Dublin to Dakar: A Celtic Odyssey

1. United Earth I - Youssou N'Dour, Alan Stivell

2. One Glimpse of You - Brigid Boden

3. Canzone Dalla Fine del Mondo

4. Soiridh Leis - Baka Beyond

5. Azwaw 2

6. O Boro Braindi Braindi

7. Co Ni Mire Rium - Capercaillie, Sibeba

8. Os Tempos Son Chegados

9. Rusty Nails

10. Villemann Og Magnhild

11. Street of Dreams - Oysterband

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Celtic music and culture, often believed to be of Irish and Scottish descent only, has captured America's fancy. Lord of the Dance and its ilk feed into the phenomenon of a recently enamored public. Names like Caitlin, Breana, and McKenna serve themselves up on the circuit's Most Popular Baby Name lists; Irish bar bands flourish; and listeners from both coasts continue to groove to the abrasive defiance of The Pogues' Shane McGowan as rubbed up against melodious Guinness-fueled reels. Now Putumayo offers the compelling collection Dublin to Dakar, a veritable feast of worldwide Celtic music, accompanied by excellent liner notes detailing the migration-derived legacy of the Celts. Featuring multilingual artists from Italy, France, Spain, and Guinea, among other countries, the compilation is an exciting blend of tradition and startling innovation, ranging from slightly precious elfin sounds to reggae-inflected dance music and emotive balladry to a gypsy-inspired reel. --Paige La Grone

Tracks:

A United Earth I - Alan Stivell & Youssou N'Dour
One Glimpse Of You - Brigid Boden
Canzone Dalla Fine Del Mondo - Modena City Ramblers
Soiridh Leis - Baka Beyond
Azwaw 2 - Cheb Mami
O Boro Braindi Braindi - Aine Minogue
Co Ni Mire Rium - Capercaillie & Sibeba
Os Tempos Son Chegados - Na Lua
Rusty Nails - Kila
Villemann Og Magnhild - Rita Erikson
Street Of Dreams - Oysterband

Amazon.com

Celtic music and culture, often believed to be of Irish and Scottish descent only, has captured America's fancy. Lord of the Dance and its ilk feed into the phenomenon of a recently enamored public. Names like Caitlin, Breana, and McKenna serve themselves up on the circuit's Most Popular Baby Name lists; Irish bar bands flourish; and listeners from both coasts continue to groove to the abrasive defiance of The Pogues' Shane McGowan as rubbed up against melodious Guinness-fueled reels. Now Putumayo offers the compelling collection Dublin to Dakar, a veritable feast of worldwide Celtic music, accompanied by excellent liner notes detailing the migration-derived legacy of the Celts. Featuring multilingual artists from Italy, France, Spain, and Guinea, among other countries, the compilation is an exciting blend of tradition and startling innovation, ranging from slightly precious elfin sounds to reggae-inflected dance music and emotive balladry to a gypsy-inspired reel. --Paige La Grone

Customer Reviews:

Good idea,but..........2006-06-23

When Putumayo made this compilation,"Lord of the Dance"&"Riverdance" were smash hits.ANYTHING Celtic was in.Strangely,Putumayo's Celtic collections aren't its best.

This album has a few highlights.
Youssou N'Dour&Alan Stivell have a powerful track about uniting the world.
The Modena City Ramblers have a melancholy song about the end of the world.(It goes well with REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it")
Baka Beyond provides a strong track combining Celtic&African music.
Na Lua has a good track.
Cheb Mami's "Azwaw 2" is the BEST.It's a rousing combination of bagpipes&Algerian rai.Very danceable.

The Afro-Celts are still going strong,however.

Putumayo's Odyssey albums,fortunately,have evolved.Their Greek,African&Jewish Odysseys are quite good.

Fantastic compilation.......2003-07-07

This has been long a favorite of my whole family, children and adults. Whenever we travel and have to limit the number of CDs we can carry this is the first chosen.

Eclectic, funky and really cool.......2003-05-25

Fanciful combinations of Celtic and other world music styles from African, Continental, Celtic and Scandinavian artists. The back cover of this album sums it up well: "African, Gypsy, Latin, Arabic, Indian, Scandinavian and Reggae elements are combined with Celtic music to create a unique, cross-cultural musical feast." Some of the more familiar musicians featured are Capercaillie, Kila, Aine Minogue, Alan Stivell, Baka Beyond and Cheb Mami. All of the selections are striking, but I particularly enjoy Monogue's slinky, spooky, tabla-punctuated "O Boro Braindi Braindi", and Mami's track "Azwaw2" which combines rai with the pipes, fiddles and flutes of the Breton group Bagad de Kemper. It is fascinating to listen to works like these and hear how seamlessly the music of different cultures, old and new, can flow together. "All are one", and yet individuality is not only maintained but celebrated. (May life do a better job of imitating art ... !)

Great music.......2001-06-20

This album is sure to open up people's minds about the Celtic culture...I know it did mine. I didn't, until hearing this cd realize that "Celtic" does not only mean Scotland and Ireland, but is far wider. The music on this album helps to show the spread of the Celtic people and culture, with music from Africa, Spain, Norway, England, Italy and others. The 23 page booklet contains a 2 page essay about the Celtic culture and influences worldwide, as well as a page on each artist and their song. This album showcases how music as diverse as reggae, Arabic and African can be blended with traditional celtic instuments and melodies. This album is truly an experience not to be missed.

Wonderful.......1999-12-25

Sometimes the Putumayo fusion albums can seem strained or bland. This album really works. I actually enjoyed the Italian Celtic mix. It was fabulous with real passion. I recommend this album for long journeys because you will never grew tired of it.

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