There's a deep vein of ancient Celtic-influenced culture in West-Central Spain. From it, La Musgaña (literally "water rat") mine rare musical gems. If dancing to 13/8 meters is your metier, La Musgaña is your band. This is extremely complex music, ad just to watch Enrique Almendros' right hand pound out odd-meter beats on his tabor, while his left works melodic cascades from a small flute, shatters one's notions of human coordination. La Musgaña stir bagpipes, hurdy gurdy, cittern, guitar, accordion, clarinet and a dozen or so other instruments into a festive musical dish with decidedly Medieval aromas. No surprise- many of the tunes they play are hundreds of years old. Reedman Jaime Muñoz has also mastered a trunkful of Irish tunes, which he shyly spun off during one of those many wee-hours sessions. So if you're at a La Musgaña gig, and you simply must hear "The Tar Road to Sligo" or something like that, just shout it out. Muñoz can probably comply. Their two U.S. releases, Lubican and Las Seis Tentaciones, are on Green Linnet/Xenophile.