Regular Columnists

Artist: Dan Ar Braz
Album: Made in Breizh
CD Review: Dan Ar Braz’s new Celtic pop album is a prime example to all those World flavors everywhere of how music of varying styles must acclimatize themselves in order to progress into a competitive market. You’ve got to blend the best of what You can do with the best of what’s Out there. I’ve heard no one do it better in recent times than Dan.

If ‘Spike Island Lasses’ is traditional Celtic fare, then why haven’t we heard this stuff on mainstream and college radio? Yes, by all means let’s keep the fiddles and the bagpipes, as on ‘Green Lands,’ but Dan has added much, much more to it. Guitars, synth – a towering stream full of rich green music that utterly doesn’t mind blending in with an electric guitar solo or a hip rhythm keyboard, as long as nothing comes out extra cheesy. Not a bit of cheese in these 12 tracks.

More, please, more. Dan has been at this a long time, with live albums recorded around the globe, and instrumental albums (this one has a few vocal tracks) stretching back to 1979. I hope he’s got another 50 years left in him.

www.tinderrecords.com