Track Listing

1. Annachie Gordon - Loreena McKennitt
2. Venezuela - Rita Connolly
3. 13 Wishes - Aine Furey
4. Tonight Is Just For Us - Marian Bradfield
5. Is Fada Lion Uaim I - Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill
6. This Place - Melanie O'Reilly
7. Trees - Fiona Joyce
8. Ripples In The Rockpools - Rita Connolly
9. Hand In Hand - Aine Furey
10. You're A Heathen Of Love - Marian Bradfield
11. An Cailin Gaelach - Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill
12. Annie Moore - Melanie O'Reilly
13. This Moment - Fiona Joyce
14. This Moment - Fiona Joyce

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21603 in Music
• Brand: Valley
• Released on: 1999-01-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
Like the material heard on the A Woman's Heart series, the selections included on Celtic Woman represent the contemporary yet introspective side of Irish music. It includes a fair sprinkling the high, creamy, ethereal sopranos typical of the Celtic Twilight esthetic made famous by Anuna, Enya, and Clannad. But there are also a good many chesty altos and big-voiced pop belters. Rita Connolly packs a clarion-like mezzo of the stripe that has made Mary Black a household name, Áine Furey¹s loosely-raveled pipes sometimes channel Stevie Nicks¹ yeasty growl, while Marian Bradfield could easily become the Irish Patsy Cline. In fact, the tunes themselves often harbor haunting parallels with American old-timey music, which was after all descended from imported Scots-Irish traditions that got land-locked in the Appalachians. With so much high-end diversity on tap, the album has a remarkably broad appeal and should delight fans of modern Celtic styles, country pop balladeers, singer-songwriters or any combination thereof. --Christina Roden

Customer Reviews

new celtic woman cd
I was disappointed with this cd only because I had thought the music would be in a more traditional celtic style. Although the musical and recording quality is quite fine, most of these sections are in a pop/rock or folk sound. The selections that are more traditional celtic sound include only those by McKennitt and Ni Dhomhnaill. If you're looking for a contemporary vocal female sound in general, you will probably like this recording but the composers could be from a number of Western countries besides those of Celtic origin.

An Awesome Combination of Celtic & Folk Music
I received this CD for Christmas this year, and I love it!

At first I had expected it to be much like my other "Celtic Woman" CD (the one with the blue cover and the picture of the red-haired woman) - which I also love. However, this one is different... While listening I was trying to figure out what was so different between the two, as the songs on both tell a story, and you can definitely hear the celtic-type voices - what I realized was that many of the songs on this CD could be categorized as "folk" music, whereas on the other CD, it was clearly celtic... I hope that makes sense (smile)...

So, if you love "folk" & "celtic" type music, you can't go wrong with this CD. I know I'll be listening to it for many years to come!

Contemporary Celtic folk jewels
I agree with the other reviewer who said this isn't so much traditional Celtic music as contemporary Celtic folk. I like this kind of music and to me this CD is studded with jewels. I have listened to it many times over many months, and "haunting beauty" is the term I would apply to many of the songs. The selections are varied, and display the wealth of styles available outside of strictly traditional Celtic music today. Rather than go into many of the songs, I'll cite "Annie Moore" as a lavishly beautiful and inspiring song, and restrain myself from praising others. I am totally delighted to have bought this album, and would not want my music collection to be without it.