CD CHOICE: MÍCHEÁL Ó DOMHNAILL Keep 'er Lit Gael Linn*****
The breadth and scope of Mícheál Ó Domhnaill's musical output is still breathtaking. Following his premature death in 2006, his sisters, Tríona and Maighread, have created a great omós - tribute - with this mighty collection.
Still, it's but a tiny snapshot of Ó Domhnaill's musical escapades, skipping lightly through his various incarnations with Skara Brae, The Bothy Band, Kevin Burke, Paddy Glackin, Relativity and Nightnoise. Then there were his sublime collaborations with Tríona and Maighread, a trio of exceptional harmony singers, epitomised here by the ineffably delicate An Cailín Gaelach, their sibling voices interlacing with the discipline and intimacy of highly crafted latticework.
Mícheál's attention to the finest detail of a song and a tune is everywhere: rendering Fionnghuala, with all its syllabic playfulness and smooth harmonics timeless. His handling of Casadh An tSúgáin, with The Bothy Band, is a standout as well: unpicking the essence of the song amid the most careful arrangements imaginable. Lord Franklin, a song that will forever be indelibly associated with Ó Domhnaill's singing, is here in all its grief-stricken glory: rescued from old recordings of The Bothy Band, having languished in a drawer somewhere for decades.
And if Ó Domhnaill's guitar and voice weren't enough, there are tasters of his genius as an arranger, particularly with Nightnoise on Something of Time and the spare Bríd Bán with Paddy Glackin.
A renaissance musician with a musical appetite that stretched from traditional to jazz, blues and folk music, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill left a gargantuan legacy; this limited edition Keep 'er Lit is but
a minuscule taster of the man's wider and intensely eclectic output, but an unmissable collection all the same. And a fundraiser for the Irish Traditional Music Archive to boot.
www.gael-linn.ie
