Search - Alan Stivell :: Brian Boru

Strange? Brilliant? Uneven? All of the Above!

Andrew Carey | Newtown, CT, USA | 08/23/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As with much of Alan Stivell's work, this is a decidedly odd album. In some tracks, this makes for brilliant listening. In others, unfortunately, it crashes and burns. The most notable example is the version of "Mna/ na hE/ireann," which is not bad instrumentally but is utterly destroyed by Stivell's act of butchery against the Irish language. In ainm Croim! The man's a Breton-speaker, is he not? One would think his sense of pan-Celtic brotherhood would lead him to at least try to not abuse and distort another member of the family. The same problem devastates the track "Cease Fire" as well. That said, much of the instrumental work is brilliant. And in "Brian Boru," the one verse of Stivell's mutilated Irish is made tolerable by Ma/ire Breatnach (IIRC) singing a lovely setting of two verses from Caitli/n Maude's "Amhra/n Gra/ Vi/tnam," ("Vietnam Lovesong") a gorgeous testament to love in wartime. Of course, this has almost nothing to do with the tenth century High King of Ireland and ancestor of the Clann Ui/ Bhri/ain, but it _is_ beautiful. In many ways that odd juxtaposition sums up this album: quite lovely, but it makes little sense."