It's to Nerea Gourlaouen Alonso's credit that, when I first started listening to her new CD Footprints, I assumed she was a Cape Breton native.

She's not. Or she is, but not entirely. When I got around to reading the promotional materials included with the CD, I learned the truth of it: "She was born in California from a French father and a Spanish mother, and raised in Cape Breton Island, Canada." She now lives in France, which throws another loop into the formula. But suffice it to say her time in Cape Breton paid off in a big way; she was infected with a love for the music and its unique Scottish-derived traditions, and she has taken it on the road across North America and Europe.

This album, released simply under her given name, Nerea, is a fiddle spotlight, with other instruments (guitar and piano) added to some arrangements as ornamentation only to her fine playing. Most of the tune sets here draw on the hefty Scottish/Cape Breton playbook, with tunes linked together in pleasant, toe-tapping arrangements.

Nerea is a young performer, and her playing is not yet as polished as I expect it will be by her next CD release. And yet, the slight roughness to this recording does not detract from my enjoyment of the music. Nerea is a fresh face on the music scene, and this is her first big splash. I expect an even bigger splash in the very near future.

Credit also must be given to Lakewind Sound Studios in Nova Scotia. Nerea recorded her fiddle tracks in France, then shipped them over to Lakewind for Nova Scotian guitarist Pius MacIsaac and pianist Ryan MacNeil to do their bits. The Lakewind team then mixed and mastered the tracks to make a product that sounds like the musicians were sitting in the same room to record together. Well done!

Postscript: Sometimes a name sounds familiar and just nags at you 'til you track it down. Well, I finally found Nerea in my past -- Oct. 11, 2003, to be exact, when I saw her stepdancing with Burton McIntyre and performing during the finale of the Whycocomagh Gathering. She impressed me then, and Footprints reassures me she is still on the right track.

[ visit Nerea's website ]