www.worldvillagemusic.com and
www.susanmckeown.com
This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 10/03
This is Susan McKeown’s 9th album, and several of them have received rave reviews. So clearly she is doing something right.
To my shame this is the first CD of hers (all the way through) that I
have encountered. Previously I had just heard individual tracks. I hope
it is not the last CD that I hear, and it has determined me to seek out
some of her previous output.
This album exudes class from first moment to last. A fair amount of the
content is in Gaelic, but there is always an English translation to
hand in the liner notes, and indeed on occasion she sings a translation
as an alternate verse. Her voice is pitch perfect throughout and
pleasing on the ear. And whilst perhaps it is not one blest with one of
those unique Maddy Prior/Joan Baez/Kathleen Ferrier type timbres, it
still is quite beautiful.
This is not a simple “one-or-two sessions in the same recording studio”
job. Far from it. She has crisscrossed the world recording in New York
City, the Asturias, the Basque Country, and Ireland, and has made use
of various local musicians. They all bring their own local instruments
to the table. Pre-eminent amongst them is the extraordinary harper
Edmar Castenada, whose uninhibited playing made one wonder if all these
years we haven’t all perhaps had far too limited a view of what the
instrument can do.
One song here trumps all the others: “Caleno Custure Me”. It is
apparently the oldest-known annotation of an Irish song, and it blows
you away with its beauty (even if it does not simultaneously hit you
between the eyes with its meaning!)
A handsomely produced CD, eschewing the jewel case for a custom built
soft-card case. The liner notes contain erudite words by Tom Monnelly
and Susan herself.
This is a CD for those of you who like your taste with a capital T. It
is emphatically NOT exclusively aimed at members of the Gaeltacht.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England
daigress@hotmail.com
Copyright © 1998-2008 Kevin & Maxine’s Celtic & Folk Music CD Reviews. All rights reserved.
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