This week's tradtional CD reviewed

ORLA HARRINGTON

Melting Snow /No label****

How refreshing it is to hear a debutante who's resisted tossing the kitchen sink into the mix. Clare fiddler (and Lord of the Dance veteran) Orla Harrington might have been listening closely to Martin Hayes during her formative years, so clear-headed is her approach to her own debut. With bouzouki, mandolin, guitar and concertina for accompaniment (but never for casual jousting), Harrington plays like a musician with nothing to prove. The loping gait of the jig set, Queen of the Rushes,reeks of the magic of a session, with its emphasis on the weave and weft of Harrington's bow hand, rather than on the pursuit of any surgical precision in the tune. With her brother Colm she relaxes into a gorgeous fiddle duet on Gráinne's/John Gorman's. A surefooted debut. www.myspace. com/orlaharrington

SIOBHAN LONG

Download tracks: Paddy Canny's Toast, An Súisín Bán