MARY ANN KENNEDY - An Dàn
ARC Music EUCD2737
Scottish singer, broadcaster and songwriter, Mary Ann Kennedy, was born in Glasgow into a musical family. Her mother, famed Gaelic singer Kenna Campbell, and her immediate family circle ensured an interest in Gaelic singing. For most people, she is a Gaelic singer known for collaborations with Charlotte Peterson, input to bands like Cliar, and a radio presentation career with BBC Radio Scotland and also Raidio Na Gaeltachta in Ireland.
For all that, and despite her fame as a singer/harpist and international appearances in Lorient and the National Mod, An Dan is her first ever solo album. It’s a richly hued tapestry of Gaelic song in its traditional and modern forms, distilled into a uniquely personalised experience of Gaelic music and folklore in a contemporary form. Subtitled Gaelic Songs For A Modern World, An Dan is a suitably rounded and well-focussed view of a lifelong passion and lifestyle. Musically, while the backings are subtle and restrained, liberal use of string quartets, samples and soundscapes, with choral arrangements and instrumentation including uillean pipes and strings, provide an aural canvas for Mary Ann’s clear, impassioned and pure voice that suits the material recorded herein. Seinn Horo Seinn commences and the full, rich arrangement envelopes her voice but never threatens to overtake it, while Oran Do Dh’Iain Domhnallach is suitably dramatic with a voice track from a Southern African homecoming song adding extra worldly effect. Mise Fhuair and Sith Na Coille include lyrics from Aonghas MacNeacail. Poetry and musical settings of poems and lyrics by Gaelic writers is a highlight of An Dan, as is the variety of the arrangements and the sweet, sparkling lead vocals, effortless in their clarity and assurance.
An Dan is a remarkable piece of work highlighting the potency of the Gaelic language as a lyrical form and the beauty of the Gaelic tradition as a vocal form. Her singing is sublime and powerful, completely disarming and commanding. An Dan is a work of art, love and extreme beauty – no question.
www.watercolourmusic.co.uk
John O’Regan
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Many CDs we review are available from The Listening Post. Check to see if this CD is available. The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 121 of The Living Tradition magazine. |