A sleeve note helpfully divides the seven female Celtic performers on this disc into "singer-songwriter (Marian Bradfield, Fiona Joyce), Roots (Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill & Aine Furey) and experimental Celtic (Loreena McKennitt, Melanie O'Reilly & Rita Connolly)." In practice, you would say that they actually have much in common, in that they are all backed by acoustic instruments on tunes mostly played at slow tempos with lyrics that concern female issues of romance, reflection, and empowerment. But you would also point out ...
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A sleeve note helpfully divides the seven female Celtic performers on this disc into "singer-songwriter (Marian Bradfield, Fiona Joyce), Roots (Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill & Aine Furey) and experimental Celtic (Loreena McKennitt, Melanie O'Reilly & Rita Connolly)." In practice, you would say that they actually have much in common, in that they are all backed by acoustic instruments on tunes mostly played at slow tempos with lyrics that concern female issues of romance, reflection, and empowerment. But you would also point out further divisions: Melanie O'Reilly's music leans toward jazz, while Loreena McKennitt (something of a ringer here, since she is much better known than the others and gets only one track, the lead-off one) is often classified as new age. On the whole, the sampler suggests that Celtic music has many different areas for development, both by men (who turn up as instrumentalists, harmony vocalists, and songwriters) and women, and that some of those heard here are ready to pursue those areas. ~ William Ruhlmann, Rovi
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