Seamus Fay: Cavan's Lilter

SEAMUS FAY: CAVAN'S LILTER

Seamus Fay: lilting, vocals

Kathleen Fay: lilting

Aoife Murray: lilting, vocals

Catriona Cullivan: lilting

Neill Lyons: bodhran

Trevor Bury: bones, bodhran

Richard Lyons: bodhran

Marian Crowe: dancing

How does a 33-track CD of lilting strike you?... Unusual perhaps, but don't let my attempt at being facetious stop you from reading further. First, although there are indeed 33 tracks on the album, six of them are songs, sung in lovely sean-nos style, two, including an interview by Martin Donohoe, the producer of the 4-CD set "The Musical Heart of Cavan," are spoken, and some of the lilting tracks are rather short, which explains their high number. But more importantly, Seamus Fay is very good at what he does, combining amazing lung power with keen musical sense. In fact, his talent was sanctioned over the years with four All-Ireland titles. Also notable are some lilting duets recorded by Fay and his mother back in the 1970s, and a couple of tracks by Aoife Murray (she also sings a song) and Catriona Cullivan, two younger winners of the All-Ireland title who acknowledge Fay's influence. With some bodhran and a few dance steps added here and there, this makes for quite a varied selection, unusual perhaps, but well worth hearing.

Rating: *** 1/2

Price: $23.99