February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
FIELD GUIDE TO THE
IRISH MUSIC SESSION
Barry Foy, drawings by Rob Adams
Like many things in Ireland, the Irish music session, or seisiún, in the native tongue, has an array of unwritten rules. Now, with "Field Guide to the Irish Music Session," the rules, many of them whimsical, even hilarious, are finally down on paper. Do you know, for example, if a seisiún is the same as a jam? What is the proper session etiquette? And why are recordings of Irish music often just no substitute for the real thing? Roberts Rinehart Publishers, Boulder, Colo. 96 pp. $12.95.
THE SANDS OF SAKKARA
Glenn Meade
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When Glenn Meade, a former journalist now living in Dublin, was researching his bestselling debut novel, "Snow Wolf," he came upon the startling information that in late 1943 the Nazis tried to assassinate President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill during a series of Allied conferences that took place in the Middle East. In this new thriller, Meade explores this event in a mixture of fact and fiction. St. Martin’s Press. 646 pp. $25.95.
ALL THE RIVERS GOLD
Terry Oldfield
Terry Oldfield is well known for his soundtracks for Wildlife Films. He has been nominated for a BAFTA Award for "Kingdom of the Ice Bear," and two Emmy Awards for "Land of the Tiger" and Twilight of the Dream Time." He is also known as the co-creator of "Tubular Bells" with his brother Mike. On this CD, which was two years in the making, Oldfield returns to his Celtic roots, the Emerald Isle from where his mother came. Most of the sounds on this CD were produced acoustically. New World Records.
YANKEE CELTIC CONSORT,
WANDER THE WOOD
Doug Rudy and Phil Franck
This is a collection of instrumental folk music from Ireland and North America performed on fiddles, tin whistle, mandolin, bodhrán, banjo, bazouki, guitar, bass and even oboe. Rudy and Franck grew up together playing in everything from orchestra’s to jug bands and their music has become a full-bodied brew of Celtic jigs and reels, waltzes and ballads, barndance music, American Civil War tunes and also original compositions. This CD is from Grandma Katherine’s Music. Details, www.grannyk.com.