Khanda (IMC)

Khanda are among the most interesting of groups on the local scene. Basically a quintet - Martin Nolan (pipes, whistles), Ellen Cranitch (flutes, whistle, zils), Tommy Halferty (guitar) and Ronan (bass, saz, def) and Conor (drums, tablas, dumbek) Guilfoyle, plus the brilliant Indian percussionist, Ramesh Shotam, guesting on this release, made last October - they bring a mixture of Irish, Indian and jazz backgrounds to bear on their material. It's beautifully played and, for the most part, blends superbly, notably on Jingle Pot Jig/Tom Billy's Jig and the splendid Konnekol Reels and Ramapakthi. This is no dry academic exercise in essentially rootless musical culling from round the world; it's vibrant, it's alive and it works.

Ray Comiskey

Marcas O Murchu: "O Bheal go Beal" (CICD)

O Murchu's sleeve acknowledges his flute playing as the distillation of such a breadth of influence and sponsorship as excludes only "the crib". On the opening Maho Snaps he gives his wonderful best: tough, highly-rhythmic, resonant. But only by the final Providence track does he ever recapture such form, bouncing out on a terrific Paddy Mills' and Maids Of Castlebar. He is amply able to do it, but - possibly - modern social conventions of understatement have intimidated him into an inappropriate, Hayesian minimalism which creates a tedious under-engagement, over-emphasis on slow tempo and tongue, a frustrating inability to let go. And so, pieces like the brilliant Slan le Kennedy are weakened by too-long and "off" held end-notes. Songs and airs underachieve, weakening what should be formidable in a long-overdue document of unusual repertoire from one of Ireland's finest non-stage players.

Fintan Vallely

Brendan Begley: "We Won't Go Home 'Til Morning" (Kells Music)

Freshly original and simply superb, this second album from Ireland's most energetic melodeon/accordion player is a shoulder-twitching pleasure, right from the opening An Droichead to the final combination on Johnny McEljohn's with fiddler Dermot McLaughlin, Brid Cranitch's keyboard, Frankie Lane on guitar and Kevin Coneff on bodhran.

Polkas like Denis Doody's/Johnny O'Leary's, and slides The Bicycle locate Begley firmly in his place - Kerry - though his musicianship shows a broader and yet more coloured palette. Witness Con McGinley's Donegal-style reels, Scent Of The Bog hornpipes, the Dalaigh jig set - rhythm-packed and city-street, chord-strung - for inspirational energy transmitted through the ear.

Fintan Vallely