Renaissance of the Celtic Harp

The release of this album with its fusion of classical, traditional folk and rock music, its mixture of instruments (cello, harp, electric guitar, traditional and modern drums) and its evocation of a utopian atmosphere and vision of humans in harmony with nature, immediately set it as a benchmark in the Celtic music revival of the 1970s. The album influenced many harpists, Bretons like or Cécile Corbel but also Jo Morrison, Loreena McKennitt, Deborah Henson-Conant, Charles de Lint, Australian Robert Hart and Louisa John-Krol, Russian , Italian Vincenzo Zitello, Norwegian Kristian Nordeide, New York musicians Steven Halpern and Ben Kettlewell. By the time of his second album, in one year, the number of harps sold in France had reached into the thousands. Music critic Bruce Elder wrote: People who hear this record are never the same again. Renaissance of the Celtic Harp, one of the most beautiful and haunting records ever made by anybody, introduced the Celtic harp to many thousands of listeners around the world. To call this music gorgeous and ravishing would be the height of understatement—indeed, there aren't words in the English language to describe this record adequately. The opening work, Ys, is a piece inspired by the legend of the 5th century capital of the kingdom of Cornwall, [most versions of the legend place the city in the Douarnenez Bay on the coast of Brittany] which was engulfed by a flood as punishment for its sins. (Debussy wrote one of his finest works, "The Engulfed Cathedral," later adapted by the group Renaissance into "The Harbor" on Ashes Are Burning, based on the same legend). The reflective "Marv Pontkellec" is every bit as sublimely beautiful, but the highlight of this record is "Gaeltacht," a 19 minute musical journey by Stivell's harp across the Gaelic lands of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. == Personnel ==