Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site druri.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!drutx!druri!clive From: clive@druri.UUCP (StewardCN) Newsgroups: net.music.folk Subject: Re: Celtic Harp Inquiry Message-ID: <1130@druri.UUCP> Date: Mon, 15-Jul-85 15:29:21 EDT Article-I.D.: druri.1130 Posted: Mon Jul 15 15:29:21 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 17-Jul-85 07:00:01 EDT References: <3194@drutx.UUCP> <25700003@rochester.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver Lines: 23 You may want to check out Alan Stivell, who's likely the best known practitioner. He has a lot of albums out; probably the best one to start with is Renaissance of the Celtic Harp. I think it's his best effort; it's sweet and has mystery; most people really seem to like it. Many of the others are concert recordings, which tend to sound uneven and maybe bombastic; maybe it has to do with the enthusiasm of the friends he always seems to invite to play with him, and his interest in linking rock and (pre-)tradition. Which seems to have its points, though, on stage. I saw him in concert a few years ago (rare in US), and many people left at the intermission. Yet for those who stayed, he managed to turn the thing into a kind of rave-up, getting people dancing while he played the pied piper with one of those ancient reed horns which sound something like a single bagpipe chanter. Another path, and maybe offering wider sense of language in the experience, is to listen to Kevin Burke and Michael O'Domhnaill. Theirs is Irish (and sometimes Breton) fiddle and Gaelic vocal music with a great difference of sensitivity, and very individual guitar accompaniment.