Ships Ahoy! Songs of Winds, Waters & Tides - Songs of sailors from the British Island

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Editor's info:
Quadriga Consort made a name for itself by playing new arrangements of traditional music from the British Isles on Renaissance and Baroque instruments, placing these ancient tunes in a new historic context - far from Celtic clichés and "pub sentimentality". Their idea is to create a musical world in which there is no need or desire for musical categories such as light or serious, folk, popular or erudite.

For our programme Ships Ahoy !, we have sought out old British seamen's music. Living on islands surrounded by the sea, the English, Scottish and Irish have always been fishermen, sailors, adventurers, explorers and merchants, trading with faraway places.

Countless wars were also fought at sea. Not only does Ships Ahoy ! offer old sailor's songs and shanties - intended to alleviate long and difficult journeys -, it also offers an insight into the fascinating and often somber myths and legends surrounding the vast oceans and their unfathomable depths. 'I love the energy that the ensemble put into their recordings. [...] The instrumental work is superb. Don't worry if you're not keen on recorders: these are played so dexterously that they seem a long way from the simple melodies often associated with them. Hearing two of them carolling freely in a jig like 'Rattlin' Roarin' Willie' is especially thrilling. [...] I described Elisabeth Kaplan in my last review as having a voice which was "flexible, colourful and which has a tinge of the untrained about it". A folksy voice in fact - just right. Its incredible how she nimbly gets her mouth around the Gaelic texts so assuredly and clearly. Most remarkable of all are the four tiny songs beginning with 'Puirt a beul' described as 'mouth music'. If you think patter songs are tricky then you should hear these. ' MusicWeb review