Sean Nós

Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy (b. 1970), whom the New Yorker has called "a star of Dublin's active new music scene," makes his Nonesuch debut with Grá agus Bás. This ambitious set features a pair of dramatic pieces written for two very different but equally extraordinary voices - former Afro-Celt Sound System vocalist Iarla O’Lionáird and American soprano, and Nonesuch label-mate, Dawn Upshaw. Often described as a post-minimalist, Dennehy, says British music magazine The Wire, "has a sound world all his own." Here he uses elements of Irish traditional culture as a springboard to create work with no visible roots - a borderless music that is mysterious and elegiac, as deeply moving as it is utterly transfixing.

There's so much gray area in the music generally termed Celtic that it's hard to know what to make of it. While some dives straight into the new age bins, much is as authentic as a shot of Bushmill's. This release is closer to Irish breakfast tea. It's new agey in spots, but with enough of the real thing to offer satisfaction. There are no pretensions of being traditional, and there's a definite attempt to woo the rock market, as on the song that finds the masterful Christy Moore joined by Bono and the Edge from U2. Nor are the women ignored. Kate Bush contributes her first new offering in a long time, singing in quite passable Gaelic. The crowning glory, ironically, belongs to someone who at one time seemed determined to put her heritage behind her–Sinead O'Connor. Here she gives a glorious sean nos–old style–rendition of "He Moves Through the Fair," one of the great songs from the tradition, with beautiful ornamentation, more than enough to tip the scales heavily in this collection's favor.

Dans notre monde occidental, où il est de plus en plus difficile de trouver des réponses à nos questions existentielles, le tao a le mérite d'offrir une manière de réfléchir et des solutions qui ont fait leurs preuves. …