Review & CD Giveaway: Altan ’25th Anniversary Celebration’
Before I get to today’s review and giveaway, I’d like to announce the winners of our Julie Fowlis contest. I had a good many people enter and I so wish I had enough CDs to give you all, but the winners are Duncan and Laura! And since we had such a great turnout, and it is St. Patrick’s Day after all, I decided to draw a name from the ones left to win a copy of Murphy’s Irish Pub, a lively instrumental album. Our runner up and winner of Murphy’s Irish Pub is Tony! Congrats to everyone! Emails will be sent to you shortly. To those who didn’t win, don’t worry, you can try again with today’s giveaway. Now, on to Altan …
No traditional Irish band in the last twenty years has had a wider impact on audiences and music lovers throughout the world than Altan. In fact, they were the first group (along with Clannad) that I came in contact with when I began to explore the music of my heritage. Since then, they have delighted me immensely.
What’s so special about this album commemorating their twenty-five years together is the mixture of their timeless folk sound with that of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra of Dublin. This is a pairing made in heaven. Most often when folk groups collaborate with classical it’s not at all pretty, but something magical has happened here and I’m left in awe. The orchestra has taken Altan’s classic precision harmonies up a notch and what we get is nothing less than enchanting. Read more
Hailing from Inis Mór, the largest of the Árran Islands, 
From Back Cover: “The Irish peasants, left to fend for themselves in a world dominated by a corrupted church, oppressive landlords and an absence of local government and medicine, turned to their own imagination to understand the world around them. From haunting ballads to spry dances, this music was inspired by their legends, their lore, and their fantasies.” 
