Tradition was the word at the Augusta Raurica as the Celtic Road - an afternoon and an evening of great traditional music directed by Kathleen Dineen and Marion Schmidt-Kumke- was presented at the refurbished amphitheater of the Augusta Raurica.  Kathleen Dineen, artistic director, assembled a dream team to present the breadth of Irish, Scottish, and Breton vocal music and the American roots music based upon it.  

Julie Fowlis with Scottish small-pipes, Muireann Nic AmhlaoibhIt was clear from the get go that we were in for a special evening: the first voice heard was that of Cork sean nós singer Nell Ní Chróinín, singing a capella from the side of the stage, soon joined by Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh,  Kathleen Dineen,  Robert Getchell, Raitis Grigalis, Julie Fowlis and the rest of the cadre.   White Raven led the first set of the concert proper, followed by the Irish/Scottish folk group   Dual featuring Éamon Doorley, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Julie Fowlis and Ross Martin.   Tim Eriksen, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist represented the American folk tradition at the festival.  Annie Ebrel, contrabass Riccardo Del Fra  and guitarist Jacques Pellen contributed old and new songs from Brittany.  Highlight of the show was the grand man of the uilleann pipes Tomás Ó Canainn . Paul Dooley rounded out the performance with his virtuoso playing of the Irish-harp. In short, the Celtic Road was the perfect closing to the month-long Stimmen Festival - the festival of voices.

Ciarán, Roy and Maria were on hand to enjoy the fabulous show. We spoke with some performers between rehearsals. Kathleen Dineen gives the background of the event: download interview here. Nell Ní Chróinín tells us a bit about sean nós and her first trip outside Ireland to sing: download interview here. Julie Fowlis talks about the role of music in preserving and promoting Scots Gaelic: download interview here. Tim Eriksen gives us some back ground on traditional choral singing in the United States: download interview here. Tomás Ó Canainn tells us a bit about the uilleann pipes, among a great many other things: download interview here. 

Imagine the most exquisite box of Xmas dark chocolates on a snowy winters day, you open the box but you find a surprise, perfection mixed with a few unwanted leftovers from the bottom of the Roses tin: this is Pink Martini. The pick and mix of 12+ musicians (or a bakers dozen at times) each squeeze themselves, into every crevice of the Kaufleuten centre stage. The piece de résistance is China (she does not need a surname), a magnificent creature.

She performs flawlessly in Arabic, Italian, Turkish and of course the most famous Je ne veux pas travailler. But my is she lucky as the band love their job and it shows, they lift her chords even if they cannot quite move. One wonders if they have ‘regular’ day jobs, and speculates what those might be: businessman on a train, Walt Disney character or underpaid DVD salesman. But the band have common ground,  and are all damn fine musicians. Forget the day jobs,  this is serious stuff!

Too many cooks did not spoil the broth in this delightful kitchen in Zürich… and the menu was definitely not set.

If you missed the concert, you can still catch their contageous sound on  their new album Splendor in the Grass  

-  Guest Reviewer Gaynor Dunraven and Roy Zuckerman.