Customer Reviews

Blackwater

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I have to go in to work on a Saturday to catch up, this is the CD that goes on the boom box first, and usually gets played one or two times more before I switch to something else or head for home. The reason -- it is as close to a perfect album as anything out there, diving into magnificent reels and carrying through the haunting end with great mood swings of ups and downs but never anything dull or weak -- it dances throughout. It is simply a masterful album of music.

I was in a traditional Celtic band for a few years in Michigan, and this album comes as close to a perfect performance (albeit studio) set as any other Celtic recording I know. I am a great Frankie Kennedy fan, and Dermot Byrne is a truly inspired replacement. His featured pieces are certainly among the high points of current Altan concerts.

One minor wish -- Ciaran Curran on the bouzouki could have beeen brought out more in the mix, as he is in the early and pre-Altan recordings and the most recent album (I apire to his talent), but maybe the seamlessness and selflessness of this recording is what makes it so strong. This is Altan diving back in with renewed energy and spirituality after what must have been a deeply emotional low point.

A short while ago I stumbled upon the song "Molly na nGuach ni Chuilleanain," almost by accident; after listening to it about half a dozen times, I realized that this rendition, done by Altan, was the most beautiful song I've ever heard.

Interested in finding out if this were just a fluke, or something of deeper significance, I sought out a full CD by Altan. Not finding any locally, I looked on Amazon.com to see what the customer reviews were like: and as they were unanimously glowing, I ordered two of them, paying with a credit card (which I never do).

I had previously been only vaguely aware of Celtic music, but after hearing Blackwater, my eyes have been opened -- as it were. I have never heard anything like it. First, I have not before heard the voice used as a musical instrument with such precision. And the songs in English are beautiful, it is true, yet not more beautiful than other traditional folk songs I have heard (such as the Finnish "Taivas on Sininen ja Valkoinen"). But the ones done by Altan in the Celtic language are something else: the music, lyrics, and the language itself forming an intense union producing an impression of surpassing potency. It is as though I have never heard real music before.

I see now that here we have a tradition of minstrelsy that goes back thousands of years, and Altan is among its heirs. These Celtic songs seem almost living things, not least because there still, still is an audience that can understand them directly, without the aid of subtitles or translations. And it has consequently been borne in upon me that I have the wrong mother tongue (missing it by two or three generations).

These songs are a treasure. Blackwater: buy it, hear it, and weep.

In little more than 10 years, Altan has risen from provincial obscurity to rank alongside Clannad and the Chieftains as major carriers of Irish traditional music.

Founded around a brilliantly talented husband and wife duo, Frankie Kennedy (flute and whistle) and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (fiddle and vocals), the six-piece group has grown better with each of its five previous albums. The sad death of Frankie Kennedy at the end of 1994, as a result of throat cancer, must have threatened the very existence of the group. Yet apparently it was Frankie's explicit wish that they should continue.

So with a change of labels, and no replacement flute-player, "Blackwater" is Altan's sixth album, and their first sans Frankie. It is a good album, almost great. The trademark twin fiddles of Mairead and Ciaran Tourish are there; the simple yet hauntingly beautiful voice of Mairead is there; there's more prominence for accordionist Dermot Byrne; and the guitar and bouzouki work of Daithi Sproule and Ciaran Curran is typically driving and innovative.

There are some great moments, such as the gorgeous, jaunty instrumental"The Dance of the Honeybees", or the sweetly light-hearted song "Molly Na gCuach Ni Chuilleanain". Yet some of the band's other instrumentals are rather restrained, lacking some of the fire of jig and reel sets on previous albums.

However by the time "Tune for Frankie" rounds off the album, you may be willing to forgive the band's earlier restraint. This unusual slow jig, set in a minor key, is Mairead's musical tribute to her husband. It is heartbreakingly beautiful. I hope it is a sign that Altan will continue to produce its wonderful brand of Irish music well into the future.

Blackwater is the first album Altan recorded after Frankie Kennedy's death; surprisingly, it is also one of their finest. If you are not familiar with Altan but are a fan of traditional - and instrumental - celtic music, and/or you are looking for good Irish fiddlers, this album will make a wonderful introduction to a wonderful band. There is something strangely PERFECT about this album, and although the instrumental pieces don't perhaps have all the energy and enthusiasm of those of their previous album, Island Angel, they are, nevertheless, some of the best that Altan has recorded.

Ní Mhaonaigh's singing is the aspect of Altan that most divides opinions, some fans of Altan being fans precisely because of it, others calling her voice shrill and her technique amateurish. Personally I belong to neither group, finding the instrumental pieces Altan's strongest point but considering Ní Maonaigh's voice, although often girlish and technically far from perfect, also quite pretty and, more importantly, suitable for the songs that she performs. In Blackwater her voice is certainly at its best; not merely pretty but with great character and expression.

What I, personally, sometimes find disturbing about Altan's songs is that it is in them, rather than the instrumental pieces, that Altan has experimented with arrangements and styles that are less traditional or more "pop" than their instrumental music. That having been said, I must point out that this album includes some of Altan's finest songs, and not least because of some great instrumental arrangements such as those of "Stor, A Stor, A Ghra" and track 9 (better I don't even try to spell the title of that one!). "Molly Na Cuach Ni Chuilleanain" (...or something to that effect!) with its synthesizer sounds is an example of those less traditional arrangements that I mentioned above; nevertheless, I can't deny that the result is fresh and pretty, and that the tune is one of the most "catchy" Altan songs. As for "Blackwaterside", this must be one of the most beautiful songs that Altan has ever recorded - and, as is pointed out in the album cover, exceptional in that it is written from a female point of view:

"But there's not a girl in this whole wide world
As easily lead as I.
And when fishes can fly
And the seas run dry,
It is then that you'll marry I."

I DON'T THINK ALTAN HAS EVER DONE A BAD ALBUMN.........
ITS CLEAR THAT ALOT OF TALENT WAS IN THEIR GROUP.

Altan captivates with these songs. A must for Irish music lovers!

Buy anything by Altan, you can't go wrong. Perfect

The Irish traditional band Altan went through major changes in the mid-1990s. The death of founding member and flautist Frankie Kennedy shook the remaining performers, though eventually accordionist Dermot Byrne came in to fill the void. But the band also switched labels, moving from the independent Green Linnet to Virgin Records at a time when "Celic music" was big business. BLACKWATER was their first album in this new lineup and label signing.

The instrumentals here are quite nice, although they don't quite scale to the heights of the HARVEST STORM and ISLAND ANGEL albums. "A Tune for Frankie" is a new composition by the band, but well in keeping with the traditional material. For me, the downside of prior Altan albums has always been the songs, where Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, sings something invariably twee and slow with overly polished vocals. On BLACKWATER, "Ar bhruach na carraige baine", "Ta me 'mo shui" and "Blackwaterside" are along those lines. However, a couple of songs here are upbeat and have multiple singers, namely "Molly na gcuach ni chuilleanain" and "'Stor, a 'stor a ghra", the latter perhaps familiar to Irish music afficionados from a performance by Clannad in their early days.

With Altan's following album RUNAWAY SUNDAY, I stopped following the band as things seemed to change. Later efforts like crossover gimmickry with Dolly Parton only reconfirmed my desire to stick with their early albums. BLACKWATER, however, is very much in keeping with their Green Linnet recordings.