Celtic Fiddle Festival CD Review
Celtic Fiddle FestivalÉquinoxe
Cat No: Loftus Music: LM003
****Excellent example of Celtic fiddling—overflowing with joy and with talent to burn
I had the great fortune to listen to this CD on St Patrick’s day with a couple of cans of Guiness inside me but even in that ambient mood I was not prepared for the sheer brilliance of this album. Conceived back in 1992, with the late, great John Cunningham as a founder member, the Celtic Fiddle Festival now comprises of Kevin Burke from Ireland, Christian Lemaitre from France and André Brunet of Canada on fiddles ably supported by Ged Foley on guitar and bouzouki. This combination of nationalities not only gives the band its crackle and fizz but also opens up a huge repertoire of tunes that are available to the group. So included here are jigs and reels from Ireland, songs and gavottes from France and some beautiful Quebecois melodies. Needless to say, the playing is superb, whether playing as a group in the opener Twilight in Portoe or in the various combinations throughout the album. In Kevin Burke the group has an Irish fiddler of great talent who plays with the languid bowing and sliding notes that bring to mind the playing of the sorely missed Sean MacGuire. A word must be said in praise of the guitaring of the excellent Ged Foley who eschews the modern tendency for chunky, jazzy chords in favour of the more traditional, singing, ringing backing. After listening to group after group adopting this ‘new’ style it is a true joy to hear and his solo spot Sir Sydney Smith’s March is an object lesson in how traditional tunes should be played. There is not a duff track or a foot (or finger) paced wrong on this album and having listened to it over and over again I just can’t find fault with it. Kevin Moug