Caity's Celtic, Folk and World Music Links
My "desert island" ten best folk, Celtic, and world music, albums, in no particular order:
Some purists are probably aghast at my list of albums. Puk Fair mixes jazz and new-age sounds into what primarily is Irish folk. Mauro Pagani is extremely diverse, and while his first album is mostly European folk, he definitely allows a little jazz influence. Blowzabella play bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy, among other things, and sure, you can hear traditional Breton and French folk dances on their albums, but let's face it: some of their music is a bit... beyond the Pale in more ways than one, right? Anyway, I've always said my tastes are eclectic and diverse, and this page is just another example.
Finding good web sites for my favorite folk artists has proven to be a whole lot more challenging than doing even the more obscure avant-garde, ambient, or rock artists. I guess that folk and acoustic music is, by nature, less bound up by technology, and is really, in some ways, a reflection of and a celebration of a simpler past when things like the Internet just didn't exist.
I also think that folk music performances, which are often in smaller clubs rather than huge stadiums, are a whole lot more personal, and I'll admit my favorites list is somewhat colored by who I've been priveleged enough to see. Back in the early '90s I picked up a copy of Caswell/Carnahan's Borderlands, which I really enjoyed. I then was lucky enough to see their reunion concert at the Connecticut Yankee in San Francisco, and that pretty much guaranteed they'd be one of my favorites. That also led me to Danny Carnahan's albums with his wife, Robin Petrie. (Cut and Run is especially good.) Still, while I found lots of web sites hawking their CDs, finding anything even vaguely resembling a home page has eluded me. Anyway, here's what I have found so far, with lots more searching to come:
Flairck On The Web. The official home page for the Dutch band who I would have once described as a folk ensemble. They are doing orchestral work now, and honestly, their music has always defied classification. Favorites: A Lady's Variations, Gevecht Met De Engel, and an album with French singer Georges Moustaki, simply titled Moustaki & Flairck.
Clannad. An unofficial, but pretty good page, about Clannad. While they do mainly contemporary, Celtic-influenced music today, Clannad was an outstanding doing traditional Irish folk in the '70s and early '80s. Check out Fuaim, Dulaman, and In Concert especially.
Unofficial Clannad news page. Another decent Clannad site. More recent Irish-influenced rock/pop albums that are worth listening to include Macalla, Anam, and especially Magical Ring.
Fairport Convention.. There have been a lot of personnel changes over the years, and the Fairport Convention sound has changed some, but it's always been either folk or folk-rock. Favorite old albums: Leige and Leif, Full House, and Unhalfbricking. Favorite recent album: The Jewel In the Crown.
Mauro Pagani's comments about Nirvana. I hope to hear more of Mauro Pagani's solo work soon. The former PFM member's first, self-titled solo album full of varied European folk elements and even some jazz influence, was brilliant. Nirvana, a soundtrack, is his latest.
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