Sung in her native Iroquois tongue, Joanne Shenandoah's music is like a lullaby with a touch of pain and longing lingering beneath the surface. Sometimes called the Native American Enya, Shenandoah actually has a deeper, more powerful voice than the Irish thrush. Her songs are like Native haiku, short fragments that build in their own poetic arc, sharing an innate musicality not unlike Irish Gaelic. Although Shenandoah has several recordings in a more conventional folk-singer vein, Peace & Power draws from her four most evocative, atmospheric albums: Matriarch, Orenda, Peacemaker's Journey and Lifeblood. Both pianist Peter Kater, who produced Lifeblood, and Tom Wasinger, producer of the other three, successfully frame Shenandoah's simple songs in detailed arrangements. Wasinger, in particular, creates an ethereal chamber music ensemble, with guitars, Middle Eastern zithers, Armenian duduks, citterns, and African kalimbas. The CD comes with an extensive autobiographical booklet detailing Shenandoah's life journey and her pride in her Native heritage, though there's not much information about the music itself. And it would be interesting, in this retrospective context, to hear how she has taken her tradition and extended it into new musical terrain. But at least the aural evidence is on the CD. --John Diliberto
