Search - Mark Nelson :: The Water is Wide

"The Water is Wide" transports you to a tranquil world where tropical winds carry the echoes of soft music and far-off lands. For his eighth solo album, Mark Nelson explores music from islands real and imaginary, lovingly played on instruments from widely different parts of the world. The nahenahe strains of ki ho`alu meets the sweet sound of the dulcimer. The twelve instrumentals explore music from places as far afield as the South Pacific, the Irish Sea and Alta California. Classic slack key standards such as "Pua Sadinia" and "Sanoe" are given new life through lush interplay of slack key guitar, Swedish hummel and Appalachian dulcimer. Timeless Celtic melodies shine in the reflected glow of warm tropical waters. Four stirring originals, including the classic "Drizzle," first recorded with steel-pan virtuoso Andy Narel and now given a decidedly Pacific twist, and a not-to-be-missed slack key setting of Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" add to the fun ? and wait until you hear Mark's bottle-neck interpretation of "`Opihi Blues!" Recorded in the spring of 2003, The "Water is Wide" brings together two of the world's most beautiful instrumental styles ? the Hawaiian slack key guitar and Mark's ground-breaking Celtic dulcimer ? to create an enchanting new sound as soothing as an island breeze.