Seoltai Seidte/ Setting Sail

Following a massive remastering project by Harry Bradshaw, Gael Linn has released a collection of some 43 tracks originally issued on 78rpm discs between 1957 and 1961. They’re packaged in a nifty boxed set together with a 98-page paperback book by Nicholas Carolan of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, placing the material in its historical context and providing song lyrics in both Irish and English. What astonishes here is the magnificent sound quality: fiddles, flutes, accordions, uilleann pipes and voices alike are clear, rich and resonant – a far cry from the tinniness and static we’ve come to expect from recordings of this era. Artists from Seán’ac Dhonncha to Seosamh Ó hÉanaí, Áine Ní Ghallchobhair, Máire Nic Dhonnchadha, Denis Murphy, Willie Clancy, Vincent Broderick, Joe Burke and more are revealed in all their glory, with every subtle inflection and ornamental flourish intact.