First-Rate Celtic Performers Set Toes Tapping at Bowl

What’s up with Celtic music? The performance by violinist Natalie MacMaster and the Irish groups Altan and Lunasa broke through the 10,000-ticket barrier at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, peaking at more than 12,000 enthusiastic listeners.

Granted that MacMaster and Altan, in particular, are top-line acts, it was still surprising to see the Bowl filled with such a substantial crowd for a world music concert. Which leads one to wonder whether the decision to do thematically mixed, world-pop-oriented programs--such as last week’s Koko Taylor-Ali Farka Toure bill--has been a wise one. And whether audiences would be happier to experience world music, rather than world pop, from the Bowl’s World Festival 2000 series.

What the crowd heard Sunday was first-rate. The evening started a bit slowly with Lunasa, a talented but not especially extraordinary group whose primary impact occurred when it was joined by the spirited, colorfully garbed Kennelly Irish Dancers. But with the arrival of MacMaster, whose energetic fiddling and lithe dancing are the epitome of Celtic culture, the evening took off. The 27-year-old Cape Breton performer was even more effective than she was in her Bowl performance last year. In some respects, she parallels another breakthrough Canadian artist--jazz vocalist Diana Krall--in the sense that both are bringing new life to established musical forms.

Altan continues to be one of the Celtic world’s great treasures, gifted with a front line--fiddlers Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Ciaran Tourish and button accordionist Dermot Byrne--that is a sheer powerhouse. They often began with relatively tranquil openings, then suddenly shifted tempo into a hard-driving traditional jig or reel, generating irrepressible, foot-tapping rhythms. By the time they were halfway through the set, many of the aisles were filled with audience members attempting their own animated versions of step dancing.

It was, in sum, a great evening. No world pop, no blendings of funk, blues and electronic sounds, but enough pure melody and enchanted performances to satisfy even the most determinedly Top 40 tastes.