Website Ireland’s 2002 Traditional Musician, iconic piper Paddy Keenan, sprang to fame as a member of one of the most influential Irish groups, The Bothy Band. The Bothy Band forever changed the face of Irish traditional music, merging a driving rhythm section with traditional Irish tunes in ways that had never been heard before. Paddy’s virtuosity on the pipes combined with the ferocity of his playing made him, in the opinion of many, its driving force.
Bothy Band-mate Donal Lunny once described Paddy as "the Jimi Hendrix of the pipes"; more recently, due to his genius for improvisation and counter-melody, he has been compared to jazz great John Coltrane. Paddy's flowing, open-fingered style of playing can be traced directly from the style of the great travelling pipers and his father.
Brenda was raised in Point Aconi, a small Cape Breton fishing & mining community a few miles from North Sydney and Sydney Mines. The Northside is known for its rich musical traditions. The Stubbert household had regular musical visitors including fiddlers Winston Fitzgerald, Johnny Wilmot, Joe Confiant and many others. Brenda started young. Surrounded by music, by the time she was five she commenced with dancing and the piano. A short while later, about age eight, she started on the fiddle. Although strongly influenced by her family's music, Brenda's style borrows elements from all the great players she has associated with. Brenda's music has taken her to Ireland, Scotland, Mexico and hundreds of places around Canada and the US, and she is in constant demand throughout Cape Breton.
"A great collaboration of old and new, humorous and serious from two exceptional musicians." Sing Out!
Jean Hewson and Christina Smith are both native Newfoundlanders dedicated to the preservation and performance of Newfoundland music. Their long-standing friendships with the older generation of singers and musicians such as the late fiddlers Emile Benoît and Rufus Guinchard, singers Gordon Willis and Tess Murphy, and accordion players Frank Maher and John Joe Pigeon have given them a repertoire of unique songs and tunes that are rooted in the rocky coast of this Island. With voice, guitar, fiddle and cello, they shape this material into unusual and engaging arrangements.
With their stunning fourth album Flower & Iron, Malinky celebrate their tenth anniversary and introduce a newly revamped line-up, meanwhile underscoring their reputation as one of Scotland’s most distinctive and accomplished folk bands. While retaining their hallmark song-based repertoire, performed by two superb lead vocalists and arrayed with tastefully inventive instrumentation, Malinky today unite seasoned maturity with sparkling freshness, casting their musical net wider than ever. Formed in Edinburgh in 1998, Malinky showed their mettle early on by winning a prestigious Danny Kyle Open Stage Award at the following year’s Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow. Ten years on, founding member Steve Byrne (vocals/bouzouki/guitar) is joined by Fiona Hunter (vocals/cello) alongside recent recruits Dave Wood (guitar/bouzouki) and Mike Vass (fiddle). Combining the very best of tradition and modernity, hard-earned experience and revitalised enthusiasm, Malinky enter their second decade with the world increasingly at their feet.
Bua is a quintet comprised of some of America’s most talented young musicians: Jackie Moran, Chris Bain, Seán Gavin, Brían Ó hAirt and Brian Miller. Bua has been described by as “the essence of a superb band.” Tipping their hats to such greats as The Bothy Band and Planxty, their sound is “a throwback to the playing of the 1960s and 1970s, keeping the music down the path of tradition.” Their 2006 release 'Live at Martyrs’ is “a work without gimmicks, where the musicianship is of the highest quality.” It is no surprise that Bua, taking their name from the Irish Gaelic word for victory, have quickly risen to be one of America’s premier traditional Irish music ensembles.
It takes a special blend of musical flair to create memorable songs of yesteryear! Songs with a hint of contemporary—dosed with uncontrolled laughter, deep-rooted couplets, driving foot percussion and sudden, impromptu shifts—that speak to familiar rhythms of the past. Welcome to the original musical stylings of De Temps Antan! Since 2003, Éric Beaudry, André Brunet and Pierre-Luc Dupuis have been exploring and performing time-honoured melodies from the stomping grounds of Quebec’s musical past. Using fiddle, accordion, harmonica, guitar, bouzouki and a number of other instruments, our three virtuosos blend boundless energy with the unmistakable joie de vivre found only in traditional Quebec music.
All graduates of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick, these musicians are among the most exciting new bands in traditional music. A diverse line-up from Scotland, England, Ireland and Canada, delivers music from their different cultures to form a distinct and dynamic musical sound. Flute, harp, fiddle, guitar, accordion and vocals soar in expressive, energetic arrangements - traditional music with a modern twist. Five-part harmony singing of traditional and contemporary songs sits alongside sparkling new instrumental sets. With an average age below 25 the members of the band may be young, but between them they have performing credentials that many veteran bands could wish for.
Based in her adopted homeland of Scotland, Irish traditional singer and flautist Nuala Kennedy performs a range of material from across the Irish and Scottish traditional music repertoires.
She also composes her own idiosyncratic brand of traditional music and tours in a variety of lineups from duo and quartet to a nine-piece festival band. Her debut solo album The New Shoes released on Compass Records was warmly received around the world.
Nuala has performed and recorded with American hipster and indie-poet Will Oldham (Domino Records 2008), French guitarist Philippe Guidat, Scotland’s Norman Blake and cutting-edge Canadian composer Oliver Schroer, with whom she recorded Enthralled a duo album of entirely original compositions. Her own second solo album Tune In, also from Compass Records (2010), features guest appearances by these stars, as well as some of her long-time musical accomplices.
Founder of the acclaimed Battlefield Band and former head of Scottish Music at Glasgow's Royal Academy, Brian plays fiddle, viola, mandolin, cittern, bouzouki, guitar, concertina, bass and hurdy-gurdy. The importance of his songwriting, mostly about Scotland's past and future, has long been recognised. ‘The Yew Tree’, ‘The Lads O' The Fair’, ‘Montrose’ and ‘The Snows Of France And Holland’ were among the best-loved of Battlefield Band's repertoire. A published novelist (‘The Busker’ and 'To Answer The Peacock'), he has toured with Scottish "supergroup" Clan Alba and with Martin Hayes and Natalie MacMaster in the highly rated Celtic Fiddle Festival series. His audio-visual show about Scottish emigration to America, ‘The Back O' The North Wind’ has won critical acclaim.
The Once is a trio of young folk musicians, building on the traditions of their native province, comprised of Geraldine Hollett from Burin, Phil Churchill from Corner Brook and Andrew Dale from Coley's Point. The trio first met in the summer of 2005 while working with the Rising Tide Theatre Company in Trinity. There they discovered a mutual appreciation for folk/traditional music, particularly for the music of their native Newfoundland and the British Isles. The Once have been nominated for a 2010 East Coast Music award. Superb musicianship, clever arrangements and stunning harmonies make The Once a fresh and exciting new group whose rise will be worth watching.
Matt & Shannon Heaton’s music comes from a traditional aesthetic, a devotion to strong traditional bones, and a passion for reaching out to the modern world around them, blending Irish traditional music with original songs. Their own compositions tell timeless tales, while their renditions of centuries-old songs feel modern. They honed their craft in Irish music sessions in Chicago, Boston and through regular trips to Ireland, where they learned tunes with some of Clare's finest. Matt and Shannon have performed with a variety of groups, including critically-acclaimed Irish band Siucra, as well as backing Aoife Clancy, Robbie O’Connell, and Emily Smith. Matt and Shannon have released three CDs and one songbook.
Canadian Shane Cook "rates at the top of the short list of the finest fiddlers in the world today," says the Canadian Fiddlers' Hall of Fame. Shane has distinguished himself as a master of the Canadian old-time fiddle tradition and excels at an array of fiddle styles ranging from Irish and Scottish to French-Canadian, Texan, and Bluegrass. In fact, after a concert at The Opera House the Boston Herald proclaimed “...Shane Cook’s Celtic fiddling was enough to break hearts.”
In 2006, Shane retired from competitive fiddling as one of Canada's most highly awarded fiddlers. He is a three-time Canadian Open National Fiddle Champion, a three-time Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion, a Grand North American Fiddle Champion, and is the only Canadian to have ever won the US Grand National Fiddle Championship, a feat he accomplished at just 17 years of age.
Irish singer songwriter Fil Campbell grew up in Belleek in Co. Fermanagh in the North of Ireland. She was brought up on the folk songs that were popular in Fermanagh and Donegal and spent her childhood immersed in music. With both ceilidh bands and singers in the family, music was all around and performance was part of everyday life, both at home and at school. Fil's focus as a singer is on popular Irish folk songs from the 1930s and 40s as featured on her most recent CD and TV programme Songbirds. This has been the main drive of her work for a while now and a second CD collection of these songs is due for release soon. Fil has been performing her Songbirds Show in America, the UK, Europe and at home in Ireland.
Gareth Pearson is an acoustic guitarist and composer from Cwmbran, South Wales UK. He has performed at festivals and concerts worldwide and was personally invited to the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society in Nashville by Tommy Emmanuel and by Southside Johnny to perform at their annual New Years Eve concert in New Jersey at the tender age of 17. Gareth has a formidable string of concerts and guitar festivals behind him, including The Montreal Jazz Festival, and regularly conducts guitar workshops when appearing at festivals. Along with Tommy Emmanuel and Jan Akkerman, Gareth has toured and performed with Andy McKee, John Renbourn, Ray Davies of the Kinks, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and other well known guitarists and musicians. Gareth’s influences are wide, but his own distinctive voice is clearly audible in his own compositions. In performance, his “Exuberance of Youth” as one fellow musician put it, is clearly evident.
Kimberley Fraser was born on Cape Breton Island, and nurtured within its rich musical heritage. She first began to impress audiences at the age of three with her step-dancing talents. Soon after that she took up both the fiddle and the piano. Like many in Cape Breton, music is not new to Kimberley’s family. She proudly owns the fiddle of her great great grandfather, spanning the musical tradition within her family over a hundred years.
Though still in her early 20s, Kimberley’s career is already a distinguished one. She has traveled the world, from Victoria to Afghanistan, bringing Cape Breton music with her wherever she goes. Kimberley’s latest accomplishment includes the release of her second studio album, Falling on New Ground, which won the 2008 East Coast Music Award for best Roots/Traditional Album of the Year.
Dawn and Margie Beaton grew up in Mabou, Cape Breton and were surrounded by music and dance in the formative years of their lives. From a very early age, the girls found themselves dancing on local stages around Cape Breton. Just after beginning school, both girls began taking fiddle lessons and never looked back. Over the years they have performed at concerts, ceilidhs and festivals all around Cape Breton Island, mainland Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and as far away as Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1998 and in Scotland in March of 1999, 2003 and 2007. The biggest highlight for the girls in 2008 was the awarding of the Frank “Big Sampie” Sampson award as sponsored by the Drive’ers Association and Lakewind Sound Studio, Pt. Aconi that provides financial help for first time Cape Breton recording artists. With this aid, Dawn and Margie completed and released their debut album, Taste of Gaelic, during the Celtic Colors International Festival, in St. Ann’s, Cape Breton, and have been nominated for a 2010 East Coast Music Award.
Armed with a love of the music of their native Newfoundland, and an energy found more often in 3 piece punk rock bands than in 5-piece folk acts, the Dardanelles have become of the hottest acts to come out of the province in years. After packing bars in their native St. John's, well-known for their live show, they've moved on to playing festivals on the 'mainland'. In August 2009, they performed their first festival outside their province, the Mariposa Folk Festival, to a thunderous ovation. Their debut self-titled CD became one of the top 3 sellers in the province this summer, and they were one of the top 3 sellers in Mariposa as well. As they have been nominated for a 2010 East Coast Music Award, the rest of the world is about to catch on to what Newfoundland has known for years - The Dardanelles will change the way you think about folk music.
Grainne, from County Mayo, is one of the leading harp teachers and performers of her generation. Gráinne has not only garnered an ever-growing following of devoted harp enthusiasts but has managed to cross over and capture the Irish music fan with fast, driving reels and jigs. Add to that the unsurpassed expressive quality the harp has in her hands in the rendition of age-old airs and laments and you have the masterful performance of an experienced and renowned player. Gráinne has won senior All-Ireland titles on harp and concertina and the prestigious Keadue and Granard harp competitions, published two books of arrangements and recorded widely as a soloist and as a guest artist.
Martine is an internationally renowned step dancer, considered one of Quebec's best. She performs with Pierre Chartrand and Marie-Soleil Pilette in the trio Rapetipetam. Martine is also a well-respected pianist. Growing up with a violinist father gave her the opportunity to learn accompaniment at a young age, thus developing her ear for traditional music. Martine is an accomplished pianist in great demand by some of the best musicians in Canada. She has represented the rich folklore of her country touring the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, and France with several groups including Ménage à Trois, the Manigance dance troupe, Pierre Schryer and as a duo with master fiddler Andre Brunet.
Following the success of the dynamic show The Magic of Ireland, Artistic Director Michael Patrick Farrell and Musical Director Dan MacDonald have teamed up again to bring you a contemporary Celtic theatrical spectacle: Br?gue. Featuring the musical talents of three sons of iconic Celtic music families and the dynamic drive of four elite members of the world of dance stage, Br?gue shines light on the Scottish and Irish traditions inherent in its own Maritime Canadian Identity. Boldy honouring their culture with youthful enthusiasm and style, these are young Canadians showing their Scots-Irish Br?gue.
Caroline's musical career began at the age of seven when she began tin whistle lessons with her local Comhaltas branch in Limerick. After a brief stint with this, her ambitions soon spread to the concertina. Under the guidance of her then teacher Noel Hill, she developed proficiency in her art, receiving the Lán Mara award in 2006. She now regards her music as having a strong traditional base with occasional references to other genres including Classical, Jazz and East Clare. At present, while studying as an undergraduate for a BA in Irish Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, Caroline has already secured her TTCT Diploma in Irish music teaching, awarded by Comhaltas and is teaching on a part-time basis at secondary level in addition to her private classes.
Alan Jabbour and Ken Perlman have redefined that great American invention, the fiddle-banjo duet, and bring it to new heights of complexity. Alan’s powerful fiddling style, with its syncopated bowing patterns and lyrical texture, is offset perfectly by Ken’s inspired approach to clawhammer banjo, which explores chord inversions, harmony lines, voice leading, note-for-note playing, and counter-melody. Their performances testify to the grace, beauty, and power of Appalachian music. Ken and Alan’s new joint CD, Southern Summits: 21 Duets for Fiddle and Banjo, made the “Best Records of 2005” list in The East Bay Express (Oakland, California). Ken and Alan have toured together in Britain, Ireland, continental Europe, Canada, and much of the United States. They have also served on the faculty of more than a score of prestigious music camps and teaching festivals.
The Hired Hands are sisters Allison and Sairey Miller of Ohio. With Allison on harp and vocals and Sairey on harp, accordion, and whistles, these two sisters effortlessly blend many musical influences into one sound, from the bluegrass recordings of early childhood to their respective degrees from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland. They have just released “Something”, their debut album.
Jason was born and raised in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia. He began playing the keys at the young age of five and was introduced to the Celtic style at thirteen. Today, he is an enthusiastic twenty-five year old with a Bachelor of Music degree from St. Francis Xavier University. He has performed in public since 1997, including many piano solos and sharing the stage with a variety of instrumentalists. His own recording was produced at Lakewind Sounds this year. More recently Jason was featured on Dawn and Margie Beaton's "A Taste Of Gaelic".
Cassie Anne MacDonald, 18, has been playing the fiddle since she was seven and step dancing since she was 5. She has studied both Classical violin and Celtic fiddle, and is also a great step dancer. She recently performed at the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival in 2007. Maggie Jane MacDonald, 16, has been playing the classical piano since the age of five but has been studying Celtic piano chording for the past two years. She plays multiple instruments including the guitar, the mandolin, and the 6-string banjo, and she step dances! Together as a team the two sisters have accomplished much in the last couple of years. Cassie was invited to represent Nova Scotia as a special guest at the 2009 Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle championship, along with Maggie Jane, where they showcased their talent. Cassie Anne and Maggie Jane played this year at the Celtic Colors Music Festival in Cape Breton.
The Oakville Celtic Fiddle Club is a non profit Celtic fiddle orchestra created to bring like minded musicians together to play, and perform music in the Celtic tradition. Their focus is on Scottish, Irish, and Cape Breton tunes. Under the direction of James Franczek they play several sets of tunes and can be seen playing concerts at various times of the year ( spring concert, Celtic Festivals, etc ). They are always on the look out for fiddlers, guitar players, flute players, and Bodhran (Celtic drum) players, (other instruments are also welcome). The club is open to anyone from the young to the young at heart.
Brenda was raised in Point Aconi, a small Cape Breton fishing & mining community a few miles from North Sydney and Sydney Mines. The Northside is known for its rich musical traditions. The Stubbert household had regular musical visitors including fiddlers Winston Fitzgerald, Johnny Wilmot, Joe Confiant and many others. Brenda started young. Surrounded by music, by the time she was five she commenced with dancing and the piano. A short while later, about age eight, she started on the fiddle. Although strongly influenced by her family's music, Brenda's style borrows elements from all the great players she has associated with. Brenda's music has taken her to Ireland, Scotland, Mexico and hundreds of places around Canada and the US, and she is in constant demand throughout Cape Breton.
Kimberley Fraser was born on Cape Breton Island, and nurtured within its rich musical heritage. She first began to impress audiences at the age of three with her step-dancing talents. Soon after that she took up both the fiddle and the piano. Like many in Cape Breton, music is not new to Kimberley’s family. She proudly owns the fiddle of her great great grandfather, spanning the musical tradition within her family over a hundred years.
Dawn and Margie Beaton grew up in Mabou, Cape Breton and were surrounded by music and dance in the formative years of their lives. From a very early age, the girls found themselves dancing on local stages around Cape Breton. Just after beginning school, both girls began taking fiddle lessons and never looked back. Over the years they have performed at concerts, ceilidhs and festivals all around Cape Breton Island, mainland Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and as far away as Washington, D.C. in the fall of 1998 and in Scotland in March of 1999, 2003 and 2007. The biggest highlight for the girls in 2008 was the awarding of the Frank “Big Sampie” Sampson award as sponsored by the Drive’ers Association and Lakewind Sound Studio, Pt. Aconi that provides financial help for first time Cape Breton recording artists. With this aid, Dawn and Margie completed and released their debut album, Taste of Gaelic, during the Celtic Colors International Festival, in St. Ann’s, Cape Breton, and have been nominated for a 2010 East Coast Music Award.
