When I first listened to Jennifer White's Clarsach, an album devoted almost entirely to the Celtic harp, I assumed she'd raided the tunebooks of many an Irish harper to fill the album's 12 tracks. I was even prepared to give her credit for fine arrangements of the old tunes. So imagine my surprise when I sat back to read the liner notes and realized most of the tracks -- a full 75 percent, in fact -- were of her own composition.

Composing music is, of course, as much a Celtic tradition as performing music handed down through the ages. And Jennifer, from London, Ontario, has done an admirable job of preserving the flavor of the ancients in her writing.

Most of the tunes are for harp alone, and Jennifer proves herself a gifted harper as she flits lightly through original tracks including "Blue Heron's Flight," "Willow," "Drifting," "Faerie Thyme" and "Brighid's Dance."

"The Legend of Knockgrafton," played over the backdrop of a thunderstorm and various woodland animals, is based on the tale of a humpbacked peddler and his faerie encounter. Jennifer's harp peals out as strong as a bell throughout, alternatively slow and fast, with chimes (played by Ben White) adding additional accents. We also get our first taste of her vocal skills, as she adds a haunting touch to the tune.

For "A Jig for the Autumn Wind," Jennifer adds the bodhran (Robert McMaster), percussion (Jay Roehl) and tenor guitar and bass (Ben White) to her lively harping for a swirling homage to autumn imagery. A recording of the ocean surf (actually, Jennifer tells me, BBs rolling around in McMaster's bodhran) provides the setting as Jennifer harps a poignant lament in "The Selkie's Dream." Twin layers of Jennifer's non-verbal singing serve up a haunting atmosphere.

My favorite track is "Oisin," a tune in two parts ("The White Horses" and "The Fianna") based on the Irish legends of a warrior poet and his companions. The first section is a lyrical harp solo; the second has a powerful, almost electric feel as Jennifer is joined once more by Robert McMaster on percussion and Ben White on chimes, and she herself adds a layer of distant pennywhistle atop her solid harping.

There are three traditional tracks on Clarsach, and they, too, benefit from Jennifer's creative touch. "The Rights of Man" in particular gains new life with her martial performance -- clear, quick strokes on the harp running through the tune as the pennywhistle, also played by Jennifer, and percussion by Robert McMaster and Jay Riehl evoke a mood of young men marching off to fight in a noble cause.

"Sheebeg & Sheemor," one of the best-known harp pieces written by Turlough O'Carolan, is given a delicate, ornamental presentation here, again featuring solo harp, and I can only imagine that O'Carolan might have played it similarly himself as he entertained a patron's court back in the early 18th century.

"Loch Lomond," one of the most popular Scottish songs, is sung wistfully by Jennifer, with backing vocals by Ben White and Jay Riehl. Jennifer's harp provides most of the instrumentation here, but Darrin Schott adds some gorgeous fiddle work as well.

Jennifer has a good voice, strong and clear -- but it's certainly not her hallmark and does not grab the attention in the same way her harping does. Her harping is, without question, excellent throughout Clarsach, and I'm quite eager to hear how both her playing and singing develop next.

For, mark my words, Jennifer White is a name to remember.