Before encountering the phenomenon that is Childsplay, the name meant little more than a pretty moniker for a Celtic band. Hearing Childsplay for the first time and finding out the meaning behind the story has been a fascinating experience. For those not familiar with Childsplay (and that included this reviewer until he heard this CD Childsplay Live and dug a little further) the best comparison would be that of an acoustic folk/roots music orchestra.
Childsplay is indeed a movable feast; the brainchild of instrument maker Bob Childs. Each of the musicians plays a violin made by Childs himself. In his workshop in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bob produces instruments with a deep, sweet, and dark sound whose quality has captured the interest of leading string performers through the United States and beyond.
Childsplay Live is the latest CD from the Childsplay camp. It is a wide-ranging and eclectic mix of Irish, American, and European music. Everything goes it seems — nothing is rendered invalid and the result is a unique cross pollination of varied sounds, styles and nuances. It would be easy to take the notion that Childsplay is a fiddle-based situation, as most of the membership plays fiddles made at Bob Childs workbench, but other reed, string and percussion instruments dwell in the household, and Molly Gawler and Joyce Anderson supply sweet vocal interludes on “The Maple’s Lament” and “Rambling Man.”
The group Childsplay includes over two-dozen musicians drawn from the folk, traditional, Celtic, and roots music communities whose mixed backgrounds and styles blend to form a cohesive whole. Getting such a large ensembles together is not an easy task but such is the respect shown to Bob Childs and his instruments. Childsplay Live offers an exhilarating chariot ride through a myriad of diverse musical styles displaying versatility, ensemble virtuosity, technical panache, and exuberance.
No’am Newmann reviewed another Childsplay album, The Great Waltz. Iain Nicholas Mackenzie reviewed Waiting for the Dawn, and Barb Truex reviewed a concert by Childsplay.
(Childsplay Music, 2002)
