Celtic Dreams - Carisma, Listener Album Review

[DiMaSt]

I just won the cd, YAY!! So after it arrives and I've had a chance to listen a few times, I'll be back with comments. I love Sua Gan and the others I've already heard here.

[CelticRadio]

carisma (and yes, they use the lower case for their name) is a trio of women from Australia who play glorious music. I have their 2009 release titled “Celtic Dreams”, and I want to introduce you to these beautiful women, and the music they play. I will use freely some of the comments and annotations on the CD as I describe their trio, and their music. The annotations on the songs were written by carisma...

Read the full review here:

http://www.celticradio.net/php/news.php?item=992

[DiMaSt]

I received carisma’s Celtic Dreams cd that I won in June’s contest, and I love it. I was pleased to find out that I recognize many tunes, even if I don’t know the words. Such is the nature of Celtic music, yes?

Suo Gan played on Highlander a few days before the contest, and when I figured out that I would be home to “compete” I decided to choose the cd by carisma. So it’s here, and I’ve listened through a few times. I love Suo Gan, like many people the first time I heard it was in the movie “Empire of the Sun.” carisma’s version uses the voices of the harp, then the cello, and finally the flute to calm and soothe – it’s beautiful.

I was surprised to read in the album notes that Morning Has Broken is a traditional Scottish tune! Cat Stevens is one of my all time favorite musicians, and I always thought he had written the tune and the lyrics. Bless those liner notes, that’s why I still like to get the hard copy of the cd.

I also really like the first track, Brian Boru’s March. I enjoy the “march” rhythm of the percussion on this song – O’Carolan’s Concerto is another upbeat piece. One of the tunes that was not familiar to me, it’s from a more contemporary Scottish composer, is Water Shore Sound. It is also a beautiful song, and the guitar that is featured is excellent.

Thank you to carisma, and to Celtic Radio for this wonderful cd! Listeners, watch for these cd contests every month - there is some great music available. Request some of the songs ahead of time so you know which albums to grab