COMPOSERS: Alan Stivell
LABELS: Dreyfus
WORKS: Douar
PERFORMER: Alan Stivell (harp), etc
CATALOGUE NO: FDM 36 209-2 (distr. New Note)
Sometimes listener-friendly compilations are bad news for artists, who find it ever harder to be signed up for albums of their own. Veterans with a loyal public, such as the Breton harpist ALAN STIVELL, fare better.
His latest release, translating as ‘One Earth’, is collaborative in a more thorough way than the English musicians. Here’s a Celtic-sounding harp and a flute, and suddenly here’s Youssou N’Dour singing over. Or Khaled, or Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains, or a little light drum and bass. Stivell creates a range of material they can variously respond to, and the production by several hands is sensitive.