Welcome to Feature Fridays! In this series, AU Music Library staff highlight items from our collection. This week, Student Assistant Benjamin Card reviews Celtic Woman, the 2004 album by the group of the same name.

Celtic Woman, the name of this album as well as the musical group who performs it, is an all-female Irish musical ensemble that celebrates Ireland’s rich musical and cultural heritage. An international sensation since their first album was released in 2004, Celtic Woman received a Grammy nomination for Best Global Music Album with this CD. Their contemporary-classical crossover style is present in this album with titles such as “Ave Maria” and “You Raise Me Up,” while incorporating their Celtic folk flare in “Orinoco Flow” and “Harry’s Game” with Irish Gaelic lyrics. A sold-out live performance of this album was taped in September of 2004 by PBS that launched them into international charts when it broadcasted the next year in 2005.

My favorite songs in this album are “Orinoco Flow” and “You Raise Me Up.” “Orinoco Flow” was written by Irish singer-songwriter Enya, and the Celtic Woman cover incorporates a chamber ensemble that livens the song as the vocalists sing “Sail away, sail away, sail away.” “You Raise Me Up” is a beautifully worded piece that builds as it adds vocal harmonies and modulates. “I am strong when I am on your shoulders,” is such a nostalgic line, and thematically fits in with Celtic Woman’s message of the importance of heritage and celebration of where we come from.

Sprinkled with larger instrumental pieces, Gaelic folk songs, and revisited vocal classics, this album holds some of Celtic Woman’s best music and puts forth their unique Dublin timbre.

Celtic Woman is available on CD and digitally through the American University Music Library. If you like this album, you might also like Watermark by Enya or Time to Say Goodbye by Sarah Brightman with the London Symphony Orchestra.