Latest releases reviewed

TONY MCMANUS AND ALAIN GENTY Singing Sands Greentrax ****

Now here's one of the truly unclassifiables: Scottish acoustic guitarist Tony McManus crosses paths with French fretless bassist Alain Genty and what do you get? An unbelievably eclectic, gloriously effervescent mix of Breton, Québecois, Irish, Scots and Scandanavian tunes. Some old, some new, many borrowed, with an occasional tincture of blue amid the technicolour Desert Dance; the three-part jig that is The Hungry Rock (borrowed from Dervish's flute player, Liam Kelly); and, most notably, The Scolding Wives of Abertarff, a pen-picture of that place of great marital strife, as McManus pithily reminds the listener. Impeccably played throughout, with enough lateral thinking to scatter a ceilí-house of trad purists. Search long to find a match for such free-spirited delirium anywhere else. www.greentrax.com

Siobhán Long

SEOSAIMHÍN NÍ BHEAGLAOÍCH & CAITLÍN NÍ BHEAGLAOÍCH Suáilcí Sona Claddagh ***

West Kerry's Begley clan has added to the gaiety of the nation for decades, but rarely are they to be captured in unison, so Suáilcí Sona, this labour of love, meaning "pleasant and joyful traits inherited from our ancestors", is a notable snapshot in time. Featuring sisters Seosaimhín and Caitlín, with their sons Gavin, Aongus and Aogán - and with occasional incursions from Seamus - Suáilcí Sona captures a rake of songs long beloved of a family whose common language was always music. Cruacha Glas na hÉireann revels in the spirit of the kitchen session, bookended by remarkably genteel concertina and guitar. Seosaimhín and Caitlín's singing might benefit from more harmony arrangements, but ragged edges notwithstanding, this will offer many a singer fuel for session and solo alike. www.claddaghrecords.com

Siobhán Long