Celtic Women of Song (hereafter CWS) is not to be confused -- though perhaps the label hopes you will be -- with the mega-selling folk-pop Celtic Women phenomenon. Where the latter (what I've heard of it) is about as interesting as the last "Celtic" fad, Riverdance (you're free to interpret "interesting" however you wish), the disc here under review is the real stuff.

Since Essential Media has been energetically reissuing remastered versions of decades-old folk albums from the influential Tradition label, founded in 1956 by the Clancy Brothers and heiress/amateur folklorist Diane Hamilton, I assume this disc -- consisting of performances captured from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s -- was initially a Tradition release under another name. The liner notes provide no enlightenment on that score. In those days, as those with long memories will attest, it was not "Celtic music" but "Irish folk music." Still is, actually.

Though the Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem (only Liam Clancy survives, after Makem's death in early August 2007) are undisputed heroes of the Irish revival, they created a rousing pub style that was not exactly "authentic" and which had as much to do with their theatrical backgrounds as with their genuinely traditional roots. While CWS coincides with the Clancys's rise, its approach feels more living room than stage, even though at least two of the five performers, harper Mary O'Hara (still living, now active after an extended retirement) and folksinger/actress Isla Cameron (born in Scotland, raised in England, d. 1980), were professionals. Besides these, there are Clancy sisters, namely Peg Clancy Power (Bobby Clancy's twin) and Joan Clancy Butler, as well as Tommy Makem's mother Sarah Makem, singing her famous rendition of "In the Month of January," which never fails to chill and astound.

CWS consists of fairly unadorned treatments of traditional Irish songs well known and less so, most unaccompanied. It's a gem, and one more reason to be grateful to Essential Media for resurrecting these grand old recordings and making them new again.

The Irishy Girl by Kate Chadbourne, who teaches Irish culture and language at Harvard University, represents a more modern sort of approach to the old music. The mostly traditional songs and tunes are set to expertly executed band arrangements. Besides singing, Chadbourne plays piano, flute, whistle and harp. Accompanying her are Seamus Connelly on fiddle, Matt Heaton on bodhran and guitar, and Valerie Thompson on cello.

The 15 cuts encompass both English- and Gaelic-language material, some of it learned -- a little surprisingly to me -- from prominent revival sources such as Dolores Keane and Niamh Parsons. Still, Chadbourne finds fresh interpretations and melodic variants even when the songs are standards. She carries the tradition forward honorably and capably.

[ visit Kate Chadbourne's website ]