PREVIEW: Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With Altan

Thursday March 17, 2011

From The Day

The Garde Welcomes The Irish Band Altan
By: Kristina Dorsey

Irish musicians must live for March. Everyone goes all crazy for the Emerald Isle around St. Patrick’s Day, and that means lots of potential gigs for Gaelic bands.

That said, not all Irish bands are created equal. Altan is rather renowned. The Boston Globe touted it as “the hottest group in the Celtic realm.” The Irish government even issued an official Altan postage stamp five years ago.

Among the highlights of the band’s 25-year history: seeing their 1990 release “The Red Crow” become the first of their three albums to win the Celtic/British Isles Album of the Year award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufactures; and having their 1994 album “Island Angel” become Billboard’s fourth best-selling world-music album of the year.

Oh, and they’ve got a reputation for being killer in concert, as you’ll see if you go to their Sunday concert at the Garde Arts Center.

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