Altan - Harvest Storm

(1992) 13 tracks: Pretty Peg / New Ships A Sailing / The Birds Nest / The Man From Bundoran * Donal Agus Morag * King Of The Pipers * Seamus O' Shanahan's / Walking In Liffey Street * Mo Choill * The Snowy Path * Drowsy Maggie / Rakish Paddy / Harvest Storm * 'Si Do Mhaimeo I * McFarley's / Mill na Maidi * The Rosses Highlands * A Nobleman's Wedding * Bog An Lochain / Margaree Reel / The Humours of Westport * Dobbin's Flowery Vale.

Riveting music that reaffirms and enlarges the international stature of the traditional band recognized as Ireland's best. Never complacent, Altan experiments with harmony and choral singing on such stirring songs in Irish as Donal Agus Morag, led by Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh's extraordinarily expressive voice.

This album stamps Altan as a band whose vocal blend can fully match the mastery of their fiery instrumental playing. Ciaran Tourish joins, and the three fiddlers have never sounded tighter or more tenacious, while Frankie Kennedy again shows why he's among Ireland's most accomplished flutists.

The rhythm section of Mark Kelly on guitar and Ciaran Curran on bouzouki and bouzouki-guitar is second to none, weaving through the more delicate tunes and helping to propel the uptempo ones. Hothouse Flowers' Liam O Maonlai sits in on one song * joining in elsewhere are such stellar talents as Tommy Hayes, Donal Lunny, world champion Irish stepdancer Frieda Gray, and Altan's frequent tour partner Daithi Sproule.