This album features Kathryn Tickell energetically playing the Northumbrian small pipes and the fiddle. Northumbria was a kingdom in the ancient Anglo-Saxon heptarchy. Although long gone as a kingdom, its culture lives on. This is especially true of its traditional music, which has never ceased being composed. It is music with close ties to the Celtic music of Scotland and Ireland. This is demonstrated by the fact that the tunes in this cohesive album are not only Northumbrian, but some are also from Ireland, Scotland, and the Shetlands. One would not suspect by the virtuosity evinced on this album that it was released when Kathryn Tickell was 16. That same year, she was appointed as the official piper to the Lord Mayor of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. The office had previously been vacant for 150 years. Her career has since skyrocketed to world status, which is quite a feat when one considers the regional nature of the Northumbrian small pipes. Tickell is also an accomplished fiddle player. This is as fine a collection of lively jigs, reels, and airs as one could hope for and is one of those albums that anyone interested in the traditional music of the British Isles will want in his or her collection. ~ Peter Ditzel
