Rapalje "♥" a.k.a. "Hearts" 2014***

I recently found myself at the 10th Keltfest festival in Dordrecht. It was a very nice day, and the festival drew a huge crowd, most of them dressed as highlanders, lords and ladies, peasants and knights, dwarves and elves. Amazing how the Lord of The Rings movies and series like Game Of Thrones captured our collective fancy. There were stalls of medieval cloths and accesories, stalls for food and archery practice, storytellers and, of course, music played by the likes of Germany's folk-punks Kilkenny Knights and, once again, Rapalje from Groningen. Celtic music and culture has become an international phenomenon lately, but maybe that's Europeans re-discovering their Celtic roots as, contrary to what many people think, Celts do not originate from Ireland but inhabited a large piece of the European continent before they were restricted to a part of the British isles. Rapalje certainly do take you back in time with their music, instruments and kilted attires alluding to centuries gone by. They always sell their own stuff at gigs, and they had a stall at the festival, which of course I left with yet another CD for my collection. "♥" is the last of 4 EP's named after the symbols on the playing cards, and it contains their version of Manowar's epic metal ballad "Heart Of Steel", which is treated with a traditional Celtic folk approach and suitably capped with the vivid Scottish military march "The Caber Feidh". Guaranteed to please both folk and metal fans. Another classic song covered here is The Pogues' holiday nugget "Fairytale of New York", but this one doesn't work as well as the original duet. The melodic "Butterfly/Kid on the Mountain" and jaunty "Busindre Reel" are two particularly strong instrumentals, and so are the two ballads "Spancil Hill" and "Teddy O'neill". "The Sick Note" is a hillarious acapella song/rap about a foolish construction worker called (of course) Paddy. It works well onstage, but makes for an awkward album closer. As always Rapalje deliver the goods on record, but you really must see them live for the full effect. Something tells me you'll have a chance next year on the 11th Keltfest, so put it in your calendar already. I hope they'll play a song from Game Of Thrones - I sent them a request on their website, so if you catch them playing an awesome version of "The Raynes Of Castamere" or "The Bear And The Lady Fair", you'll know who to thank...

**** for Heart of Steel/The Caber Feidh, Busindre Reel, Teddy O'neill/Ann-Marie O'neill

*** for Spancil Hill, The Butterfly/Kid on the Mountain, Fairytale of New York, The Sick Note