Martin Carthy
For more than 40 years Martin Carthy has been one of folk music’s greatest innovators, one of its best loved, most enthusiastic and, at times, most quietly controversial of figures. His skill, stage presence and natural charm have won him many admirers, not only from within the folk scene, but also far beyond it. Trailblazing musical partnerships with, amongst others, Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick and his award-winning wife (Norma Waterson) and daughter Eliza Carthy have resulted in more than 40 albums, but Martin has only recorded 10 solo albums, of which the much anticipated Waiting for Angels (Topic TSCD527) is the latest.
He’s a ballad singer, a ground-breaking acoustic & electric guitarist and an authoritative interpreter of newly composed material. He always prefers to follow an insatiable musical curiosity rather than cash in on his unrivalled position. Perhaps, most significant of all, are his settings of traditional songs with guitar, which have influenced a generation of artists, including Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, on both sides of the Atlantic.
In June 1998 he was appointed an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. He was named Folk Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002, and again in 2005 when he also won the award for Best Traditional Track for ‘amous Flower of Serving Men. In the 2007 Folk Awards Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick won Best Duo. In 2008 he won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award Best Traditional Track for Cold Haily Rainy Night alongside Eliza Carthy and Chris Wood as part of The Imagined Village project.
We are really delighted to welcome Martin to Inishowen!
Mick & Micheál Quinn
Mick hails from Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh and is a regular at Inishowen. He is one of the true gentlemen of the tradition and has enriched many a gathering with his storytelling and singing. He has had a major influence on many singers in the South Armagh and North Louth region, not least his son Micheál who joins him to perform in Inishowen this year. This will be a highlight among the many families who perform in Inishowen this year.
Charlie & Denis McGonigle
The McGonigle family have been highly influential in the survival of traditional singing in Inishowen. Brothers and sisters have married other singers and musicians, creating a close knit group who have carried on the traditions of singing, music and dance to another generation. Charlie performs this year with one of his sons, Denis, a fine fiddler as well as singer.
Muintir Uí Catháin
Eithne Ní Ch
atháin’s beautiful voice and captivating singing bring a transcendent quality to her performances. Steeped and deeply rooted in traditional music, sean-nós song and the Irish language, she embraces this heritage while simultaneously, branching out to explore & enrich it in fresh, contemporary ways. Her assured fiddle playing and original songs dovetail with a natural grace and lightness of presence to nurture an audience with sounds of deep emotion and rare beauty.
Mícheál has been singing since an early age, in school choirs initially, then learning sean-nós singing from listening to Seán ‘Ac Donnchadha, Joe Éinniú and later Colm Ó Caoidheáin. Increasingly interested in the english language singing tradition embodied by the likes of Frank Harte, Eddie Butcher and Joe Holmes, he likes to sing from the heart, glad that singing still plays such a major part in Irish life – on important as well as on entirely unimportant occasions. Mícheál worked for a time in the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and also plays the fiddle.
John Moulden
John Moulden is among of the foremost students of Anglophone traditional song in Ireland in which he enjoys a world-wide reputation. He is also a ‘well regarded’ singer. His interest in songs had its origin in childhood and a disciplined interest in ‘folk songs’ followed. He has been researching cheaply printed songs and their influence upon the oral tradition since 1968 and this culminated in the recent award of PhD for his thesis, “The Printed Ballad in Ireland: a guide to the popular printing of songs in Ireland, 1760-1920″ (NUI Galway, 2006). This surveys the surviving corpus of Irish printed, ballad sheets and small song-books, examines trade practices, assesses the influence that songs exerted upon the mentality of the least educated people in Ireland and estimates the degree to which the ballad trades of Britain and Ireland interacted. It also surveys the state of scholarship regarding songs and their use as evidence in historical and cultural studies in Ireland and further afield. By trade a Primary School Teacher, this was his first opportunity to perform detailed full-time research in an area for which he has entertained a life-long passion. He has published in a wide range of periodicals ranging from Honest Ulsterman to The Canadian Folk Music Journal and has lectured widely in Ireland, Britain and North America, most recently at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Being both singer and scholar, his talks are characterised by his own performances and by his informed enthusiasm.
Cathal O’Neill
Cathal was introduced to the singing weekend in 2011 by singer Roisin White. We are now delighted to bring him back as a guest this year and he returns having won the All Ireland Senior Mens Singing in English Competition. Grandson of Sarah Anne O’Neill and grandnephew of Geordie Hanna, Cathal has inherited and bears with great dignity the legacy of both singers.
Stuart Carolan
We are delighted to bring a new generation of Carolan’s to Inishowen. Stuart is following in the footsteps of his grandmother, Mary Ann Carolan who was a renowned performer of ballads and songs in the style and tradition of Co. Louth. Now gaining a solid reputation in his own right, we are delighted to give a platform to another generation of performers.
Geordie Murison
Geordie was born and brought up on a farm at Fetteresso just outside Stonehaven. His father had two older sisters who were a great source of stories about school and farm life before and after the First World War. His mother’s family (Robertson) were very musical and one of his earliest memories is of his granny sitting singing. His uncle played the fiddle and accordion and his older sister plays piano, guitar and sings. A chance meeting with Jim Taylor, Tam Reid’s nephew, in 1997, led to Geordie attending Aberdeen Branch TMSA sessions. There he met Tam and Anne Reid who encouraged him to enter competitions at festivals. This led to him being invited to festivals all over the country including London, Dorset, Dublin and Whitby as well as in Scotland. In February 2008 he won the Elgin Rotary Club’s champion of champions Bothy Ballad competition. Geordie is a stalwart supporter of traditional song events and we are delighted to welcome him to Inishowen.
Jim Taylor
Jim Taylor was brought up on a farm in Garlogie, in Aberdeenshire. As a nephew of the late Tam Reid of Cullerlie, the famous Bothy Ballad King, it is not surprising that he too has a large repertoire under his belt. Jim is a favourite singer in Scotland’s northeast, and an equally popular compere at events in and beyond his home village. His good humour and wonderful singing on and off stage will be greatly appreciated in Inishowen.
Jeff Warner
Jeff Warner is among the America’s foremost performer/interpreters of traditional music. His songs from the lumber camps, fishing villages and mountain tops of America connect 21st century audiences with the everyday lives–and artistry–of 19th century Americans. His songs, rich in local history and a sense of place, bring us the latest news from the distant past.
Jeff grew up listening to the songs and stories of his father Frank Warner and the traditional singers his parents met during their folksong collecting trips through rural America. He accompanied his parents on their later field trips and is the editor of his mother’s book, Traditional American Folk Songs: From the Anne and Frank Warner Collection. He is producer of the two-CD set, Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still, the Warners’ recordings of rural singers, many of them born in Victorian times. Jeff has performed widely, from large festivals in the UK, to clubs, festivals and schools across America. He plays concertina, banjo, guitar and several “pocket” instruments, including bones and spoons.
A native of New York City, Jeff has lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire since the late 1990s. He is an artist for the New Hampshire Council on the Arts, a speaker for the New Hampshire Humanities Council and was a 2007 State Arts Council Fellow.
The Diamond Family
Dermy comes from Belfast, and learned his early music from local players in Belfast, Antrim and Down, such as Andy Dickson and Gerry McCartney. Later, he and Tara travelled extensively across Ireland, playing and spending time with musicians from many parts of the country, particularly Clare, Cork, Kerry, Donegal and Fermanagh. He was a participant in three Music Network tours, with, amongst others, Dolores Keane, John Faulkner, Paddy Keenan, Maighréad Ní Dhomhnaill, Fintan Vallely, Con Fada Ó Drisceoil and Charlie Harris.He teaches fiddle at the Willie Clancy Summer School along with Bernadette McCarthy.
Helen began singing and playing the fiddle at an early age and has continued to do so, performing in Europe, the USA and Ireland. Her musical style has been influenced by such musicians as James Byrne, Danny Meehan and Ronan Galvin, and by singers Róisín White, Cathal McConnell, Gabriel McArdle and Antaine Ó Faracháin. Helen also has a strong interest in the English singing tradition, in particular the early music of Martin Carthy, the Watersons and Copper Family. She is currently completing a degree in English Literature in Trinity College Dublin, where she sings with the Chapel Choir.
Tara comes from Co. Down and learned her early music from her father Leslie Bingham, also a flute player. Tara was influenced by musicians such as Paddy Tyrell from Dundalk (flute and sax), Cathal McConnell (flute) and Tom McHale (whistle). She is one of a group of accomplished flute players who emerged from the greater Belfast area in the late 1970’s, and is renowned for the tone and smoothness of her playing. She can be heard on the CD Seanchairde along with her husband Dermy (fiddle) and Daithi Sproule (guitar). Tara has guested on a number of albums and teaches annually at the Frankie Kennedy Winter School and the Willie Clancy Summer School. She has also conducted workshops in France, Germany, Denmark, USA and Japan.
Danny is a fiddler, music archivist and photographer from Dublin. The main influences on his music growing up were his family, Dublin fiddler Paul O’Shaughnessy, and the fiddle tradition of Co. Donegal. In recent years Danny has played extensively in Europe as a member of the band Mórga, with whom he released his debut album in 2009. He works as Field Recordings Officer in the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin (www.itma.ie/), recording traditional musicians in studio and at events around the country, and cataloguing the Archive’s field recording collections.
