Bliain na nAmhrán, The Year of Song The environment is increasingly recognised as a vital issue that affects us all. For children it is not so much an issue as a priceless collection of magical moments, which anyone in the world can access, no matter where they live. Bliain na nAmhrán/The Year of Song celebrates the everyday magic of nature, as it unfolds from season to season. Dancing Springtime lambs, swallows swooping and diving through a summer sky, children collecting Autumn blackberries and the snow and frost of Winter — they all make a musical appearance here. Bliain na nAmhrán consists of sixteen songs in all. These tracks are written in an idiomatic, everyday style — and like traditional Gaelic sean-nós songs, they are full of useful phrases that will not only enrich the speech of native Irish speakers of all ages, but also provide an invaluable database of language to help the learner surf along the highway to fluency. Lyrics are included on the accompanying full-colour booklet and inlay! There are other, more unusual angles on the cycle of the seasons here too — a country & western song about a pair of love-struck crows, the poignant tale of a polar bear who would love to take his coat off on a sunny Summer day in the zoo; the grief-stricken teacher who doesn't want to go back to school, when Autumn arrives; and the tale of the little reindeer who dreams of pulling Santa's sleigh across the world. Bliain na nAmhrán / The Year of Song was a joint production of Futa Fata and Comhluadar, the organization for bilingual Irish families. The project received financial assistance from the European Commission. Since it was first released in 1997, thousands of children (and former children) have fallen under the spell of this album. It was also the inspiration for a TV animation series, titled Katie and Rookie, a co-production between An Spidéal-based production company Telegael and Porchlight Entertainment in Los Angeles. The show, envisaged as 52-part series, is currently being financed internationally. Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin’s recordings available here at CD Baby: Bliain na nAmhrán (the year of song); Imíonn an tAm (time passes), Ceol na Mara (songs of the ocean); Gugalaí Gug (cluckety cluck)