Kila

This group is receiving a lot of rave reviews these days. Normally staid publications are making references to "wildly compulsive Celtic dance music," "shaking the daylights out of traditional music," and "putting Riverdance to shame." The raving seems appropriate because they've made some bloody good CDs, and it's not too much of a stretch to imagine this lot playing all night to a warehouse full of "wildly compulsive Celtic dancers."

The members bring a diverse collection of resumes to the band -- everything from classical training and work on film soundtracks to touring with the likes of Dead Can Dance, George Hamilton IV, Hector Zazou and Manus Lunny.

Kila's latest CD is called Tog E Go Bog E, which is a Gaelic phrase meaning "take it easy." This has to be tongue-in-cheek, because there's not much slackness in anything this band does. There's a ferocious undertow of rhythm here, starting with the most amazing bodhran playing and joined by shakers, congas and darabuka which help create an instant tribal mood. From there, they add some very serious musical imaginations and the instrumental virtuosity to pull it all off -- on fiddle, Uillean pipes, flutes and whistles. Oops, don't forget to add guitar, bass and the odd didgeridoo riff. Stir well and just before serving add vocals. In Gaelic!

The result is a pretty potent pint. If you had to label it, it would maybe start with "Irish Contemporary" and go from there. Their sound is grounded in some very old Irish traditions, but that ground is a point of departure for some tremendous explosions of contemporary energy.

Kila is Dee Armstrong fiddle, Eoin Dillon Uillean pipes, whistles, vocals, Brian Hogan bass, vocals, percussion, Lance Hogan guitars, vocals, percussion, Colm O Snodaigh flute, vocals, saxophone, Ronan O Snodaigh bodhran, vocals, and Rossa O Snodaigh whistles, bones, didgeridoo, bouzouki and loads more.

Fasten your dancing shoes, ladies and gentlemen, Kila is here!