Programme 6: 31st August 2007

Artists

Paddy Keenan
Paddy Keenan was born in Trim, Co. Meath, to John Keenan, Sr. of Westmeath and the former Mary Bravender of Co. Cavan. The Keenans were a Travelling family steeped in traditional music; both Paddy's father and grandfather were uilleann pipers. Paddy himself took up the pipes at the age of ten, playing his first major concert at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, when he was 14

At 17, having fallen in love with the blues, Paddy left Ireland for England and Europe, where he played blues and rock. Returning to Ireland after a few years, he began playing around Dublin with singer/keyboardist Triona Ni Dhomhnaill and singer/guitarist Micheal O Dhomhnaill. Fiddler Paddy Glackin then joined the three, and they asked flute player Matt Mollov to play with them shortly thereafter. Next accordion player Tony MacMahon joined the group, and then guitarist Donal Lunny was asked to listen to the six. Liking what he heard, he joined as well, and the loosely-knit band began calling itself "Seachtar," the Irish word for "seven."

Seachtar's first major concert was in Dublin. They played a few more gigs around the country, but circumstances soon forced Tony MacMahon to drop out. When the rest of the band decided to turn professional Paddy Glackin left as well; he was replaced by Donegal fiddler Tommy Peoples who was later replaced by fiddler Kevin Burke). Thus was born one of the most influential bands of the 1970s, 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. Those fortunate enough to have seen the band live have never forgotten the impression they made -- one reviewer likened the experience to "being in a jet when it suddenly whipped into full throttle along the runway." Paddy was one of the band's founding members, and his 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 such great Travelling pipers as Johnny Doran; both Paddy's father and grandfather played in the same style. Although often compared to Doran, Paddy was 19 or 20 when he first heard a tape of Doran's playing; his own style is a direct result of his father's tutelage and influence.

Paddy's style has continued to mature in the intervening years since the break-up of The Bothy Band as he has pursued a solo career. Recently he has played at several festivals and weekends, including Gaelic Roots I and II at Boston College; the 1995 Eigse na Laoi at University College, Cork; Green Linnet's Irish Music Party of the Year; and twice at the Washington Irish Folk Festival at Wolf Trap, including a concert performance there in 1995 with accordion player James Keane and guitarist John Doyle which was videotaped and has been broadcast worldwide. He has played the Stonehill College Festival in Boston and the Philadelphia Ceili Group's Irish Music and Dance Festival, as well as various concerts, benefits and tionals (piping festivals) around the US, in Canada and in Ireland, and even plays an occasional ceili.

Generally acknowledged as the most accomplished uilleann piper performing today, Paddy is certainly one of the most brilliant musicians of his generation. He can rightfully claim his place alongside such open-style legends as pipers John Cash and Johnny Doran

Tommy O'Sullivan
Born in London into a family with their roots deep in the heart of the West Kerry Gaeltacht, Tommy O'Sullivan was raised in a melting pot of sounds from the rhythms of The Beatles on the radio to his parents Irish records on the turntable. By the time his family returned to their home in Kerry in the early seventies, he was singing and playing guitar like a pro.

In an area famous for its rich history of music, tradition and language Tommy started to explore the world of traditional music, dabbling with open guitar tunings and listening to everybody from Paul Brady and Dick Gaughan to the acclaimed West Kerry traditional musicians The Begley family, through trial, error and experimentation he found his own unique sound.

Returning to London in 1982 he found himself engulfed in a stream of traditional music from all over Ireland. Amid this vibrant scene Tommy quickly established himself as a well respected guitar player and singer. Many of the musicians in and around this circle would later come to national and international attention such as John Carty, Mike McGoldrick, Dezi Donnelly, Sean Keane, Ron Kavana, and actor Patrick Bergin( a regular bass player on the scene).

In the spring of '86 he travelled to the U.S. with fiddle player Tommy McCarthy and spent most of that year on America's east coast based in the gambling capitol of Atlantic City.(Tommy McCarthy went on to open 'The Burren' in Boston which has become one of the most famous Irish American music venues in the States).

Upon his return to London ,Tommy embarked on the first of many trips to Denmark. Eventually he joined Ashplant a Copenhagen based band with Danish and Irish members. Ashplant regularly toured and played at festivals all over Scandinavia. Tommy continued to tour with Ashplant until he eventually returned to Ireland in 1992.

Within a year he released his acclaimed debut album 'Legacy'. Among the musicians featured were Matt Cranitch and Steve Cooney. Shortly after the release of "Legacy" Matt, Tommy and '4 Men and a Dog' box player Donal Murphy formed 'Sliabh Notes'. To date they have recorded three albums: "Sliabh Notes", "Gleanntan" and "Along Blackwater's Banks".

In 1997 Tommy began touring regularly with ex-Bothy Band virtuoso piper Paddy Keenan, having featured on Paddy's solo album 'Na Keen Affair'. They later went on to record the much acclaimed album 'The Long Grazing Acre' which was released on the compass label in 2003.The pair continue to tour and appear at festivals worldwide.

Joe Derrane
Joe Derrane, born in Boston, MA in 1930 to Irish immigrant parents developed a deep and abiding love for the accordion and traditional Irish music from a very early age. Around 1940, he started studying the 10 key melodeon with the great Jerry O'Brien, who had immigrated from Kinsale, Co. Cork. By the time he was 14, Joe was active in the then popular house party scene. By the time he was 17, he had purchased a 2-row instrument (D/C#) and had become a fixture in the legendary ballroom scene in the Dudley Street section of Roxbury. He was also playing regular live radio shows on Saturday nights. The burgeoning interest in his playing had blossomed to the point where he was asked to make the first of what would turn out to be a series of eight (16 sides) 78rpm recordings over the next few years. Those recordings, marked by his unique styling, vigor, and flawless execution, stunned everyone in the Irish music world.

The late 1950s ushered in the demise of the ballroom scene, and a major loss of income for Joe, now married with family responsibilities. With fewer venues in which to play, Joe turned to the only acceptable avenue open to him. He sold his beloved button box, bought a new piano accordion, and embarked on a new adventure in the "pop" field. Although he had tried, unsuccessfully, to present traditional Irish music on his new instrument, he was pushed deeper and deeper into the "pop" field, and he virtually disappeared from the Irish scene. In the late 80s he retired from music altogether.

In 1993, Rego Records reissued his 78rpm recordings in album form on CD and cassette. A huge wave of interest was generated all over again, and he was asked (late 1993) to perform at the prestigious Wolftrap Festival in Vienna, West Virginia in May of 1994. Using an old accordion borrowed from a friend, and by dint of a prodigious effort, Joe got ready for what he viewed as "just once more, for old times, sake"...a final performance to cap his career the way he started it...with Irish music and a "box". The response to that performance was astonishing. Some 1200 people applauding, cheering, and many crying (including Joe) welcomed him back. He had come home! His return to the box and the music has been, over and over again, termed as the greatest comeback in the history of Irish music.

Since then, Joe has recorded four new albums..."GIVE US ANOTHER" and "RETURN TO INIS MOR" for the Green Linnet label; "THE TIE THAT BINDS" for the Shanachie label, and "IRELAND'S HARVEST" with Frankie Gavin for the Mapleshade label. His work appears on a number of compilations, including the 3 CD set of "PLANET SQUEEZEBOX".

Joe has been profiled in such newspapers as The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, The Dublin Times, The Boston Herald, The Boston Globe, and The Patriot Ledger, in addition to various folk music magazines and other publications in the U.S. and abroad. He has given numerous radio and television performances, including "The Pure Drop" series on RTE, Ireland,s national television. Joe was also the subject of and excellent Frank Ferrel documentary "As Played By Joe Derrane".

His concert performances have taken him across much of the U.S. from Maine to Alaska, Canada, Switzerland, and the Netherlands...and into such prestigious venues as Boston's Symphony Hall with the Chieftans and The Boston Pops, The Kennedy Performing Arts Center, and the White House.

In February of 1998, (Albany, NY) Joe was inducted into the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann North American Province "Hall Of Fame" in recognition of his impact on, and contribution to, Irish Traditional Music.

Seamus Connolly
Séamus Connolly is one of the world's most respected master Irish traditional musicians and teachers. A native of Killaloe, County Clare he now resides in Groton, Massachusetts. Séamus won the Irish National Fiddle Championship 10 times, a feat unequalled by any other musician. He was also the winner of the internationally acclaimed "Fiddler of Dooney" Competition.

More recently, Séamus was appointed to the endowed "Artist in Residence" Sullivan Chair in Irish Music at Boston College. He was also awarded a Fellowship in Traditional Arts by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (in 1990 Seamus was awarded another Fellowship from the Council and three consecutive Master/Apprenticeship Grants). In 2002 he was named "Traditional Musician of the Year" by The Irish Echo, a national Irish-American newspaper. He was also inducted into the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Hall of Fame. In 1999 Irish America Magazine selected Seamus as one of their "Top 100" Irish Americans.

Séamus grew up in a home filled with music, both his parents and two brothers were musicians. His brother Martin Connolly, a button accordionist, also won the National Championship a number of times.

Séamus was 12 years old when he began playing the fiddle. His father encouraged him to listen to the recordings of the famed County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman. Coleman was later to became one of Séamus' musical heroes. Séamus would slow down the Maestro's 78 rpm recordings and re-tune his own fiddle to match the sounds and tones of the record. He could then hear every note clearly and was almost able to visualize the movements of the master's fingers and bow.

Before long, Séamus went on to national prominence. He was a regular performer on Irish radio and television. He joined the famous Kilfenora Céilí Band, an ensemble noted for its rhythms, musicality and rare tunes indigenous to North County Clare. He traveled with the band throughout Ireland and Britain, playing for dances, concerts, radio and television programs.

Séamus came to the United States in 1972 as a member of the first Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann (CCE) tour, an ensemble of 26 musicians, singers and dancers. In 1976 he immigrated to America and settled in the Boston area. At the request of Larry Reynolds, President of the local branch of CCE, Séamus agreed to teach and pass on to American-born students the various regional styles of Irish fiddling. Some of his better students qualified to compete in the Irish National Music Championships, one of them, Brendan Bulger, won first place in the under eighteen fiddle category, a competition Séamus had won twenty-five years earlier.

Séamus has had the honor of representing Ireland on three "Masters of the Folk Violin" tours organized by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. He has performed at most major festivals in the United States, including the National Folk Festival, Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, Wolf Trap Irish Folk Festival and American Roots Fourth of July Celebration at the Washington Monument. He also performed on the "Folk Masters" radio series, which was broadcast nationwide on National Public Radio. As a performer, teacher and lecturer, he has traveled to places as far afield as Australia, Spain, France, England, Canada, and Ireland.

Séamus has also appeared on the nationally televised "Today Show" and was profiled by Boston's WCVB-TV5 "Chronicle Program." He initiated, produced and co-hosted with Larry Reynolds Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann's ongoing weekly radio program of traditional Irish music on WNTN-1550 AM Boston. The program is the only one of its kind in North America. He also co-hosted the Irish segments of Boston's WGBH National Public Radio series "Ethnicity."

Séamus has numerous recordings to his credit. Released on Green Linnet Records are his two solo CDs: Notes from my Mind and Here and There. Also released on Green Linnet Records is Banks of the Shannon, (a recording with the legendary accordionist Paddy O'Brien and pianist/composer Charlie Lennon) and Warming Up (a recording with accordionist/composer Martin Mulhaire, flutist Jack Coen and pianist Felix Dolan). Most recently Séamus produced with Laurel Martin, a colleague and fiddle teacher in the Boston College Irish Studies Program, a book of Irish tunes with two accompanying CDs entitled, Forget Me Not: A Collection of 50 Memorable Traditional Irish Tunes, released in June 2002 by Mel Bay Publications. The music is printed and recorded slowly in both simple and more highly ornamented versions. Seamus recently recorded a CD (to be released in the Fall of 2004) with the legendary accordionist Joe Derrane (2004 National Heritage Fellowship awardee) and one of America's national champion string players, John McGann.

Seamus Directed the highly acclaimed Gaelic Roots Summer School and Festival at Boston College

Sean McComiskey
As the son of the great Button Accordion player, Billy McComiskey, Sean has been surrounded by the sounds of Irish music, especially Irish accordion music, his entire life. Before picking up "the box," Sean tried various other instruments, including the piano and the fiddle, but none of which seemed to fit him. It wasn't until the summer of 1998 when he learned his first tune on the button accordion. Since then he's been hooked.

Sean has performed at a variety of concerts and festivals - the Washington Irish Festival, the Kennedy Center Millennium stage, and the White House St. Patrick's Day Celebration. Sean graduated from Calvert Hall College High School, with honors, in June 2002, and is currently attending Towson University.

Cleek Shrey
Cleek Shrey is a gifted performer and teacher of Irish fiddling. He was mentored by Brendan Mulvihill, and has spent time digesting and interpreting the music of Michael Coleman, Lad O'Beirne, Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds. He performs regularly with his trio, including Baltimore musicians Sean McComiskey on accordian, and pianist Matt Mulqueen and with pianist Donna Long.. He appears on a forthcoming release by Cork fiddler John Daly and Irish piano & fiddle legend Josephine Keegan. Cleek teaches teaches a regular group fiddle class and also offers private instruction on fiddle and piano accompaniment at the Blue Ridge Irish Music School and has been on staff at the Catskills Irish Arts Week and Irish Week at the Augusta Heritage Center.

Liz Carroll
Liz Carroll brings the best Irish fiddling to the Lyceum, and John Doyle adds his unique style in accompaniment. Since she was 18, when she astounded the Celtic music world by winning the Senior All-Ireland Championship, Liz Carroll and her fiddle have been amazing audiences around the globe. Her recordings and appearances on concert stages, television and radio, have established Liz as one of traditional music's most sought after performers. "lost in the loop," released in 2000, won Liz new fans around the world, as it garnered an Indie Award and Liz being named Traditional Performer of the Year for 2000.

Not that that's the first time a solo record by Liz has been praised. In 1988,Liz's first solo, "Liz Carroll," was chosen as a select record of American folk music by the Library of Congress, no less. That same recording was called "a milestone achievement in the career of a fiddler reaching beyond herself," by noted critic and radio host Earl Hitchner.

It should be noted that Liz's recordings are in the majority her own compositions, and they have given her a stature equal to that of her playing. When you listen to a Liz CD, you're hearing the tunes of a composer celebrated for invigorating the traditional styles of Irish music. Her compositions have entered into the repertoire of Irish and Celtic performers throughout the world. If you walk into an Irish pub and a group of Irish musicians are in the corner, buy them a pint and ask for a set of Liz tunes. They'll probably buy you a pint in thanks!

But it is Liz in concert that has entranced audiences throughout the States, and also in tours of Ireland, Europe, and Africa. Neil Tesser of Chicago's Reader marvels that "her quicksilver lines can captivate violin admirers way beyond the bounds of Hibernia." P.J. Curtis of the Irish American says that Liz "conjures up a dizzying mixture of the sweetest tones, the fastest runs, and the most dazzling display of musicianship imaginable." One of Liz's proudest concert moments was at the 1st American Congress of the Violin, hosted by Yehudi Menuhin.

In 1994, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Liz a National Heritage Fellowship for her great influence on Irish music in America, as a performer and a composer. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton presented the award which bestows national recognition on artists of international stature.

In 2000, Liz was named Irish Traditional Musician of the Year by Earle Hitchner of the Irish Echo and in 2001 her CD "Lost in the Loop" was named best recording in the Celtic/British Isles Category by the Association for Independent Music.

Steve Cooney
An Australian of Irish ancestry who has lived here for many years, Steve Cooney is one of Ireland's leading guitarists and is also a much sought-after and highly regarded producer. From the age of seventeen he has been playing in rock bands including Stockton's Wing. His technique is excellent.

Laoise Kelly
Laoise Kelly was born in Westport, Co. Mayo and, in her young professional career, has covered a lot of ground recording with Donal Lunny, Sharon Shannon, the Chieftains, Sinead O Connor, Kate Bush, Micheáll Ó Súilleabháin, Mary Black and Liam Ó Maonlaí. Laoise is a founder member of the ground breaking all female group, Bumblebees.

Dermot Byrne
Dermot Byrne is a native of Donegal and guested on two Altan albums, "The Red Crow" and "Island Angel" before joining the band in 1994. Like Mairead, Dermot had music from his father, Tómas O Beirn), from the Gaeltacht area of Teileann, and heard all the great Donegal fiddlers, the Doherty's, Cassidy', and Byrne's from his infancy. With this start, Dermot was a renowned accordion player before he reached his teens, he has played and recorded with many great musicians including Seamus and Manus McGuire, Frankie Gavin and Pierre Schryer, and he also has his own solo recording.

Johnny Connelly
An acclaimed accordion player, Connemara based Johnny Connelly is an accomplished musician known as well for his accompaniment of dancers as he is as a solo musician. With both his children now joining him in sessions on fiddle and accordion nothing exemplifies the Connemara style of sean nós music and dance as much as Johnny Connelly's accordion playing.

Proinsias Ó Maonaigh
Proinsias Ó Maonaigh or Francie Mooney was a fiddler from Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland. He is world-famous for his distinguished fiddle playing and his unique and vast contribution to Irish music and culture.

Born in Gweedore in 1922 as the youngest of eight children, he was a son of famous musician from the area Róise Mhór who would have played with an Píobaire Mór Tarlach Mac Suibhne. It was an Irish speaking household, as is the whole of Gweedore, and traditional music was nurtured within the home and they were taught many Irish songs. He taught at Luinneach primary school in Gweedore from 1967 until his retirement in 1996. He also taught many locals how to play the fiddle right up to the age of 82. Francie was also a keen Gaelic footballer and contributed greatly to the local and county GAA.

Proinsías was loyal and dedicated to everything Irish and Gaelic, and tried to nurture Irish music and the Irish language in young people motivating them to have love for their own culture and traditions.

He is world-renowned for his unique skills at song-writing and he is credited for such working as "Francie Mooney's German", "Francie Mooney's Mazourka" and "Francie Mooney's Highland".

His most famous song was a heart-warming song he wrote about his hometown Gweedore, called "Gleanntáin Ghlas' Ghaoth Dobhair". It is used as an anthem by local people especially, but it has captured the hearts of many outsiders also. It has been performed by singers such as Altan, Paul Brady, Brian Kennedy and Clannad.

In 2003 he was honoured by the Oireachtas when he was the president of the Letterkenny event.

Proinsías Ó Maonaigh died on the 29th of March 2006, after suffering a brief illness. His funeral was one of the biggest ever seen in County Donegal, and acts such as Skara Brae, Altan, Paul Brady and Clannad paid tribute to the great legend at the requiem mass in Gweedore.

He has left a huge legacy behind him but it is his family that has made the biggest mark on the traditional music scene. His daughter Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is the lead and founding member of internationally recognised group Altan. His son Gearóid is known for his musical talents also and his grandson Ciarán Ó Maonaigh is the recipient of the 2003 TG4 Musician Of The Year Award.

Paddy Keenan