There’s music in Eileen Ivers’ voice.

Speaking by telephone from her home in West Nyack, N.Y., taking a breather between legs of an East Coast tour that brings her and her band to the Camden Opera House on Saturday night, Ivers betrays her musical sensibilities as much with her vocal inflections and rhythms as with the words she chooses to describe them.

There’s some of that “New Yawka” accent – no surprise since she grew up in the Bronx – but there’s also a bit of a lilt, a link to Ireland, where her parents were born. And as the world-class fiddler warms to talking about her blend of Celtic, world beat, jazz, Latin and soul, there’s excitement in her voice.

Ivers’ pitch rises, and the words come faster as she tells how adding Latin and African beats to her Celtic reels and jigs was not really such a musical leap. She interrupts herself to quickly count out the distinctive Irish beat to compare it with the rhythms of the Caribbean – ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three – while tapping her hand on a piece of furniture to create the counterrhythm.

You can hear Ivers smile as she tells how her Immigrant Soul band got the usually staid audience at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on its feet, dancing and clapping along, as she roamed the aisles with her electric fiddle. And you can see eyes grow misty, as the mood changes when she plays a heartbreakingly beautiful Irish air.

Ivers apologizes for sounding boastful about the audience response she and her band get, but modesty isn’t called for when talking about the joy of playing this kind of music – respecting the traditional cultural sounds while at the same time goosing people out onto the dance floor.

At 37, the fiddler has the resume to back up what she claims happens at her shows: nine-time All-Ireland fiddle champion; founding member of the Celtic band Cherish the Ladies; fiddler for Riverdance; session fiddler on recordings and tours with the Chieftains, Patti Smith, and Hall and Oates; and described by The New York Times as doing for the violin what Jimi Hendrix did for the electric guitar.

Ivers groans and laughs at this last accolade, embarrassed at being put in the same company as the late guitar genius, but says she is learning to say a quiet “thank you” to the compliment.

While the list of influences Ivers brings to the stage might have one expecting a musical smorgasbord, there is a solid base to her sound.

“The heart of the group is very Irish,” she says.

In the early 1990s, Ivers began playing with New York-based musicians and let the multiculturalism of that city influence her. Even in traditional Irish reels, she says, there’s a “percolating, bubbling” beat not unlike the steel drums and Latin percussion sounds that can be heard on the streets of New York.

The band, which will perform with Ivers in Camden, reflects that ethnic mix: Irish-born Ivan Goff on Irish pipes and flutes, Irish-born James Riley on acoustic guitar, Puerto Rican-born Emedin Rivera on congas and percussion, African-American bass player Chulo Gatewood, and Irish-American singer and Blues Brothers alumnus Tommy McDonnell on vocals.

While Ivers generally plays her signature blue electric fiddle during most of the show, only at certain moments does she tap her effects rack, bringing in the fuzz, wah-wah and delays that inspired the Hendrix comparison.

More than half the show features instrumental tunes, but even these are often introduced with a poem or story.

“It is very traditional at times,” Ivers says.

In the show, Ivers says there are quiet moments when she describes the hardships of immigrants – Irish and otherwise.

And then there are moments when the band tries to rattle the floorboards, as the bass and percussion dominate, or when Ivers is joined on the side of the stage by Irish step dancers.

“There’s a such a joy in the Irish music anyway,” she says, but when the African-based beat is added, “it’s very uplifting.”

When Ivers and the band greet some of the audience in the lobby after the show, she says a frequent comment is, “I had no idea what to expect, but that was great.”

After a recent performance in a venue with a reputation for reserved audiences, Ivers and the band were greeted with a long ovation. “Stay standing,” Ivers told them, and she and the band led a conga line through the seats.

“Oh, God, we loved it,” she says. And, chances are, the audience did, too.

The Eileen Ivers Band, with special guest Jess Klein, performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the Camden Opera House. Tickets cost $23. For information, call the opera house at 236-7963.