Search - The Chieftains, Los Lobos, Linda Ronstadt :: Santiago

Excellent!

mimds | Turkey | 03/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I consider myself as a world citizen from Turkey, also a music fan and this album is one of my favorite since I got it in 1996...The music have a great soul, enthusiasm and passion that you can feel the thrilling excitement of the musicians...For only this reason, I still listen this cd whenever I feel down..It makes me smile and feel good all the time...Be sure you will never get disappointed:-)Some of the friends that wrote here said that it is not an original Celtic or a Galician music...I recommend them to read what the booklet say...You can find the taste of Celtic/Galician culture in each song, sure not the originals, but all of them contains the expression of a magical synthesis of different cultures-the way of old time migrations...That's why it is better to say this is neither Celtic nor Galician music, but it is 'world music'...If you want to hear Galician music you can try really Milladorio or Luar Na Lubre...Also we can say, better to think that this is the point of view of those great musicians...For my idea it is one of the best 'world music' album since ever been done...Highly recommended for the 'world music fans' like me..."

The Chieftains do it again, breaking the Celtic mold. Buy It

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 08/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"`Santiago', an album of Celtic music by The Chieftans is another sample of how this quintessentially Irish group keeps itself fresh by finding new ways to look at their repertoire. Having done some spectacularly endowed albums such as `The Long Grey Veil' with guest appearances by everyone from the Rolling Stones to Tom Jones and a finely done album with Van Morrison as a guest on every track, our Irish lads go visiting their Celtic colleagues on the north coast of Spain.



I some dim attic of my mind I have some memory that the Spanish basques are an offshoot of the great Celtic culture of northwest Europe, of which the last few reminants are the residents of Ireland, Scotland, far western France, and northern Spain. But, it never occurred to me that some of this common culture can be seen today.



The album is named after a northwestern Spanish city, Santiago, in the province of Galicia, a name given to the region by the Romans of 2000 years ago.



My expectation on listening to the album for the first time was to hear one or more tunes which combine Irish and Spanish influences and I am just a little disappointed that there are none of these. The fifteen (15) tracks seem to be divided between songs which sound like they are straight from the Emerald Isle, Songs which are as Spanish as the Flamenco, and songs which arise from the common Catholic liturgical music. A fourth category is songs borrowed from the Spanish new world such as `Santiago de Cuba'.



All this aside, this is a really great album. In my search of Chieftain albums currently available on Amazon, I get the sense that the Chieftains are not doing much new over the last 10 years, so if I were you, I would scoop this up before they fade from commercial memory and availability.

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A marvellous CD

Teemacs | Switzerland | 04/06/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love the music of my native sod, of which the Chieftains are among the greatest ambassadors. In addition to traditional Irish, they have never been afraid to experiment, and this is one such experiment, inspired by Galicia in Spain, which, like Brittany in France, has a strong Celtic heritage. This is a CD filled with marvellous sounds vividly recorded, dazzling virtuosity and above all the sheer joy of music making, ending with a live set in an Irish pub in Spain. Others have commented on its lack of authenticity with respect to Galician music. I am no judge of that, I can only judge on how much I enjoyed it - which was a lot. Highly recommended."