A Review of the Donal Clancy CD
"Close To Home"

"Druid Dance"
by Donal Clancy

This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 4/07

If you are a fan of albums that are almost solely guitar instrumentals – which apart from Dónal accompanying himself in places with bodhran and bouzouki, and occasional accompaniment on uilleann pipes by David Power, this very much is - then this is an album to interest you.

<>If you are a fan of albums that draw on material exclusively taken from The Tradition (Hibernian Branch), then this too is an album to interest you.

And if you are a fan of albums that exude Taste with a capital T, played with virtuosic skill, then this too will be to your liking.

If you have all three in a row here on the One Armed Bandit of CD Charms, then all I can say is, please make a beeline for the shops.

I liked this album a lot. Dónal, of course is the son of the great piper Liam O’Flynn, and started learning guitar as a small kid with his dad, plus Arty McGlynn and Paul Brady, as his teachers! And it shows.

Everything he approached here, he managed to pull off. A nicely varied and balanced selection between the up-tempo and the lyrical, he seems just as much at home taking corners at motor-racing speed as strolling dreamily down the prom.

My favourite track has to be his version of the O'Carolan harp tune, "Lord Inchiquin": you’d almost think that it was originally written for guitar, so natural does it seem.

Many of you reading this will know that Dónal co-founded the group Danú, but departed soon after. In 2003 though he rejoined his friends in Danú, with which group he still performs.

I note that he lives these days in Yonkers, New York. Now, whether this album would be staple fare in the bars and clubs there, I have my doubts, for it is unyieldingly determined NOT to go down the road of commerciality. But that there is a market for this album, is surely beyond a peradventure. And that market exists far beyond the Irish diaspora.

Dai Woosnam
daigress@hotmail.com
Grimsby UK

Ownership, copyright and title of this celtic music CD review belongs to me, Dai Woosnam. Ownership, copyright and title are not transferrable or assignable to you or other parties regardless of how or if you or other parties use, copy, save, backup, store, retrieve, transmit, display, publish, modify or share the CD review in whole or in part. Please read the "Terms, Conditions and Disclaimers" section on my web site for addititonal information about using, quoting, or reprinting this CD review.

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A Review of the Donal Clancy CD "Close To Home"

"Druid Dance" by Donal Clancy

A Review of the Donal Clancy CD
"Close To Home"

"Druid Dance"
by Donal Clancy