Hear The Track Here
As you might imagine from both the song title and the band name, the emphasis here is on the Auld Country, the Emerald Isle and it's glorious musical past. I have long been a fan of Celtic music in all it's guises, Irish, Scots Welsh or Breton. Mostly I think that is down to this music's incredible joy of life, embodied in the instrumentation that defines the genre; hand drums, stringed instruments, bagpipes, whistles and all... I think it would be fair to say there aren't many artists specialising in this music, and those that are active probably don't get much of a look in because, hey, it's traditional innit?
Yeah, yeah, well spin on this...
Shanty (or more properly chanty) is a musical form that came about aboard working sailships and were performed by sailors to regulate and time the workload, in a similar way I guess to the worksong tradition familiar in Africa and the Deep South of the USA. I have to say that by that definition, Shanty doesn't really do it to it. It's nothing like as rhythmic enough (although it has its moments of which more later) and weighing in at a miniscule one minutes and twenty of those smaller things, it's blindingly obvious you wouldn't be able to get much work done.
However, taking my Mr Pendant hat off for a second, let's have a look at this track in it's own light. Taking into account that Donegal Street are in the New Age section of the World genre, Shanty is an electronic take on the traditional genre and although it's a bit spare in both length and arrangement what is there would keep me amused although I couldn't see it having an lasting appeal. Know what I mean? I think I would probably like what this band is about, and judging them by this slight track doesn't seem right.
An interesting musical diversion sure enough, but I want to hear much, much more...
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