Album Notes

Three years in the making, the musical collaboration between Cath Connelly and Greg Hunt is finally realised ! Entitled Song Line – Thin Place, this stunning CD brings together traditional Celtic tunes and contemporary arrangements.

This rewarding collaboration between Cath (on Celtic harp) and Greg (on fiddle and mandolin) has culminated in an album of haunting beauty and emotional depth.

The whole process of making this CD has seen a fusion between the Aboriginal concept of Song Line and the Celtic notion of Thin Place. In travelling particular geographical routes and “singing the country”, a Song Line connects our experiences with the knowledge and wisdom of the spirits of the ancestors. At the same time, it is in the Celtic Thin Place that the veil between the here and the hereafter becomes so thin that you can almost reach through and touch the other side. Deep friendships, sacred sites and times of death all put us in touch with the Thin Place.

Greg writes, “we’ve really tried to identify with both our sense of place here in Australia as well as our Celtic ancestry. To capture some of the movement between both dimensions, we’ve deliberately placed the songs on this CD in an order that alternates between slow, reflective music and more upbeat rhythms.”

In describing the recording process, Cath and Greg speak often of “the goose-bump principle”. In Cath’s words, “when everything had a sense of rightness in the studio session – when we were totally in the zone, in tune with our instruments, our songs and each other … well, we knew when we’d captured that essence we were after. I believe this comes across in the finished product.”

There are some fine examples of the characteristically Celtic elements of laughter, lament and lullaby on the album. Gartan Mother’s Lullaby / Planxty Fanny Power moves freely between two traditional lullabies. The traditional song Quiet Land of Erin is a lament from the aftermath of Ireland’s potato famine in the nineteenth century, while the Turlough O’Carolan tune Planxty Irwin captures the “laughter” dimension of much Celtic music.