An Irish Lament

"Lament" is the title of this 90's Real World concept album, and it consists of mournful contributions from the cream of Irish traditional musicians. The intention of the disc is to "commemorate in music the dead of the violence in Northern Ireland", and it is a worthy, beautiful effort.




There's a mix of vocal and instrumental music here. The singing is mostly in Gaelic, but any lack of verbal understanding is immaterial - there's a language here that transcends words. A wide range of instruments lends a very pleasant variety to the disc: accordion, fiddle, pipes, whistle, harp, etc., all superbly played. Contributing musicians include Davy Spillane, Christy Moore, Sean Potts (The Chieftains), Paddy Glackin (Bothy Band), and Tony McMahon.

I've been listening to this disc a lot recently - it's really quite special.