Ceol ’09

More than a dozen Irish artists, plus guests Eddi Reader from Scotland and New Yorker Nell Bryden, apply their pipes to songs translated into Irish – proving that great music works no matter the language, and that even a pop hit like ‘Perfect’ (‘Foirfe’) make sense no matter what the idiom.
Mick Flannery’s ‘Nuachtain An Lae Amarach’ nails it in one, and The Swell Season’s ‘Gra Dom Leonadh’ is masterly. And there’s ample evidence that sex works in Irish to, with Camille O’Sullivan delivering a sinfully slinky version of ‘Sna Broga Seo’. John Spillane brings a robustly eccentric version of ‘An Poc Ar Buile’ to the party, Saccade’s ‘Oinseach’ has a beefy rock sound, while Cathy Davey’s ‘Reuben’ deliciously brings Duffy to mind. Caruso work their magic on ‘Trasna Na gCianta’ and there are other sparkling tracks from Paddy Casey, Noelie McDonnell and Ham Sandwich.
The fact that the songs are mainly written by the artists themselves and form key elements of their English language repertoire is worthy of note. This annual Ceol CD series may be intended to proselytise the Irish language, but it also works as fine music too.

Key track: Cathy Davey – 'Reuben'