Volume 1: Sound Magic

1. Saor/Free/News From Nowhere

2. Whirl-y-reel 1 (Beard And Sandals Mix)

3. Inion/Daughter

4. Sure-As-Not/Sure-As-Knot (Jungle Segue)

5. Nil Cead Againn Dul Abhaile/We Cannot Go Home

6. Dark Moon, High Tide (Including Farewell To Eireann)

7. Whirl-y-reel 2 (Folk Police Mix)

8. House Of The Ancestors

9. Eistigh Liomsa Sealad/Listen To Me/Saor Reprise

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Bodhran and kora? Talking drums and Uilleann pipes? Echoing ancient trade roots from a thousand years ago, Sound Magic reunites two seemingly disparate music traditions in a contemporary setting, reaching for a dance-oriented but spiritual hybrid that takes on a life of its own. Producer Simon Emmerson assembles some noteworthy artists including Ayub Ogada, Davy Spillane, Manu Katche, Caroline Lavelle, James McNally (of the Pogues), Iarla O Lionaird, and Masamba Diop to create evocative, clubby grooves that also incorporate samples and flavors from Armenia and the East. With its multilayered rich textures, Sound Magic grafts cultural respect and urban hipness for the global village of the '90s. --Derek Rath

Tracks:

Saor/Free/News From Nowhere
Whirl-Y-Reel 1
Inion/Daughter
Sure-As-Not/Sure-As-Knot
Nu Cead Againn Dul Abhaile/We Cannot Go Home
Dark Moon, High Tide
Whirl-Y-Reel 2
House of the Ancestors
Eistigh Liomsa Sealad/Listen to Me/Saor Reprise

Amazon.com

Bodhran and kora? Talking drums and Uilleann pipes? Echoing ancient trade roots from a thousand years ago, Sound Magic reunites two seemingly disparate music traditions in a contemporary setting, reaching for a dance-oriented but spiritual hybrid that takes on a life of its own. Producer Simon Emmerson assembles some noteworthy artists including Ayub Ogada, Davy Spillane, Manu Katche, Caroline Lavelle, James McNally (of the Pogues), Iarla O Lionaird, and Masamba Diop to create evocative, clubby grooves that also incorporate samples and flavors from Armenia and the East. With its multilayered rich textures, Sound Magic grafts cultural respect and urban hipness for the global village of the '90s. --Derek Rath

Customer Reviews:

Musical Erotica............2005-09-28

I happened to have the good fortune one night, of catching a few moments of these fellows on a PBS special. It left me lusting for more. I cannot recall ever having been so enthralled after such a brief encounter with a group's music.

This album is the musical equivalent of a languorous, blissfully exhausting sexual encounter. From the undeniably seductive SAOR/FREE, to the tranquil lulling afterglow of SAOR REPRISE, The Afro Celt Sound System will having you rushing through that obligatory post-coital cigarette in order to do it all over again....

Where to from here?.......2005-07-16

Afro Celt Sound System's first album is, as their name says, a clever and in parts quite stunning mix of Celtic & world music that garnered huge praise and success on its release. But despite its ingenuity it's an odd record, veering often incongruously between "dance" music and much slower and occasionally quite turgid world/folk. Truth is that it's the more upbeat club/dance tracks, in particular the outstanding "Sure-As-Not/Sure-As-Knot", "Whirl-Y-Reel 1" & Whirl-Y-Reel 2", that make it come alive and which justify a great deal of the praise heaped on it.

So... if you want to discover similarly inspired, upbeat dance/world music where to? Well, Afro Celt's second album - "Release" - moves them much closer to the club area but, while good, loses a lot of the melodic intricacy & instrumental interplay that made "Sound Magic" such a success; better to go for their third outing - "Further in Time" - which more effectively combines the inspired enthusiasm of their early tracks with the driving club beats of "Release".

Better still, check-out their virtually unknown UK contemporaries, Elephant Talk, whose difficult to find albums follow a similarly infectious, more jazz tinged club/world "fusion" formula with more consistently upbeat and enjoyable results. Check out Amazon.co.uk for Elephant Talk's first two albums, "In a Big Sea" and the even better "Head", and the group's own web site at http://www.infrasound.co.uk/index2.htm for their quite brilliant last release "Leap". You won't be disappointed but you may be left wondering how such equally innovative and exciting music can remain so little known.

Ditto.......2004-05-20

Five stars to all four of the albums put out by these grand folks. I do not need to offer a description as other reviewers have done a perfect job; but if it's helpful to you to see an emphatic "ditto to that" as a review, then here it is.

This, along with Enya, is truly my above all, favorite music across the board. Beats all my other faves in every other music category.

A true merger of Celtic and African styles........2003-07-09

Imagine Irish jigs and reels powered by a heavy jungle beat, African jazz supported by Irish pipes, whistles and fiddles, songs of prayer combined with high-kicking dance tunes, delicate harp melodies with synthesized accents -- all linked together by driving African percussion and an electric rock sensibility. That's the Afro Celt Sound System, but it doesn't begin to cover their sound.

The Afro Celt Sound System isn't a band so much as a cooperative of musicians intrigued by an idea. United under the umbrella of Peter Gabriel's Real World label, nearly two dozen musicians added their personal touch to make the idea a reality.

The initial product of their joining is Volume 1: Sound Magic. It cannot be described as Celtic or African in nature; yet, both styles are evident in spades. Sound Magic is a true union of two completely dissimilar musical genres.

Excellent!.......2003-06-26

This is quite simply a highly essential album from an extremely unique group who fuse seamingly opposite cultures together: Celtic strings & African drums! This album started it all. The music is very traditional and has little of the electronic mayhem of their following albums. "Sure-As-Knot" is absolutely haunting and enchanting!

Although there isn't exactly any filler on here, I'm not so much into the final track but that's just because it doesn't quite rank up there with the others. Still, it's pretty good, just the others are better.