CnuasGael Linn ***

Anyone with an interest in the Darwinian aspects of traditional music will welcome this reissue of two seminal recordings from 1973 and 1975: The Crooked Roadand the widely influential The Star Of Munster. Founder Éamon de Buitléar drew John Kelly, Paddy Glackin and Mary Bergin to the fold and invited, as guest, the late Cúl Aodha singer, Diarmuid Ó Suilleabháin. Ceoltóirí Laighean's shared aspiration was to integrate our music, language and song into a cohesive whole. Aileen McCrann's harp is a standout, bringing a feminine fluidity to arrangements that were groundbreaking in their time, but which at times sound weighed down by the boldness of their definition, particularly of the percussion. Still, Ceoltóirí Laighean traced an intensely imagined musical route that lured many fine musicians and singers in its wake.

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