ALTAN
Local Ground

VERTCD 069


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Irlanda

 

Local Ground” is Altan’s 10th studio album in the 20 years since they first came together as a band and is an album of beauty, energy, grace and finesse and retains the enthusiasm that originally shaped their music.

For the recording of “Local Ground” Altan invited a few of their friends in music to play on the album. Former Bothy Band founder, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, plays piano on guitarist Daithi Sproule's composition The Roseville, a kind of a "Slip-Reel". Steve Cooney guests on bass and Donal Lunny adds guitar. They were delighted to be able to ask the great Galician piper, Carlos Nunez, who they have shared stages with on many occasions in the past, to contribute some Gaita (Galician bagpipes) to two tracks (Is The Big Man Within and The Silver Slipper). Bodhrán maestro, Jim Higgins, provides the rhythmic pulse on many of the tracks while Graham Henderson adds some touches of keyboard colour to a set of reels. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh says of the recording process ;

"Our approach was a relaxed one and we worked in Westland Recording Studios in Dublin." Alvin Sweeney engineered the recording sessions. Brian Masterson, who previously worked with Altan on Island Angel, Blackwater and Runaway Sunday, mixed the album. The band members themselves produced".

Since Altan were last in the studio they have been honoured to win the "BBC Radio Two Folk Awards, Traditional Band of the Year", the TG4 (Irish National Television) inaugural presentation of "The Traditional Band of the Year" award at the Irish Traditional Music Awards. Irish Music Magazine readers voted them "Best Live Band". Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh was named "Donegal Person of the Year" in 2003. Spring 2005 will see the band work in Japan and Korea before returning to play concerts in the USA and UK throughout the year.

No Irish traditional band in the last dozen years has had a wider impact on audiences and music lovers throughout the world than Altan. With their exquisitely produced award-winning recordings, ranging dynamically from the most sensitive and touching old Irish songs all the way to hard hitting reels and jigs, and with their heartwarming, dynamic live performances, Altan have moved audiences from Donegal to Tokyo to Seattle. Throughout, there has been the unwavering commitment of the band to bringing the beauty of traditional music, particularly that of the Donegal fiddlers and singers, to contemporary audiences in a way that brings out all its qualities and destroys none. In fact, Altan have always believed that Irish traditional music is a modern music in every sense and its growing influence and popularity have proved them right.

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