Wooden Flute Obsession
International Traditional
Music Society ITMS 0201; 2CDs; 142 minutes; 2002
‘40
artists, 85 tunes, 1 passion’ proclaims this enthralling compilation of
traditional and modern Irish flute music and its impossible to refute the
statistics related to this very welcome collection, the first of its kind.
The
title’s obsessive is the album’s compiler, Kevin Krell, who tracked down
recordings and chivvied this plethora of musicians and labels into
contributing. His aim was to encompass a ‘variety of repertoire, regional
styles, and individual expressive techniques of tempo, tune, articulation, and
phrasing’ and, to a very large extent, was successful in so doing. 
As
ambitious a project as this naturally has its pitfalls. Compilations always
evoke complaints about omissions and there are notable absentees (including
Desi Wilkinson, Kevin Crawford, Emer Mayock, Peter Horan and Conal Ó Grada).
The reasons vary – some musicians or labels did not respond, others refused to
participate or there were legal restrictions on use. The absence of older
players is explained either by the poor sound quality of their recordings or
the lack of a release currently available in CD format. One major musical
downside was that Kevin allowed the musicians to select their own tracks which
resulted in a preponderance of reels and far too few other tune types.
Whatever
the case, it’s impossible to quibble with a selection which juxtaposes the great
Séamus Tansey with his pupil Barry Kerr or the late Frankie Kennedy of Altan
next to the Breton Jean-Michel Veillon (appropriately recorded live in
Kennedy’s birthplace of Belfast). Intoxication, exhilaration and exploration
characterise this absolute box of delights – buy now while stocks last!
This review by Geoff
Wallis was originally written for Songlines – www.songlines.co.uk.
For more information about the CD visit www.worldtrad.org.