Tag Archives: Celtic music

Loreena McKennitt’s Live in Paris and Toronto

Naomi de Bruyn penned this review. Loreena was born and raised in Morden, Manitoba, a small prairie community in central Canada. In 1978, she won the Du Maurier Search For Talent and represented Canada at UNESCO in Paris that year, and … Continue reading

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Loreena McKennitt’s An Ancient Muse

JoSelle Vanderhooft penned this review. Normally, I can’t stand winter. It’s cold, it’s dismal, and I tend to get sick a lot. Nonetheless, winter 2006 has made me one happy woman, in spite of the general nastiness. This is largely thanks … Continue reading

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The Tinker’s Own’s Old Enough to Know Better and Bending the Banshee’s Ear

The cover art for The Tinker’s Own’s most recent release, Bending the Banshee’s Ear, is exquisitely eerie. It blends a faint tracery of Celtic knotwork with a drawing of a lovely Banshee woman in fluttering tatters, and superimposes her over a … Continue reading

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Nightnoise’s Pure Nightnoise

Mike Wilson penned this review. Nightnoise was formed in the early 1980s by the recently departed Irish traditional musician, Micheál Ó Domhnaill and American violinist, Bill Oskay. They were soon joined by Micheál’s sister, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and flautist, Brian … Continue reading

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Cullivoe Band’s Willie’s Last Session

Imagine old friends getting together to play one last session, nine days before one of their members passes on from cancer. Folks who have an ease of playing together that can only come with the years. This is that album, … Continue reading

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Nancy McCallion and The Mollys’ Trouble

Disclosure: I’m a long time Molly’s fan! Live, recorded, whatever, I’m there. There’s something about the world-weary defiance, the determination to feel joy — or at least pleasure — in The Mollys’ music, that warms the soul. For the unitiated, … Continue reading

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Colleen Raney’s Here This Is Home

The Irish song tradition is really many traditions, the main lines either the more loud and boisterous sound of groups like The Dubliners, or the more gentle approach of ensembles like Planxty and Patrick Street. I find it hard to … Continue reading

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Beoga’s Live at 10

There are times when reviewing is a sheer pleasure. This is one of those moments. Beoga is an Irish five-piece group, four men and a woman, with keyboards, button accordion, fiddle, bodhran/percussion and one member doubling on guitar and button accordion. … Continue reading

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Hugh Morrison’s Scotland is Free

It feels a little strange reviewing a CD titled ”Scotland is Free” a few months after the Scottish people voted ”no” in the referendum about breaking free from Great Britain. But in defence of Mr Morrison I must admit the … Continue reading

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Silly Wizard’s The Best of Silly Wizard

Jayme Lynn Blaschke wrote this for us. Despite the proliferation of traditional bands over the past decade, there remains something happily unique about Silly Wizard, probably the best-known of Scotland’s groups of this type. For one thing, they’ve got probably … Continue reading

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