Aidan is a fiddle player and composer from the Oban on the West Coast of Scotland. He has toured extensively in Europe and North America from the age of 15 and has made his name as one of Scotland’s most expressive and dynamic musicians. Aidan is much sought after as a session musician, having performed on over 60 albums, ranging from projects by Runrig to Michael McGoldrick and Karen Matheson. As a composer his tunes have been performed and recorded by Flook and Wolfstone among many others. Sirius is Aidan’s first solo album and has evolved from a commission by the Celtic Connections festival in 2003. A vast piece of work, Sirius incorporates a wide variety of musical styles from ultra-traditional folk to jazz, roots and groove, all of which have had an influence on Aidan’s musical style and expression.
Breabach is one of the most talked about new acts on the Scottish folk scene. Their innovative celtic style, blending double bagpipes, whistle, fiddle, song and Scottish step-dance, brings to the stage, flair, excitement and diversity rarely seen from such a young group. Winners of Scotland’s Danny Kyle Open Stage Award in 2005, and nominated for Best Up and Coming Artist at the Scots Trad Music Awards in 2006, Breabach has gone from strength to strength.
The trio comprised of guitarist and vocalist Robbie O’Connell, accordionist Mick Moloney, and piano accordionist Jimmy Keane formed in the mid 1980s after playing together with the Green Fields of America tour. They collaborated with fiddle virtuoso Liz Carroll to create There Were Roses in 1985, and then released KilKelly in 1987 as a trio.
Described as a “national treasure,” by Ireland’s top music magazine, Waterford-born guitarist and vocalist Robbie O’Connell played with the Clancy Brothers off and on throughout the 1990s.
Equally qualified as a musician and anthropologist, Irish-American immigrant Mick Moloney has recorded and/or produced over forty traditional Irish albums, has advised for hundreds of American festivals and concerts. Moloney has also taught at multiple American universities, been featured on PBS, Irish Television, and American Public Television, and holds some of the most prestigious awards in his field.
London native piano accordionist, composer, producer, and arranger Jimmy Keane has been considered the savior of the piano accordion. Starting his musical career with five consecutive All-Ireland championships, Keane has since recorded and performed with nearly all of the living greats of Irish music.
Chicago-born All-Ireland fiddle champion and National Heritage Award winner, Liz Carroll is considered one of the world’s leading Celtic fiddlers and composers. Named 2001’s “Traditional Artist of the Year,” by the Irish Echo, Carroll has become internationally recognized for her dazzling style and original tunes, many of which have entered the traditional repertoire here and abroad.
A trio of awesome virtuosity and drive – the legendary Joe Burke on accordion, piper Michael Cooney, and singer/guitarist Terry Corcoran.
Joe Burke, East Galway accordion player, has influenced innumerable box players worldwide through his illustrious career.
From his first public performance in 1955 to current recordings and tours, Burke has held a special place in the rolls of Irish traditional musicians. Known for his stylish use of triplets and rolls, he was been the recipient of awards such as the AIB Traditional Musician of the Year Award 1997and Gradam An Chomhaltais 2003.
A well-loved and respected teacher, Burke has offered his expertise to students from Co. Leitrim, Ireland to Paris, France, Dallas, Texas and various logging and fishing towns in Alaska.
He frequently performs with his wife, accordion and guitar player Anne Conroy Burke and has recorded with many musical greats including Andy McCann and Felix Dolan, Sean Maguire and Josephine Keegan, Michael Cooney and Terry Corcoran, Charlie Lennon, Frankie Gavin, Kevin Burke, Brian Conway, Noreen O’Donoghue and Mike Rafferty.
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Tipperary native uilleann piper Michael Cooney came from a family of pipers as his father and uncles were highland pipers in the Sean Tracey Pipe Band, founded by his grandfather and great-uncles. At a very young age, Cooney’s father took him all over the country for the best musical instruction available.
His early teachers included legendary fiddler Sean Ryan, and tin whitsle player Dan Cleary, the leader of the Ballinamere Ceili Band. During the folk revival of the early 1970s, Cooney received his first set of pipes. Because pipers were few and far between in the hills of Tipperary, Cooney learned his repertoire from local accordion and fiddle players and his piping techniques from the recordings uilleann pipe legends Willie Clancy and Seamus Eagan.
In the 1980s, Cooney won several All-Ireland solo championships in both the pipes and whistle competitions and toured the US with Andy McGann, Paddy Reynolds, and Joe Burke. In 1986, the duo released an album, Happy to Meet, Sorry to Part (Green Linnet) with the accompaniment of guitarist and vocalist Terry Corcoran. Since then, Conney recorded his first solo effort A Stone’s Throw (Green Linnet) featuring Sligo fiddler Kevin Burke.
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Singer/guitarist Terry Corcoran has been featured on albums such as the Smithsonian Folkways’ Classic Maritime Music (2004), and Green Linnet’s Celtophile collection’s The Celts Rise Again (1998), and has worked with button accordion player Larry Egan among others.
One of the most successful composer/producers in the entertainment business, Brian Keane has scored over 350 films, producing over 100 CDs with 29 Billboard Top Tens, five of which went to #1. In 2002 Brian Keane became the first composer in the history of the Emmys to sweep all the Emmy nominations for Outstanding Music Composition in a single year.
Recorded at Dublin’s Vicar Street during The Moving Hearts’ sold out four-night stand in February 2007, Live In Dublin captures some of Ireland’s finest instrumentalists at the very top of their collective game. Percussionist Noel Eccles says: “There’s unfinished business! When we last played it was as an instrumental band and we always felt we hadn’t finished exploring the possibilities of our unique line up.” This the first release from Moving Hearts in over 20 years and sees the band play a blistering set to a packed house in one of Dublin’s most intimate venues.
Directed by Philip King the DVD features music from the influential fourth album The Storm. Played by a group of musicians who are all veterans of the Irish and world music stage, it features Donal Lunny, Davy Spillane, Keith Donald, Eoghan O’Neill, Noel Eccles, Matt Kelleghan, Anto Drennan, Graham Henderson, and Kevin Glacken.
Moving Hearts started playing together in The Baggot Inn, Dublin on February 1981. That first line-up comprised Christy Moore, vocals, guitar and bodhran, Donal Lunny on bouzouki and synthesizer, Declan Sinnott on electric guitar, Eoghan O’Neill on bass, Brian Calnan on drums and percussion, Davy Spillane on pipes and low whistle and Keith Donald on various saxophones. The band attracted huge attention for its blending of musical influences – folk, Irish traditional, rock, funk and jazz – as well as its commentary in the songs sung by Christy Moore on issues of concern in the areas of human rights and political skulduggery. In addition to songs about Ireland, Christy sang about the nuclear industry, thieving landlords, the US-engineered coup in Chile that replaced the elected Allende with Pinochet and his cronies and the dark side of organized religion.
After many changes of personnel – nineteen people have played or sung in the band – the decision was made to concentrate on instrumental music and to follow on from The Storm, the influential album of 6 instrumentals that was recorded after the band ceased regular gigging in 1984. After reforming to tour in 1987, the band went their several ways for most of two decades and watched as the world caught up with their music. Unlike many bands that stop working together, all the core members of Moving Hearts went on to have successful careers as musicians and bring huge depth and range of experience to a band that never stopped playing.
“Scottish harper Catriona McKay’s latest collection Starfish is a thing of extraordinary beauty…Layered delights reveal themselves with each successive exposure: a sure recipe for longevity.” – The Irish Times 2007
2007 Scottish Traditional Awards “Instrumentalist of the Year” Catriona McKay’s new solo CD, Starfish is a gorgeous and mesmerizing album of adventurous and mysterious contemporary Scottish music that features the harp on noticeable lead. Catriona’s music blends elements of folk, jazz, classical, and Scottish traditional music and presents a delightfully sexy exploration of the limits of the Celtic harp. On Starfish, Catriona is backed by solid guitar, fiddle, bass, and string work, as well as subtle electronic treatments.
Well known on the Scottish music scene as a member of the leading Shetland band Fiddlers’ Bid, Catriona McKay has recently began touring in the US and has been featured at several key festivals including Boston’s Irish Connections and Milwaukee’s Irish Fest. She is a fearless contemporary explorer on the Scottish harp, having collaborated with a wide array of folk, jazz, classical and experimental artists, as well as co-designing the new Starfish McKay harp, featuring an alternative tuning pattern and featured extensively on Starfish.
Featuring Donald Grant, Fionan “Fionomenal” De Barra, Matt Baker, Alistair MacDonald, Seamus Egan, and Red Skies.
Two of today’s top Celtic musicians join forces for an album that’s both delightful and inventive. Mixing traditional and contemporary material with glorious ease, piper and whistler John McSherry and whistle and flute master Michael McGoldrick soar with the kind of breezy freshness that’s all too often missing from Irish music these days. That’s perhaps to be expected from people whose pedigrees include the likes of Lúnasa, Donal Lunny, and Afro Celt Sound System, but the pairing proves to be even more natural and joyful than anticipated, as the two push each other further on “Ornette’s Trip to Belfast,” for example, and caress the melody of “The Bloom of Youth.” With some sprightly, sympathetic backing that never becomes overpowering, the two are left in the spotlight–and they shine perfectly.
JOANIE MADDEN (flute, whistle)
Daughter of button accordionist Joe Madden, was the first U.S.-born competitor to win the All-Ireland senior tin whistle title (1984) and is also an All-Ireland champion on flute. She has recorded a dozen albums with Cherish the Ladies, a group she co-founded in 1985 and still leads.
BRENDAN DOLAN (keyboards)
Son of pianist Felix Dolan, is one of the most respected and inventive keyboardists in Irish music today. He appears on Brian Conway’s Consider the Source and Billy McComiskey’s Outside the Box, as well as Live at Mona’s with Patrick Ourceau and Eamon O’Leary and the Irish American music projects of Mick Moloney.
BILLY McCOMISKEY (accordion)
The 1986 All-Ireland senior button accordion champion, has recorded three albums with the Irish Tradition (a trio featuring Brendan Mulvihill and Andy O’Brien) and two with Trian (a trio featuring Liz Carroll and Dáithí Sproule), as well as two solo CDs for Green Linnet / Compass.
BRIAN CONWAY (fiddle)
The 1986 All-Ireland senior fiddle champion, has several recordings to his credit. They include two solo releases, First Through the Gate in 2002 and Consider the Source in 2008, and two trio albums, The Apple in Winter (with Tony DeMarco and Caesar Pacifici) in 1981 and A Tribute to Andy McGann (with Joe Burke and Felix Dolan) in 2000.
“These girls inspire and motivate each other, which has enabled them to create a common musical idiom that crosses national borders. They seem to glow with their joy in playing and respect each other immensely.”
– Nordlys (Norway)
The String Sisters is a collaboration of the Celtic music world’s top female fiddlers; Annbjørg Lien from Norway, Catriona Macdonald from Shetland, Liz Carroll and Liz Knowles from the US, Mairead ni Mhaonaigh (Altan) from Ireland and Emma Härdelin from Sweden. Originally brought together for a special one-time show at Glasgow’s annual Celtic Connections festival to celebrate each of their region’s musical traditions, the results of this live recording contain some of the most brilliant fiddling heard in Celtic music. On Live, the String Sisters are joined by David Milligan (piano), Conrad Ivitsky (double bass), Tore Bruvoll (guitar) and James Mackintosh (drums).
Well-known as one of the greatest bodhran players of all time, Tommy Hayes has been at the forefront of traditional Irish music for over 30 years. In a career that has exemplified diversity he has performed and recorded with most of the great names in traditional music and beyond. Tommy has been a member of a number of ground-breaking groups during his career, including Stockton’s Wing, Puck Fair (with Brian Dunning and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill), Altan, Liam O Flynn and the Pipers Call Band and the Eileen Ivers Band. He was the original percussionist for Riverdance and has performed on more than 400 albums. In the world of film Tommy has played on numerous films amongst them Titanic, The Devils Own, Rob Roy, In the Name of the Father and The Field.
Formed in the mid 1970’s by Irish-American singer-songwriter Thom Moore, Midnight Well was composed of Moore, vocalist Janie Cribbs, guitarist Gerry O’Beirne (The Waterboys, Sharon Shannon Band, Patrick Street) and button accordionist Martin O’Connor (Boys of the Lough, De Danann). Midnight Well was similar to Moore’s earlier group, Pumpkinhead, in that they also combined Irish traditional music with country rock and folkloric influences from all over the world. Midnight Well’s unique sound is created by the variety of O’Beirne’s guitar styles, Moore and Cribbs’ vocal harmonies and O’Connor’s wistful accordion work.
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