Tag Archives: Celtic music

Brìghde Chaimbeul’s Carry Them With Us

Brìghde (BREE-cha) Chaimbeul’s second album Carry Them With Us is a masterful, exhilarating melange of traditional and modern music for the Scottish smallpipes. It’s definitely not for the traditionalists among piping fans, but what Chaimbeul is doing with Scottish smallpipe … Continue reading

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Julie Fowlis’s Mar a Tha Mo Chridhe, Emily Smith’s A Day Like Today, various artists’ Scottish Women, and various artists’ Celtic Woman

The female voice has long had a role in Irish and Scottish music. Some of the great ballad singers such as Margaret Barry and Jeannie Robertson have come from these twin traditions. This selection concentrates for the most part on … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Song of the Green Linnet

It must be something to have a catalog of musical gems at your fingertips, and the wit to pick some of the best material from the hoard, because that’s exactly what we find on this collection. The cynic probably thinks … Continue reading

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Last Night’s Fun’s Tempered

To my knowledge, Chris Sherburn and Denny Bartley have graced the guest list for my local Folk Festival more times than I have changed the strings on my guitar over the past 10 years, and now joined with Nick Scott … Continue reading

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Glengarry Bhoys’ Mountain Road, Crookshank’s Crookshank, and Various artists’ Cold Blow These Winter Winds

This omnibus, while detailing Celtic releases of an ensemble nature, finds three releases with their own individual approach, style and sound. The result is a mix of solid Celtic rock, experimental Celtic and medieval cum renaissance strains, and a novel … Continue reading

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Battlefield Band’s Time & Tide

One of the longest running Scottish folk bands, Battlefield Band celebrates three decades of music touring and recording. Time & Tide, their latest album, again sees a change in the lineup with the departures of Karine Polward and John McCusker. … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Evelyn: Music from the Motion Picture

Soundtrack albums are an aural companion to the visual aspect of a movie; once one has seen the movie then a reasoned judgement may be reached as to the effectiveness of the soundtrack within the context of the film itself. … Continue reading

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Celtic Fiddle Festival’s Play On, Drones & Bellows/Dragseth Duo’s Hiimstoun, Smoky Finish’s Tune the Speed, various artists’ The Independence Suite, and various artists’ A Highland Journey in Music

Alistair Brown wrote this review. Play On is the fourth release from a group of musicians who had no real intention of continuing as such beyond a one-off concert series in 1993. The project featured three of the Celtic world’s … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Gaelic Voices

Patrick O’Donnell wrote this review. The Gaelic languages are, to my ears, the most beautiful in the world. I don’t think any of the Romance languages can hold a candle to the poetry, grace and strength contained in a single … Continue reading

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An omnibus review of books about music and musicians: Bagpipers, Deadheads, Joni Mitchell, Gilbert and Sullivan, and more

Anthony Baines’s Bagpipes (Pitt River Museum, Oxford University, 1995) Kevin McManus’s Ceilis, Jigs & Ballads: Irish Music in Liverpool (Liverpool Institute of Popular Music, 1994) Tomás Ó Canain’s Traditional Music in Ireland (Ossian Publications, 1993) Mairéad Sullivan’s Celtic Women in … Continue reading

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