Na Fir Bolg Raelach Records***

For too long concertinas were the poor relation of traditional music, their modesty consigning them to the back row while the infinitely more robust accordion hogged the limelight. Players of the calibre of Mrs Crotty, Noel Hill, Niall Vallely and Pádraig Rynne have delved deep between the pleats of this deceptively complex instrument, and now two debutants further mine its depths with Na Fir Bolg(the mythological Men With Bellows, ousted by Na Tuatha De Danann). Jack Talty and Cormac Begley bring a wealth of inheritance from west Clare and west Kerry, and their instincts for the delicacy of a tune is writ large, particularly on Cronin's/ I Do Not Incline.The space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves, and the duo instinctively marries both with a delicate touch. With idiosyncratic tune choices, and traversing five octaves, Talty and Begley add an intriguing dimension to an instrument that revels in its top billing. See raelachrecords.com