The Rough Guide to Celtic Music
World Music Network RGNET
1155 CD; 69 minutes; 2005
Here we go again with another
hotchpotch of a compilation masquerading under some kind of collective whole
under the dubious concept of ‘Celtic Music’ and the major surprise is that it
emanates from the usually reliable World Music Network.
The entire point about these ‘Celtic’ collections is
that, rather than achieving their aim of identifying commonality between the
various strands of music they sample (be it Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany,
Galicia, Nova Scotia or wherever), they actually reinforce the differences
between musical traditions and even within those traditions themselves.
Even more annoying perhaps is
that the two compilers, both Canadians, maybe with an ear for the North American
market, have selected some of the blandest, most middle-of-the-night,
radio-friendly music you might ever not wish to hear. In particular, the tracks
by Skolvan and Téada may be useful for insomniacs.
There’s also a somewhat saccharin ethereal thread to much of the material here, making listening to Ffynnon or Capercaillie the aural equivalent of wading through marmalade.
Sure, there’s some decent
music on offer (especially from Mercedes Peón and Kornog), but no consistency
in quality and not the slightest sense of the parts forming a coherent entity.
The compilers also should also get their facts straight before going to print.
Flook do not hail from Manchester (though one of the quartet does), Rúbai
was not the group’s debut album and it’s Sarah Allen, not ‘Sally’; and how on
earth can The Poozies be described as a ‘pan-Celtic’ outfit when three of their
members are Scots and the fourth is English-born of Irish descent with a
penchant for Scandinavian music?
As a Monty Python skit once
remarked about a noxious wine, “This isn’t one for laying down, but for laying
down and avoiding.”
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