Category Archives: Music

Horslips’ Roll Back

John O’Regan penned this review. Growing up in Ireland at the tail end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s, one witnessed a cultural revolution at first hand. Irish folk music came out of mothballs and closets to become … Continue reading

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Hawp’s Storm + Calm

Described on their website as ‘a swirling reverie of Scots and Irish song; flute; whistles; fiddles; guitar; bouzouki; bodhran; and Irish dance, HAWP is a Celtic ensemble that combines ancient traditions with modern musical approaches to create a sound truly … Continue reading

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Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill’s The Lonesome Touch 

Feeling depressed, downhearted, lonely? Want someone to speak gently to our fears and despair, to sympathize? If so, the people to turn to are fiddler Martin Hayes and guitarist Dennis Cahill.This collection of slow jigs and reels is refreshingly different … Continue reading

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Jonny Hardie and Gavin Marwick’s The Blue Lamp

Brendan Foreman penned this review. Jonny Hardie and Gavin Marwick are best known as the fiddlers for Old Blind Dogs and Iron Horse, respectively. On this CD, the follow-up to another KRL release, Up in the Air, they join forces with a handful of guest musicians to … Continue reading

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 Ann Gray’s Shouting at Magpies 

It is really refreshing to see top-caliber pipers taking the bagpipe to new horizons. In the past, many Great Highland bagpipers that have pursued the bagpipe beyond the strictly traditional have tended to be the pipers that didn’t have enough … Continue reading

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Frankie Gavin’s Fierce Traditional

Jennifer Byrne penned this review. Stand aside all you pretenders to the throne. Frankie is back and the gloves are off. Fierce Traditional is the long anticipated new solo album from Frankie Gavin, and it sees him paring the sound right down, … Continue reading

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Flogging Molly’s Float

I’m going to admit right up front that I am a newcomer to the music of Flogging Molly. I mean, a very recent newcomer, as in, I just became aware of the band this past St. Patrick’s Day. A bit of … Continue reading

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Endah Laris & Dedek Gamelan Orchestra

I’ve often maintained that tradition is a living thing — it grows and changes, or it dies. Another example of the truth of that idea crossed my desk in the form of the CD Endah Laris & Dedek Gamelan Orchestra. … Continue reading

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 Chulrua’s Barefoot on the Altar 

Naomi de Bruyn penned this review. Chulrua (pronounced cool-ROO-ah) is not only the name of this amazing trio of celebrated musicians but the name of the favourite wolfhound of the ancient Irish hero Fionn MacCumhaill. It translates to English as … Continue reading

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Jacqueline Schwab’s Mad Robin

Jacqueline Schwab plays with an easy-going gentility that makes her the perfect choice to record a solo piano CD of English Country Dance tunes. The tunes themselves have an air of 18th century nobility, which, when combined with Schwab’s kaleidoscopic … Continue reading

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