Moya Brennan
March 2, 2004
Joe's Pub, New York City

In a world where most people think that the music of Britney Spears is the measuring stick against which female singers are judged, the music of Moya Brennan is a breath of fresh air. In an industry where longevity is defined in terms of a few years length, the music of Moya Brennan is a touch of heaven on earth. A voice that is as sweet as the hills of her homeland Ireland are green. I have had the chance to see Moya perform four times over the past few years and this is an artist that defines the necessity for the term "road trip". There are three women that I would just not pass up the opportunity to see in concert, they are Riki Michele, Joanne Hogg and of course the incomparable Moya Brennan.

In support of her current release entitled Two Horizons Moya performed two evenings of shows at Joe's Pub connected with the Public Theatre in lower Manhattan. For an hour each of those evenings her audience was transported to Ireland for a journey of magic, music, storytelling and sheer wonderment. Along with Moya as musical guides on our journey were; Sam Jackson on keyboards, Sinead Madden on fiddle and voice, and the DeBarra brothers, Cormac on harp, bodhran and voice and Fionan on guitar, bodhran and voice.

The ensemble led us through a journey of thirteen pieces of music that fed not only the heart and mind but also touched the soul in its deepest recesses. Carried along on the wonder of Moya's voice the entire audience simply fell under her spell and when we finally awoke from what almost seemed like a sweet dream, we entered the streets of New York City just a little better than when we had left them earlier that night.

The album, Two Horizons tells the story of the lost harp of Tara, in between the songs Moya related the story of her journey to find the harp and fall under its magical spell. All I know is that I can't wait until I can fall under the spell of her musical magic once again.

The set list included:

"Tara"
"Show Me"
"Bright Star"
"Bi Liom"
"Falling"
"Medley" including Sliabh Na mBan, Rackish Paddy, Lady Marion & Hobnobs
"I Will Find You"
"Alistair MacCullough"
"Mothers Of The Desert"
"Harpsong"
"Two Horizons"
"Harry's Game / Na Paisti"
"Against The Wind"

--Chris MacIntosh aka Grandfather Rock from The Phantom Tollbooth, republished with permission.

Editor's Note: I also was fortunate to see a concert on this tour at Berbati's Pan in Portland Oregon. The performance was entrancing, despite the absence of a full band, with thoughtful rearrangements of a wide variety of tunes from the full history of Clannad and Moya's solo career. Don't miss Moya or Clannad in concert if you get a chance. --Cory Engel, CelticChristianTunes.com