Dervish: "Live in Palma"

This is an album and a half in more ways than one. Generously it has two discs, one with 22 tracks, the other 14, all from the same long, hot night of tough music and enviable audience rapport. There is material from earlier years but, being live, this is no "collection" - from start to finish it holds together with a continuity that is a showcase of the variety within traditional music. Its integrity makes the group a formidable heir to the throne abandoned by The Bothy Band, if not a serious contender for The Chieftains' "international" space. Live albums are difficult - the stage patter can be destructive to a laid-back listen - but experience of this album on Aer Lingus's long-haul US headsets proves the contrary. Cathy Jordan's light, fluttering vocal style strings it all together flawlessly with a great maturity over 10 songs, Liam Kelly's flute (with Jordan the group's hallmark) is magnificent in its solid, yet feverish, unenhanced brilliance, Shane McAleer on fiddle is urgently biting, Shane Mitchell's accordion is beautifully understated yet vitally present, Brian McDonagh is the hugely-varying cement to the Dervish sound on bazouki and guitar. Dance tunes are crisply uncluttered, instruments are neatly-balanced, the original and inherited tune-selections solidly mood-escalating. From the opening Packie Duignan's set to the penultimate Killavil Jigs this is simply a brilliant and uncluttered testimonial to music imagination and talent, impressively re-affirming the band's home Sligo region as a formidable music-incubator. You can catch Dervish live at the Temple Bar Music Centre on Sunday October 26th.