Song of the Sidhe is the eleventh album in Lia Scallon’s Sounds of Sirius series of healing music. The Sidhe (pronounced “Shee”) are the Irish Faerie folk and Tea Tephi is the High Queen of their kingdom. The story that unfolds within the music is the queen’s passionate invocation to her king and to her people to emerge from the Hollow Hills to reunite with humankind and joyously celebrate the Golden Age of Tara’s new reign, bringing mystery, magic, harmony and peace back to the world. Song of the Sidhe is also the Faerie Kingdom’s call to humanity to awaken and reconnect with them and the Great Web of Life. “As the human heart responds to the music with Love and Trust, the portals between the Faerie and Human worlds will open, enabling Faerie-kind and Human-kind to come together, to usher in a new era alive with magic and mystical blessings.” (quoting Lia Scallon) In the Celtic countries, the Sidhe are considered neighbors and custodians of the sacredness of the natural world. The “veil” between the fairy world and the human word is believed to be gossamer thin.

The opening “Prelude” is Queen Tea’s spoken plea (in English) to her king and the fairies to emerge, explaining much about the origins of the story while admonishing humankind for banishing the Sidhe many years ago. This piece is also printed in the accompanying eight-page booklet, giving the listener a much better understanding of the significance of the story and who the Sidhe are.

The eight tracks on the album are a combination of spoken word, instrumental music and songs sung mostly in the “Language of Light,” a language that belongs to the realms of Spirit. “It defies rational understanding or easy definition, for it is the heart and the soul of the listener that responds to the melodies and words, not the mind.” (quoting Scallon from the liner notes of the CD). It is felt that translating ancient energy words into another language would deprive consciousness of a direct experience with the power of the sacred language.

The very impressive group of musicians on the album includes Nigel Pegrum on flute, snare drum, percussion and keyboards; Christine Jackson on cello; Kirk Steel and Mark Mannock on keyboards; Simon McMenamin on violin and viola; Joy Zahner on harp; Shakimra on flute and recorder; and Ben Hakalitz on drums. Lia Scallon performs all vocals and vocal compositions.

Lia Scallon’s previous two albums received many awards and nominations, including Best New Age Album (2013 One World Music Awards and 2012 COVR Awards), and I would expect Song of the Sidhe to be just as successful. It is available from Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby as well as many streaming sites.