Hi all,

I was given some CD's by a friend after an elderly lady she knew passed away. It was a fairly eclectic mix of CD's with a few Irish and Welsh ones included. One of the CD's is called Celtic Folk Harp - 34 Traditional Favourites . It has the brand "celtic gold" on it, and 1998 V & H Holdings Pty Ltd. No sleeve notes, no musician name, no credits for anything. When I did a Google search a few sites credit it to a group called The Shamrock Singers. Now normally Mr/s Google is quite forthcoming with further information as required, but I can find no name for the harper on this CD.

When I first listened to the CD, I was initially operating on the strategy of "keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed" but I am very pleasantly surprised about the skill and musical ability of the harper and I think it is a crying shame that s/he is receiving no credit for that.

The Amazon entry has this intriguing note: "This product is manufactured on demand when ordered from Amazon.com" and there is no information about a group called The Shamrock Singers when I click on the name link.

I think this is one CD in a series of CD's of mostly popularised Irish songs like "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen" which are not my cup of tea at all, but I am impressed with the quality of the harper's playing. In some instances it reminds me of Derek Bell's interpretations, although not to his excellent standard perhaps. Some of my all time favourite tunes are included on the CD: The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls, David of the White Rock, one the Bridget Cruise airs by O'Carolan (although with the mispelled track title of "Bridget's Cruis") and a few of his other tunes. Definitely not a popularised selection of well known Irish harp tunes.

Does anyone here have more information on who the harper might be, or on The Shamrock Singers? I'm really curious as to the reason why these musicians are not being credited for their performances.

I suppose mass market CD's get away with this all the time but when I hear a good musician and cannot track down her/his other products I think that is not helping the musician at all.