Noirin Ni Riain: "Gregorian Chant Experience"(O'Brien Press) u12.99) and book (u10.99).
Noirin Ni Riain's spiritual dreams as a seven-year-old are radically realised here in colonisation of the cavernous cloisters of Christian patriarchy. Her clerical chant is as simple as fourth-century St Ambrose dreamt it, as nostalgic as any pre-1950 Feis-cheoil choir or Latin Mass survivor can recall, yet as dramatic and perfectly performed as any sound secular music. Text is perhaps for the more meditative, but the key verses - copied in Glenstal monk Kevin Healy's careful calligraphy - encourage contemplativeness. Celebratory and Christmassy in the constant evocation in Rorate Caeli, a beautiful Lux Aeterna, with shruti box drone and "na lads" of Glenstal in Salve Mater Misericordiae and the emotive fragment Ite Missa Est. And, too, that magnificent Regnavit Dominus, the brilliant Pane Lingua - each one surprisingly familiar, if not iconic.
By Fintan Vallely
Eileen Ivers: "So Far" (Green Linnet)
You could do worse than tune into this compilation, which harks back to 1979 when Ivers was the star 14year-old fiddler in Martin Mulvihill's school in the Bronx. There's a handful of sessions from the 1980s, but the album ignites with her duet with Seamus Egan (recorded live in 1992 in Cork). The flighty, effortless harmonies and bright, freed-up embellishments, the reaching up to that high, flailing note - all prefigure the less restrained electric fiddle work of the two solo albums: the scholarly conceit of Pachelbel's Frolics; the John McLaughlin pyrotechnics of On Horsetrack, even the melodic spirals of Bill Whelan's Riverdance. It's easy to see why the label loves her to death.
By Mic Moroney
Sarah McQuaid: "When Two Lovers Meet" (Mongrel)
This is a thoughtful, skilful and occasionally sombre collection of mostly traditional material. Sarah McQuaid has clearly been smitten by the attractions of Irish traditional music. Born in Spain, raised in Chicago and now living in this country, McQuaid is an accomplished guitarist whose rich style sits well with the intricacies of traditional music. She has done her homework in other areas as well, notably in her research and particularly in her vocal style. aim Cortha O Bheith Im' Aonor Im' Lui. She has also great taste in collaborators. Producer Gerry O Beirne, no slouch himself in the guitarist ranks, serves McQuaid well in her stated aim of giving the music room to breath, while other guests like Niamh Parsons (for a fine female version of The Parting Glass), Trevor Hutchinson and John McSherry help make this a debut to note.
By Joe Breen
