY

Ceol Aduaidh Gael Linn ****

Listening to the genesis of what was to become Altan’s signature sound – Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s fiddle and voice and Frankie Kennedy’s flute – on this 1983 reissue is an exercise in joyous excavation. A sense of place oozes from every pore of Ceol Aduaidh. A celebration of the everyday characterises their selection of tunes and the beatific quality of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s unadorned singing would offer emerging musicians an object lesson in restraint. There’s a healthy mix of jigs, mazurkas and germans (akin to barndances, but with an extra beat), long popular in Donegal, but the set of jigs, An Peata sa Chistineach, epitomises the rawhide wrought by fiddle and flute most effortlessly. A welcome squint into Altan’s DNA that could have been rent asunder by Kennedy’s untimely death in 1994, but instead chose to celebrate and build on its rich gene pool. www.gael-linn.ie

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Rogha Scoil Samhradh Willie Clancy 2008 Oidreacht An Chláir ****

The meat and potatoes of the tradition is there to be savoured by carnivore and vegan alike on this pristine double CD, a snapshot of last year’s Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay. From the opening notes of Hugh Healy’s concertina on the air and slide pairing, Sweet Marie and The Adam and Eve Slide through flute player Cónal Ó Gráda’s flighty jig, Lesbia Hath A Becoming Eye (as if that should be a surprise!) and through accordion player Donie Nolan’s accompaniment of dancer Tommy Browne on the reel set, Blooming Meadows and Seanduine Dóite, there’s a visceral energy that suffuses this vastly eclectic selection. What could have descended into a cacophony instead soars skywards, with ample breathing space for each musician, singer and dancer to thrive. The pulse is beating beautifully. www.oac.ie - SIOBHÁN LONG