Kitty Lie Over

Piper Mick O’Brien and fiddler Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh are both native Dubliners – albeit from different sides of the Liffey – but on their debut album together, they’ve chosen to feature the music of Kerry’s Sliabh Luachra region as played by Denis Murphy and Julia Clifford: five of the tracks here include tunes learned from Murphy’s recordings, and a sixth consists of two reels collected from Murphy by Breandán Breathnach. The two musicians’ styles accord nicely with each other while retaining a good measure of individuality in terms of timing and ornamentation – even when they take up twin tin whistles to play ‘An Manglam/The Fairy Reel/I Have No Money’, each instrument is clearly discernible.