Sweet Liberty - Susan McKeown cdRoots Home Page

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Susan McKeown
Sweet Liberty
17.99

A collection of all-traditional songs, albeit often non-tradtional approaches, from the Irish singer-songwriter in collaboration with a wide spectrum of musicians, from Ensemble Tartit, a group of Tuareg musicians from Northern Mali, to Mariachi Real de Mexico to Flook, as well as sparse, traditional reditions of little known traditional songs.

Listen
with Tartit
with Flook

The record label says:
A new album of traditional songs from Irish singer-songwriter Susan McKeown. An adventurous vocalist and producer, McKeown assembled a small group of remarkable musicians to record an album of beauty and simplicity which focuses squarely on the songs and on her clear, stirring contralto. One of McKeown's specialties is reviving rare songs that have yet to be explored in the current Celtic revival. Her arrangements of these songs sometimes employ traditional instrumentation but are as likely to surprise the listener with instrumentation not expected on an album of Celtic songs. "Oró Mhíle Grá" (A Thousand Times, My Love) is a fascinating collaboration between McKeown and Ensemble Tartit, a group of Tuareg musicians from Northern Mali. Mariachi Real de Mexico provides a rich, nostalgic accompaniment to the English folk song "Eggs in her Basket." Traditional Irish colors are also very much in evidence. The album opens with McKeown leading the instrumental quartet Flook (also on World Village Records 468015) in the spirited "The Wee Birds All Have Come and Gone" and the rich accompaniment to "Shamrock Green" is simply a guitar and fiddle, but the effect is stark and dramatic.