Here's an intriguing compilation disc gathered from various Green Linnet CDs, the unifying factor being that all these vocal tracks are in Gaelic. If you're among the few who actually speak this soaring, mellifluous language, you're in great luck. If not, you'll be tempted to enroll in Gaelic I at your local college after hearing these 14 charming tracks. But despair not, ye Gaelicly-challenged, as translations are offered for nearly all the cuts.

The two women who make up Sileas start things off with the glorious harmonies of a waulking song. Altan offers "Donal Agus Morag," a splendid song that ends with a rollicking fiddle tune. The Bothy Band follows with an extraordinary example of Scots-Gaelic "mouth music," and Capercaillie gives their own version of this novel musical genre, with high-flying lead vocals by Karen Matheson. The group Kila gets in a deep rhythmic groove with an original Gaelic song whose title translates as "Take It Easy." Both the lyrics and the song provide a propulsive hoot!

Reeltime has a modern sound, with contemporary, jazzy chords, and Altan gives us a second tune, this one about a certain Dark Molly. It's lovely, but one begins to sense a preponderance of wispy soprano voices in the collection. Relativity's two selections are too production-heavy for my tastes, with heavy reliance on synthesizers that will appeal more to fans of new age than traditional. The number from Cherish the Ladies is, however, something to cherish, with Aoife Clancy doing the vocal honors. Capercaillie joins the synthesizer brigade next, although it's used more subtly in this waulking song that also boasts some fine fiddle playing. Andy M. Stewart and Manus Lunny are entrancing in their turn at bat, though again the keyboards reek of synthesizer.

Niamh Parsons has a voice of great sensitivity, but also great depth, something which most of the other female singers on this disc seem to lack, and her song is a rare treat, with a pure acoustic background. Sileas closes the disc as they started it, and their arrangement, solely vocal, is haunting in its modern dissonances and overlapping tones, a perfect way to end this collection.

As I've said in other reviews (all too often, I fear), I'm not a fan of synths in traditional music, and several tracks here overdo it with these neither fish nor fowl contraptions. That shouldn't be enough, however, to ignore this fine collection of Gaelic song. There's much gorgeous music here, and those who don't mind a little modernity in their classics will find a great deal to like.

- Rambles
written by Chet Williamson
published 31 May 2003