Susan McKeown’s World Celtic Sounds

Burbank, California, USA – World Village has released Sweet Liberty, the latest album by Irish vocalist
Susan McKeown. She
assembled a small group of extraordinary musicians. One of McKeown’s
specialties is reviving rare songs that have yet to be explored
in the current Celtic revival. Her arrangements of these songs
sometimes employ traditional instrumentation but are as likely
to surprise the listener with instrumentation not expected on an
album of Celtic songs. “Oró Mhíle Grá” (A Thousand Times, My
Love) is a fascinating collaboration between McKeown and
Ensemble Tartit, a group of Tuareg musicians from Northern Mali.
“There was very little arrangement beforehand: we met in
the studio in Manhattan, sat down in a circle and began to sing,
and it was as if we were singing the same song“, says
McKeown.Mariachi Real de México provides a rich, nostalgic accompaniment
to the English folk song “Eggs in her Basket.” Traditional Irish
colors are also very much in evidence. The album opens with McKeown leading the instrumental quartet Flook in “The Wee Birds All Have
Come and Gone.”

“Listening to Irish traditional music and song for
me is like listening to stories coming down from the past which
have relevance in the present“, explains McKeown. “Perhaps
people feel a deep connection to Irish music because it
expresses deeply felt emotions to which we can all relate.”