There is something about old Celtic music that stirs the blood. Maybe it's some primeval beat that pulses within all of us, even though one may not have one scintilla of "Scot" in one's genetic loch. Maybe it's the gentle plop of a lure floating downstream to seek the fish hiding beneath its murky waters. Much of my heritage is based in the British Isles, and there is so much of Celtic lyricism within, that the hint of a bagpipe, or any other combination of traditional Scottish music, gets me to think deep thoughts, and fish the depths of my own murky soul. Let Scotland Flourish is something to stir the blood, fire the soul, and make one long to be at the site where so much music has been made and played for so many years.

Many compilation CDs can be inconsistent in that the music is either all of a kind, jarring, disorienting or flat. Let Scotland Flourish is a joyous celebration of the vibrant, younger singers and players of various aspects of the Scottish music scene today. These songs are played with fire, passion and the panache youth can put on the old and traditional. Like first love, these songs are performed as if the songs were never sung by anyone else before, making it all fresh and new.

Many of us unfamiliar with traditional Scottish music assume it is similar to "My Wild Irish Rose" and other Americanized songs. We know only a bit about the culture, and maybe know a wee bit of Robert Burns' work. Thus, the pleasure of hearing bagpipes in a non-funereal fashion on songs like "Alisons's Solo" by the Scottish Stepdance Company, or hearing the mystical, ancient Gaelic tongue given new life as in "Oran nam Mogaisean," is enough to make me want to take the next jet to Scotland and see and hear these performers for myself. Some of the other no-less-sterling performances, such as Cantrip's "The Cantrip Set," a rousing, get-up-and-dance instrumental, and the lovely "Sands o' the Shore" from Gillian Frame & Back of the Moon, call to mind a festival in a little town on a golden September afternoon. These are only a few of the consistently excellent performers on this CD.

As noted on the label, the young performers on this CD represent some of the "finest exponents of traditional music to be found anywhere in the Celtic world." Unlike the Latin of Caesar, the Scots heritage of Robert Burns lives on in the fine performances of these new Gaelic speakers and minstrels. My only complaint is that there are no lyrics, photographs or biographies of the performers. That would have been a noteworthy addition indeed!

- Rambles
written by Ann Flynt
published 17 April 2004