At first, I thought someone had switched discs, exchanging my Celtic music CD for a Native American one. The stately recorder and drum piece which begins the first track certainly wasn't what I expected, speaking more of tribes than clans. Then the voices came in with "Boys of Bedlam," a popular British traditional song about a madhouse, but I'd never before heard it sung with such melancholy. And then the rest of the band kicked in, the pace picked up and I was back on more familiar ground.

That's not to say Sheela Na Gigh settles quickly into convention. The band from Alberta, Canada, has given the song a new identity with a clever arrangement for the tune, using Tami Cooper's recorder, Russ Baker's intricate guitar work and Mark Arnison's percussion to great effect. Foremost, however, are the vocals by Cooper and Jan Henderson, who are the keystone of the band.

Both singers add percussion to the mix, and Cooper also plays flutes, whistles and recorders. Baker brings a variety of sound as well, playing nylon- and steel-string acoustics, electrics with effects, and an electric bass. And Arnison has a variety of drums and percussion to draw from, including a bell tree, cymbals, wind chimes, rototoms, congas, tom-toms, snare drum, wood blocks, tambourine, marimba, claves, ocean drum, rain stick, shakers, rattles and, yes, a bodhran. But it's the vocals which really make the album stand out, whether solo or, my preference, entwined in harmony.

Their selection of music is diverse, too -- an assortment of slow and lovely pieces taken mostly from the Celtic and British traditions.

An atmospheric version of the traditional "Sorry the Day I was Married" is followed by John Renbourne's "Traveller's Prayer," a slow and beautiful song artfully blending pagan and Christian imagery. "Rattlin' Roarin' Willie" speeds things up again with an upbeat drum and whistle arrangement leading into overlapping vocals -- one of my favorite tracks on the album.

"The Selchie" is a very slow song about Scotland's coastal shapechangers. Once again, Cooper and Henderson mix solos, joined harmonies and overlapping melody lines to pull listeners into the heart of the song, and the flute tune at the end provides light-hearted closure. "Easter Tree" is also slow, steeped in sadness and grim, unsettling images of death. When the next track, "Love and Freedom," started slow, I was ready to jump ahead to find something a little cheerier, but Sheela Na Gigh anticipated my desire for a faster pace and quickened things nicely. The accelerating whistle melody leads to a lively courting song, sung with a hint of mischief, a subtle layer of drums and, for the first time, male voices on the chorus. Another of my favorites.

"My Johnny was a Shoemaker" is, title aside, about a sailor and the girl he left behind. "Dance to Your Daddy" sets the singers' voices lilting in and around each other in an arrangement that's almost choreographed, so much does it evoke the feeling of dance. The album ends with "Maids When You're Young," a well-known piece about the misfortunes of marrying an older man.

The singing, instrumentation and arrangements are excellent throughout. Sheela Na Gigh is a band to watch for, and Live by the Aire should be on your short list for expanding your music collection.

[ by Tom Knapp ]