Style: Celtic folk; compare to The Chieftains, Ceili Rain, The Clumsy Lovers
Baile (Home)
October 28, 2011
Top tracks: “The Stirrup Cup/March to the Wars,” “Tribal Pipes,” “Kusi Wawa”
It’s hard not to like a band whose sound comes mainly from bagpipes, fiddle, whistle, flute, harp, guitars, djembe, bouzouki, cello, and bodhran—”just to name a few,” as their website says. These veterans of Celtic folk, on the Grrr label and all members of Chicago’s Jesus People USA, have produced yet another winner, with tracks ranging from rousing Irish jigs to lovely lilting ballads, thematically covering everything from Christ as warrior, as protector, as redeemer, as friend, and as savior. The instrumental “Anam Cara” drags on a bit, but segues into the compelling “Columbanus,” using words from the sixth-century monk as he and his colleagues traveled up the Rhine.
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