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The Living Tradition _________________ SOURCE Scottish CONTENT INSTRUMENTS
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| CRAN "The Crooked Stair" CBM CBMCD 002 | ||||
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The trio of musicians making up Cran are Dessie Wilkinson, Nial Martin and Sean Corcoran, they combine multi instrumental virtuosity and great reservoirs of talent and ingenuity. Together they make up on of the most exciting groups playing traditional Irish and Gaelic music today. "The Crooked Stair" their debut album offers thirteen tracks packed with a power and authority that makes it the freshest debut to caress my ears in ages. They play dance tunes with a ferocity not known since Moving Hearts halcyon days. Wilkinson excels on flute, whistle, highland pipes, fiddle and percussion while Nial Martin's expertise extends to uillean pipes, cello, whistle and keyboards while Sean Corcoran anchors everything on bouzouki and guitar and handling the vocal chores. His mellow voice perfectly suiting "When A Man's In Love" and the gaelic Lament "Caoineadh Na Dtri Muire" and the music hall esque closer "Laugh and Half Daft". Their musical chops extend from Irish reels and jigs to tunes from Corsica, Brittany, Romania and Scotland. The playing is embued with a gutsiness and fire that pildrives through resistances with strong Eastern undertones in "An Dro", "Romanian Rollock" and Spanish flavours in "Corsican Waltz". Their collective finesse and versatility makes for one of the most exciting albums of traditional and folk music to emerge from Ireland this year. John O'Regan |
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