The Independence Suite: Traditional Music From Ireland, Scotland & Cape Breton

This eclectic compilation brings together 15 tracks by artists based in the U.S. and Canada as well as Ireland and Scotland; what they have in common is that they’re all drawn from independently-released albums. As you might expect, the sound and mixing quality falls down on a track or two, but for the most part it’s of an extremely high standard, and there are some real gems here. Geraldine Cotter contributes an elegant arrangement of hornpipes on piano with cello accompaniment, and an a cappella quartet from Wisconsin do an impressively authentic-sounding job on a waulking (cloth-beating) song in Scots Gaelic; other highlights include Robbie O’Connell’s poignant original emigration ballad ‘The Road To Dunmore’. The extensive liner notes by Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin and producer Cecilia McDonnell are highly informative and make for interesting reading in themselves.