CD REVIEWS FOR JULY/AUGUST 2007
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
GRÁDA
Cloudy Day Navigation
Nu-Folkers Gráda released their new album Cloudy Day Navigation and in one way or another every track is related to traveling, journeys or finding one's way. This is not too surprising since the Irish band spent nearly eight of the past 12 months on the road and now with the release of their album on Compass Records, the band members look to do the same in the upcoming year.
"We all came to the band with songs we had written or collected since our CD The Landing Step, which was completed in 2004," explained Andrew Lang, who plays double bass in the five member group. "Over a three year period we rehearsed, recorded and performed all of this material, eventually whittling it down to the 12 tracks that ended up on the final cut.
"Each member had equal input into what was finally chosen for the recording. Which was sometimes a challenge given the different musical tastes and backgrounds of the group, but that's also a major source of Gráda's distinctive sound."
The traveling Gráda group have chosen their material well, since the music and songs are as beautiful and easy flowing as a soft flowing traveling stream - yet loses none of its traditional sound.
Grada is: Nicola Joyce (vocals, bodhran, fiddle); Alan Doherty (flutes, whistles, percussion, vocals); Andrew Lang (double bass, vocals, guitar); Colin Farrell (fiddle, whistle, uillean pipes); and Gerry Paul (guitars, vocals). With all this traditional instrumentation...you know it is a great album!
Band member, Alan Doherty said, "the longer we go on, the more our sound develops and matures. We're really happy with the direction the band is going at the moment and are looking to build on that for future recordings."
Recorded on the Compass label. For more information: www.compassrecords.com
PAUL BROCK - ENDA SCAHILL
Humdinger
A perfect name for a humdinger of an album! Master musicians Paul Brock and Enda Scahill accompanied by the brilliant piano playing of Ryan Molloy and percussion of Tommy Hayes have evoked the atmosphere and artistry of the Irish dance hall era in dazzling fashion with the first ever CD of Irish traditional music on the melodeon and tenor banjo. It features an extraordinary varied selection of stunningly performed tunes from what was often called "the golden era" of early Irish music in North America.
Paul Brock has been at the forefront of button accordion playing for many years. A multiple All-Ireland champion born in Athlone, County Westmeath and now residing in Ennis, Paul pursued a solo career through the Sixties and Seventies.
Enda Scahill comes from a very musical family from Corofin in East Galway and has long established himself as one of the finest exponents of traditional Irish banjo playing. He has been All-Ireland champion four times on banjo and mandolin and was finalist in the Celtic Note Young Musician of the Year in 1999.
From Erin go Bragh/The Black Rogues; Medley of Clogs; The Liverpool/The Jolly Beggerman; John Accordion Fantasy to Dublin Lasses/ Crowley's reels, to name a few, it's all great stuff and guaranteed you won't be able to keep your feet still.
Recorded on the Compass label. For more information: www.compassrecords.com
DEIRDRE NI CHINNEIDE
Celtic Passage
Deirdre Ni Chinneide has sung extensively in both Irish and English as a vocalist with Mo Run Searc, a traditional Irish group. She has performed at Celtic festivals in Ireland and abroad, including the Interceltique Festival in Lorient, Brittany. Other performances include singing as a soloist with the Global Mantra Choir and His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the World Conference in Belfast.
Deirdre offers her music as an expression of a spiritual practice that explores the healing potential of sound. With harp, fiddle, flute, bodhran and more, Celtic Passage is her invitation "to remember and retrieve that which we have lost" through a musical journey to the worlds of the Shaman and Spirit.
"In opening to our Celtic past and the wisdom of our ancestors, we create a future of connectedness and respect for difference," explains Ni Chinneide. "Exploring universal themes of life, death, nature and earth, conflict and redemptive power of love."
The evocative and haunting voice of Deirdre is like a Celtic siren that takes us on a journey to our very roots.
Celtic Passage is recorded on Sounds True album. For more information: www.soundstrue.com.
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