Altan

It is a long long time that the fans of the Irish Folk Festival have had to wait to hear Altan once more. To be precise more than 20 years. But it was worth while to experience magic moments with this legendary band for one entire month from the Alps to the North Sea. It is not an exaggeration to say that Altan are serious ambassadors of Irish music. The Irish presidents took them many times on state visits. For instance Altan performed twice at the White House and all major concert halls through the World. There is hardly a World music magazine which didn’t feature Altan as a cover story. There are only five bands so far who were awarded by the Irish post with their own stamp. Altan is one of them. Their CDs reached gold and platinum status and were honoured with countless awards. In 2010 the band celebrated its 25th anniversary by recording an album with the RTE concert orchestra. Altan are not only one of the great Irish World music bands but World wide.  What is so special about them? It is the spine tingling voice of Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh which is taking us back into long forgotten times and surroundings.She is like a butterfly which is honing its beauty in a cocoon and then soars away in a perfect flight. The Altan musicians are weaving with their instruments silky melody lines around this wonderful voice. In particular the elegant picking of bouzouki and guitar create a great tapestry for the lead instruments and vocals. The recordings here feature founder member, late Frankie Kennedy on flute sharing great duets with Ciaran Tourish on fiddle.
An inspiration for Altans music is the rugged landscape of Donegal, Ireland’s most northern county. Altan hail from Donegal and in their lively instrumental music you can hear the energy of the high winds and waves bashing against the cliffs. Those musicians know exactly how to unleash those elements. This energy gets any audience going. Typical for Donegal are the twin fiddles of Mairéad and Ciaran with a swing you can’t match. Altan are one of the few bands which are seldom copied. It is just too hard to copy them. Therefore Altan are Altan and unrivalled.