Born in Northampton, England in 1954, world-class fiddler Brendan Mulvihill immigrated to New York when he was eleven. On the night of his arrival in the states, Mulvihill attended an Irish music session, and from that moment on he dedicated his life to playing Irish music.
At the age of seventeen, Mulvihill moved back to England, where he stayed for years playing with the Birmingham Ceili Band. In the next few years, Mulvihill won both the junior and senior All-Ireland fiddle championships as well as the Senior All-Ireland duet with Brooklyn-born accordionist and friend Billy McComiskey.
In 1975, Mulvihill returned to New York and began playing with McComiskey and Co. Kerry immigrant Andy O’Brien, forming the trio The Irish Tradition. The trio moved to the Washington D.C. area after a few gigs, and has been based there ever since. They have since been accredited with establishing the area’s rich Irish cultural life that has blossomed since the trio’s arrival.
After several years and more albums, the trio disbanded, though stayed in the D.C/Baltimore area. In the time that followed, Mulvihill played with musicians such as Paddy Keenan, Martin Hayes, and John Williams before touring with pianist Donna Long as part of the Masters of the Folk Violin Tour. Specials with PBS and NPR, White House performances, and a stint with the Green Fields of America all-star tour followed.
Pat Kilbride, the only Irish musician ever to become a member of Scotland’s Battlefield Band, has been internationally celebrated for his expressive singing and scintillating cittern, bouzouki, and guitar playing. Nowhere is that more evident than on a pair of reels played by Pat on guitar and Bothy Band legends piper Paddy Keenan and fiddler Kevin Burke. An album of great songs and tunes, Undocumented Dancing is a dazzling musical document from one of Ireland’s – and now America’s – finest performers.
Dáithí Sproule of Derry, whose first group was the legendary Skara Brae, has lived for many years in Minnesota. He is one of Irish music’s most respected guitar accompanists, and one of the first guitarists to develop DADGAD tuning for Irish music. He is also a fine singer in English and Irish. Dáithí has performed and recorded with two highly influential traditional music trios: Bowhand (with James Kelly and Paddy O’Brien) and Trian (with Liz Carroll and Billy McComiskey), as well as providing accompaniment for recordings by Tommy Peoples, Seamus and Manus McGuire, Liz Carroll, Paddy O’Brien and others. He has performed around the world with the Irish supergroup Altan, and continues to tour and record with Altan, Randal Bays, and James Keane (under the name Fingal), and several Minnesota-based musicians including Laura MacKenzie and Jode and Kate Dowling. Dáithí’s original compositions have been recorded by Skara Brae, the Bothy Band, Altan, Trian, Liz Carroll, Aoife Clancy, and others. He is known for his innovative arrangements of traditional songs, and in 1995 he released his first solo album, A Heart Made of Glass, with songs in English and Irish. In addition to performing and recording, Dáithí is a sought-after teacher and lecturer in subjects ranging from guitar styles and song accompaniment to Irish traditional music, language and literature.
When describing Cherish the Ladies – the critics say it best…“It is simply impossible to imagine an audience that wouldn’t enjoy what they do”, the Boston Globe, “An astonishing array of virtuosity”, the Washington Post, “Expands the annals of Irish music in America…the music is passionate, tender and rambunctious”, The New York Times – and for over two decades, Cherish the Ladies have proven themselves worthy to live up to these accolades and in doing so have become one of the most engaging ensembles in the history of Irish music.
They have grown from a one-time concert concept to an Irish traditional music sensation, literally the most successful and sought-after Irish-American group in Celtic music. Organized by folklorist/musician Mick Moloney and sponsored by the Ethnic Folk Arts Center and the National Endowment for the Arts, they began as a concert series featuring the brightest lights in Irish traditional music.
Taking their name from the name of a traditional Irish jig, the group initially won recognition as the first and only all-women traditional Irish band. In a relatively short time, they soon established themselves as musicians and performers without peer and have won many thousands of listeners and fans of their music. With their unique spectacular blend of virtuosi instrumental talents, beautiful vocals, captivating arrangements and stunning step dancing, this powerhouse group combines all the facets of Irish traditional culture and puts it forth in an immensely humorous and entertaining package.
The past years have seen the group traveling all over North and South America, the United Kingdom and Europe, Australia and New Zealand performing in the finest concert halls and international festivals. They are equally at home in front of a symphony orchestra, a performing arts center, a folk festival or even at the White House.
They have been chosen Best Musical Group of the Year by the BBC, Top 100 Irish Americans by Irish America Magazine, Entertainment Group of the Year by the Irish Voice Newspaper, selected as the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s International Group of the Year in Scotland and voted the Top North American Celtic act by NPR Radio’s “Thistle and Shamrock”.
They have shared the stage with such noted entertainers as James Taylor, Joan Baez, Emmy Lou Harris, The Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, The Chieftains and dozens of symphony orchestras. The “Celtic Album”, their collaboration with the Boston Pops Symphony led to a 1999 Grammy nomination.
The Ladies have recorded eleven highly acclaimed albums. Their last two albums on Rounder records were released to rave reviews. “On Christmas Night” was chosen as one of the top Christmas Albums of the Year by The New York Times, Washington Post, The Village Voice and many other nationally syndicated Newspapers and their latest release, “Woman of the House” is heralded as their best album to date and hit Billboard Magazines’ top 10 world music Charts.
Cherish the Ladies have appeared on CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, Evening at Pops, C-Span, Imus in the Morning, PBS and National Public Radio in the United States and on BBC and RTE radio and television overseas. At the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, they were chosen to represent Irish music and culture at the Official Cultural Olympiad.
The girls continue to blaze forward and continue to enchant audiences worldwide.
Considered to be one of the most talented fiddlers in Ireland today, Sligo-style fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada is the fiddler and founder of Teada, an Irish traditional band dubbed "one of the most exciting traditional groups to emerge in recent years,” (Irish World)
Mac Diarmada’s Sligo fiddling embraces the “Pure traditional fiddling, raw and unadorned and all the better for it," (Hot Press) and has a "lonesome magnificence," (Irish Times) that only the best Sligo fiddlers ever achieve.
In 2001, Mac Diarmada co-founded the traditional Irish band Teada (“strings”). Monaghan native Seán McElwain (banjo and bouzouki), Co. Laois’s Paul Finn (accordion), Dubliner Tristan Rosenstock (bodhrán), and John Blake rounded out the group, and in 2005, Blake left the group and was replaced by Sligo flautist Damien Stenson. Mac Diarmada described the creation of Teada as "really a very organic process… we wanted to capture some of that rawness and individuality of the solo artist within the dynamic of a full band.”
A graduate of Trinity College in Dublin with a degree in Music Education, Mac Diarmada has released several recordings, including acclaimed solo Ar an bhFidil on Green Linnet in 2003 and four with Teada. In 2001, he founded Ceol Productions, a management, booking, and consultancy agency for traditional Irish artists.
Unless you’ve heard them before, you’ve never quite heard anything like the Deighton Family. And if you are familiar with them, then you know that they really are a family of mixed South Moluccan/ English heritage who combine folk, Celtic, Cajun, bluegrass, rock, and everything else around to introduce some of the most refreshing and uplifting music this side of heaven.
In the years since its creation, Orealis has established a reputation as one of Canada’s most exciting and innovative Celtic Bands. Their fresh, evocative music, a magical blend of traditional and original material, has delighted concert and festival audiences across the country and in the US. Their varied Repertoire ranges from Haunting ballads and slow airs to driving instrumentals and songs performed with energy and enthusiasm. It is not surprising that the group has shared the bill with such diverse acts as Shane McGowan and the Popes, The Pogues, The Waterboys, Gypsy Kings, Runrig, Luka Bloom and Richard Thompson.
The Heart and Soul of Orealis consists of Kirk MacGeachy and Dave Gossage. Kirk, originally from Scotland and the founding member of the band provides the rich mellow vocals and rhythm guitar and Bouzouki-Guitar work, while Dave brings to the band his fiery flute and whistle playing and electric guitar pyrotechnics. Kirk and Dave are joined by Dave’s brother Bill, on bass and in some shows by another brother, Thom on percussion and Drums.
Multil-instrumentalist, composer, producer, tv and radio presenter, director…the list goes on when discussing Phil Cunningham.
A founding member of Silly Wizard and Relativity (along with his brother, fiddler Johnny), the accordion/whistle/keyboard player, along with long-time collaborator Aly Bain (fiddle) Cunningham has performed at the opening of the devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999 and later the funeral of the hugely respected First Minister, Donald Dewar – the nearest thing to a state funeral that Scotland has seen in centuries.
Phil has also composed classical music and music for theater and television, with 1997 seeing the premiere of his Highlands and Islands Suite at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. In 2002, Phil was awarded the MBE for services to Scottish music.
Tarika is a groundbreaking group on every level: a world music ensemble fronted by sisters Hanitra and Noro, a folk group with the drive and intensity of a rock band, and a Malagasy group that cross blends regional musical styles, instruments, and rhythms. Tarika has, in many was, become synonymous with the music of Madagascar.
“Not since the days of Bob Marley has social commentary come wrapped in so many seductive colours,” wrote the UK’s Sunday Times. Tarika is known for combining political subject matter with accessible, infectious dance music. Time Magazine voted Tarika one of the top ten best World Bands alongside U2, Ziggy Marley, and Radiohead, and is considered to be Madagascar’s most successful musical export.
After spending the 1990s on the world music festival circuit, Tarika took a break before coming back as Tarika Bé. Tarika’s discography includes Xenophile releases Bibiango (1994), Avelo (1997), and Son Egal (1997).
Two giants of Celtic music in their first collaboration on disc — Sean Keane (fiddle) and Matt Molloy (flute), scions of The Chieftains and brilliant soloists in their own right, play some of the tightest duets ever heard. Their speed is matched only by their precision, and their sheer exultation can be felt in every track. With producer Arty McGlynn on guitar.
When Bill Keith played with Bill Monroe as one of the The Bluegrass Boys, Monroe would introduce him as Brad Keith. When corrected, Monroe would reply, “There’s only one Bill in my band.” When it comes to 5-string banjo, there’s only one Bill Keith.
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.
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