We humans love to label and categorize things. Be it animals, plants or historical periods, we like to see the world ordered and compartmentalized neatly into concepts that we can arrange and rearrange, that we can control. The same applies to arts where we slap labels of style and genre on to works whose creators … Continue reading Aoife Ní Bhriain & Cormac McCarthy’s “Cosán Casta”: two masters create a unique musical presence
Tag: fiddle
A happy surprise: “Moment in Time” by The Gothard Sisters
I've never been much taken with the Gothard Sisters, the talented Celtic trio from the American Pacific Northwest. They started their musical careers very young indeed and now, as they have released their 17th (!!!) full length album, they are still young. Amazing. But there was always been something about their music that kept me … Continue reading A happy surprise: “Moment in Time” by The Gothard Sisters
Pettit & Gira’s “Here to Stay”: winning fiddle/cello mastery with excellent tunes
It's always super nice to discover by chance artists you have never heard of and find out they're great! That's what's happened to me this week when I came across the North American fiddle/cello combo of Jocelyn Pettit and Ellen Gira. They are 2024 Canadian Folk Music Award Winners so it's high time I became … Continue reading Pettit & Gira’s “Here to Stay”: winning fiddle/cello mastery with excellent tunes
Superb creativity: “How To Raise The Wind” by Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola
If you have set your folk radar to scan the landscape a bit deeper, you may already be familiar with Sarah-Jane (fiddle, Scotland) and Juhani (guitars, Finland), both long time residents in Norway. Both have their own, widely respected careers in contemporary music but together, they have created several works that both retain and renew … Continue reading Superb creativity: “How To Raise The Wind” by Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola
Salt House hits another 10/10 with “Scarrow”
Scarrow - faint light, reflection, the shadow of a crow or hill, the faint light from a wall. Something gleaming intermittently or indistinctly.ˈska(ˌ)rō. plural -s. Scots. Salt House's previous album, Riverwoods, was one of my absolute favorites of 2023, an utterly entracing, beautiful work that radiated nature in music. A couple of years have passed … Continue reading Salt House hits another 10/10 with “Scarrow”
Woodlands Bäckafall’s “Traditional Colours”: joyful and borderless northern folk
I feel almost silly, having to write another "oh this album makes me so happy!" review only a few days after I went joyfully bananas over Ampouailh's latest release. But here we go... Let's begin by noting that Woodlands and Bäckafall are two separate entities that created this album as a unit. Woodlands Duo: Kristina … Continue reading Woodlands Bäckafall’s “Traditional Colours”: joyful and borderless northern folk
Fergal Scahill & Ryan Molloy’s “The Gannet’s Dive” connects trad and (almost) classical
There's something about instrumental duos. The interplay between two musicians and their tools, nothing else. Everything is there to hear, everything hangs not only on the skills of the individual musician but just as much on their communication. The earlier Scahill-Molloy album One Day :: November Woods, from a few years ago, was a prime … Continue reading Fergal Scahill & Ryan Molloy’s “The Gannet’s Dive” connects trad and (almost) classical
You know you are getting older when…
…your body starts to give you smaller and bigger hints that it's not keeping together the way it used to. Decades do their work and there comes a point when you cannot escape the facts. Which is to say I've been on radio silence in this blog for a while now, due to health issues … Continue reading You know you are getting older when…
Countercurrent’s “Flow” brightens these dark times!
It must have been one of those Bandcamp recommendations... Because I have zero recollection of ever hearing or reading about the folk duo from the Northwestern corner of the US before I found myself pressing play on Flow, their brand new release, the third album in their discography. When you don't really know what's coming, … Continue reading Countercurrent’s “Flow” brightens these dark times!
Finland’s Frigg promise you Dreamscapes and deliver in full
One of Finland's folk music spearheads internationally has been, for over two decades already, the masterful Frigg. They both continue and reform the Finnish folk and fiddle traditions as they swing from very traditional to very original, sometimes album by album. Two albums back, they released the inventive FriXX that was also meant as a … Continue reading Finland’s Frigg promise you Dreamscapes and deliver in full
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