Category Archives: Music

Golfam Khayam and Mona Matbou Riahi’s Narrante

Narrante is an utterly fascinating album, and it’s like very little else that I’ve ever heard. Golfam Khayam and Mona Matbou Riahi, who perform as Naqsh Duo, are Iranian musicians making their debut on the German jazz and classical label … Continue reading

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Bevel Jenny’s Above the Clouds…  and Still Searching (CD Single) 

Mike Stiles penned this review. There’s grand news from Saint Stiles‚ Voyages among the Mystic Isles of Celtic Rock. Down near the southern fastness where the scintillating waterfalls cascade from the islands of rock into the skies of jazz is to … Continue reading

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Ashley MacIsaac’s  hi, how are you today?

Duke Egbert wrote this review. Occasionally you can tell almost everything you need to know about a CD from its cover art — or, in the case of Ashley MacIsaac’sAmerican debut CD, the artist’s photo. In full colour glory on … Continue reading

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Ani DiFranco at the Tsongas Arena

Colleen Campbell penned this review. I’ve been sitting in my car for the last fifteen minutes, stuck at the very top of the parking garage after the show, when it occurs to me, I might as well start writing my review … Continue reading

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Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel and Why Patterns? 

Morton Feldman, born in New York City in 1926, met John Cage in 1949; it is hard to say exactly how much influence Cage had on Feldman’s development as a composer, but one can surmise that the spare, non-dramatic quality … Continue reading

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McKrells’ Merry Christmas

Chuck Lipsig penned this review, Based in Saratoga Springs, NY, the McKrells are a bluegrass group comprised (in this recording) of Kevin McKrell (lead vocals, readings), Chris “Bullets” Leske (banjo, mandolin, and guitar), Craig “Laz” Vance (Flatpick guitar), Brian Melick (percussion), … Continue reading

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Various Artists’ A Thistle and Shamrock Christmas Ceilidh

Chuck Lipsig penned this review. Despite its title, I hesitate to call A Thistle & Shamrock Christmas Ceilidh a Christmas album. The liner notes describe a Christmas eve shindig, ending with the announcement that the local radio station would be playing a program … Continue reading

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Boys of the Lough’s Midwinter Night’s Dream

Chuck Lipsig penned this review. On Midwinter Night’s Dream, Boys of the Lough include Aly Bain (fiddle), Cathal McConnell (flute, whistles, song), Dave Richardson (concertina, mandolin, cittern, accordion), and Christy O’Leary (uilleann pipes, whistles, song). They call on Christmas and winter … Continue reading

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An Irish Trad Music Remembrance: Mícheál Ó’Domhnaill, 1952-2006

John O’Regan from Northern Ireland penned this remembrance. Sudden deaths bring a sense of finality. With the news of the death of Mícheál Ó’Domhnaill, who left this world suddenly on Saturday July 8th, 2006 in his Dublin home at the … Continue reading

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Eric Whitacre’s Cloudburst and Other Choral Works

Eric Whitacre is one of those contemporary composers whose background is as patchy as it is eclectic. He was thrown out of his high-school marching band, in which he played the trumpet, for being a troublemaker. As a teenager he … Continue reading

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