FireWire CD reviews

The Ticket - The Irish Times Weekly Guide to Entertainment
Friday April 13 2007

MÁIRE NÍ CHATHASAIGH & CHRIS NEWMAN Firewire Old Bridge Music

Máire Ní Chathasaigh and Chris Newman's Firewire takes one of the most effete instruments in traditional music by the scruff of the neck, bends it, stretches it and breathes a fire into its belly. Newman colours and shades where Ní Chathasaigh forges pathways less travelled. The opening trio of tunes is headlined by Pheasant Feathers and bookended by Bright Falls the Air, one of Chris's originals, that doesn't so much marry as indelibly meld harp and guitar. The pair's hospitality roams free on Big Sciota, with Cathy Fink's banjo making a surprisingly subtle compadre to Ní Chathasaigh's harp. Ní Chathasaigh's sister Nollaig Casey guests with her trademark finesse on a Cuban-heeled The Lost Summer, and while Máire's spare vocals are less convincing, Firewire is a complex world that straddles traditions with grace and just a tincture of danger. www.oldbridgemusic.com Siobhan Long



The Ticket - The Irish Times Weekly Guide to Entertainment Friday April 13 2007 MÁIRE NÍ CHATHASAIGH & CHRIS NEWMAN Firewire Old Bridge Music Máire Ní Chathasaigh and Chris Newman's Firewire takes one of the most effete instruments in traditional music by the scruff of the neck, bends it, stretches it and breathes a fire into its belly. Newman colours and shades where Ní Chathasaigh forges pathways less travelled. The opening trio of tunes is headlined by Pheasant Feathers and bookended by Bright Falls the Air, one of Chris's originals, that doesn't so much marry as indelibly meld harp and guitar. The pair's hospitality roams free on Big Sciota, with Cathy Fink's banjo making a surprisingly subtle compadre to Ní Chathasaigh's harp. Ní Chathasaigh's sister Nollaig Casey guests with her trademark finesse on a Cuban-heeled The Lost Summer, and while Máire's spare vocals are less convincing, Firewire is a complex world that straddles traditions with grace and just a tincture of danger. www.oldbridgemusic.com Siobhan Long

Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman FireWire (Old Bridge Music/Proper) Robin Denselow Friday January 26, 2007 Joanna Newsom may be the highest-profile harp player in the world right now, but when it comes to virtuoso work on this ancient and delicate instrument, the Irish player Maire Ni Chathasaigh is in a class of her own. Many of the best tracks here are jigs or airs that date back to the 17th century, played with delicacy, verve and a lightness of touch that should strengthen her reputation among a mainstream audience, not just folk purists, for she is certainly not just a traditionalist. There are echoes of anything from jazz to bluegrass, with the harp matched against Chris Newman 's guitar, mandolin and bass, fiddle work from her sister Nollaig and virtuoso banjo from American star Cathy Fink.

Saturday 27 January 2007 Fire Wire (Old Bridge Music/Proper) If you think that an album of Celtic harp playing sounds worthily dull, you have clearly never heard the music of Chathasaigh. Although her playing remains rooted in Irish traditional music, there is an eclecticism and spirit of adventure here that is quite thrilling. One minute she is skipping with carefree abandon through a spritely dance tune, the next she is sailing serenely through ethereal Celtic mists. Augmented throughout by the virtuoso acoustic guitar, mandolin and bazouki of Chris Newman , their bewitching string fantasies are lent rhythmic backbone by unobtrusive but sturdy bass lines and understated percussion. The two songs that she sings in Gaelic reveal that she also possesses a wonderfully clear and expressive voice, which she might have used more. NIGEL WILLIAMSON

Daily Telegraph Saturday 3 February 2007 MÁIRE NÍ CHATHASAIGH AND CHRIS NEWMAN FireWire Old Bridge Music Chris Newman is probably used to suggestions that his best works have been accomplished since he collected a silver disc, but precious little else, for producing and co-writing Fred Wedlock's 1979 novelty hit, The Oldest Swinger in Town. With Máire Ní Chathasaigh, a scholarly Irish musician, he has applied his dazzling virtuosity and wizard-like studio skills to a procession of exceptional albums based principally on their harp-guitar pairing. Ní Chathasaigh naturally seizes centre-stage, weaving busy patterns on harp strings to such delightful effect that the occasional song, however exquisitely delivered, seems to intrude. But Newman's contributions must not be underestimated. The speed and complexity of his guitar-playing is to be marvelled at, and an original composition, The Lost Summer, ruing long hours spent locked in recording studios when glorious sunshine beckoned the musicians outside, introduces welcome levity into worthy surroundings. Colin Randall

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