ARRANGING FOR SONGS AND TUNES
Pat Broaders
Born in Dublin of parents from Wexford, Pat began playing traditional Irish music at the age of 12. He attended the Chatham Street School of Music where he began on the whistle and later moved to the uilleann pipes under the tutelage of the world renowned uilleann piper, Leon Rowsome. He also studied pipes with Tommy Reck and was influenced by pipers Liam OFlynn, Willie Clancy, and Matt Kiernan. In 1998, Pat began playing the bouzouki and studied briefly with Donal Lunny. While in Ireland, Pat began singing and was a member of the group, An Beal Bocht, which toured Europe with the Chieftains. Pat also played and sang with the Irish rock bands, In Tua Nua and Cry Before Dawn, and with the International Blues Band. In addition, he has played with The Wilf Brothers, with whom he appeared on the RTE television program, "Night Hawks."
In 1990, Pat moved to Massachusetts, where he performed with various groups in the Boston area. He relocated to Chicago in 1991 and has been actively involved in the Irish music community ever since. He teaches uilleann pipes, performs regularly in the group Moore & Broaders, and is a part of the touring company of the Trinity Irish Dance Company. When he is not performing, Pat operates Pipedream Studio, where the majority of Aengus' first recording took place. He has performed on numerous national commercials and jingles in the U.S. and Ireland.
Since moving to Chicago, Pat has performed and recorded with a variety of musicians and groups, including Dennis Cahill, Liz Carroll, Sean Cleland, Kat Eggleston, Martin Hayes, Larry Nugent, Paddy O' Brien, Robbie O’Connell, John Williams, and The Drovers. He is best known as the bouzouki player/singer of Bohola with piano accordionist Jimmy Keane.
In Jimmy's words: “Pat is a real veteran of the Irish music scene both here and abroad, playing, recording, and performing with many artists and bands over the years. Pat has this acute sense of music and rhythm that enables him to “lock in” his dordan (bass bouzouki) playing to whatever I might do musically and rhythmically. The synergy that results spurs on Bohola and draws in the audience. And his singing is brilliant – if I could sing, I’d love to sing like Pat.”
Tommy O'Sullivan
Tommy is a versatile guitarist. His is often described as a percussive flatpicking guitarist but he also has a highly-developed fingerpicking style which is the fabric of his high strung playing and song accompaniment. For tunes, he usually accompanies in DADGAD. For songs, he regularly uses dropped-D or standard tuning.
Tommy O Sullivan was born in London in 1961 to John L O Sullivan of Lispole, Co. Kerry and Mary Lynch of Garfinny, Dingle, Co. Kerry. He began playing guitar at the age of ten and shortly afterwards moved with his family back to Lispole, five miles east of Dingle. His already keen interest in music was fuelled by the great sessions that he heard locally and in particular in Cahir's Bar, Corofin, where he heard the likes of Mary Bergin, Tony Linnane, Noel Hill, and Paddy Keenan.
One early influence on Tommy was Dublin guitarist Eoin Pender who started him on fingerpicking techniques. Other major influences at that time were Dick Gaughan, Paul Brady, John Martyn, Nick Jones and Donal Lunny. Tommy returned to London when he was 2l and there he played with, and absorbed, much from renowned London/Irish musicians such as Raymond Roland, Liam Farrell, Bobby and Sean Casey and the McCarthy family. He was also often found singing in english folk clubs and arts centres, both solo and amongst the likes of Barry Dransfield and Martin Simpson. After a time in Copenhagen playing with Ash Plant where he replaced Seamus Cahill, Tommy returned once again to Lispole.
Shortly afterwards, he made a solo recording entitled Legacy to considerable critical acclaim. In 1995, along with Matt Cranitch and Donal Murphy (4 Men and a Dog) he formed Sliabh Notes who has played the North Texas Irsh Fetsival in recent years.
Tommy has also kept a busy international schedule with Paddy Keenan (The Bothy Band) since 1997. While mostly concentrated in the U.S., they also appear regularly in Ireland and at European festivals.
For many, his vocal contributions to Sliabh Notes three albums so far ‘Sliabh Notes’, ‘Gleanntan’ and ‘Along Blackwater’s Banks’ and his duet with Paddy Keenan ‘The Long Grazing Acre’ were highlights as much as the musical content. Tommy’s personal view of himself is "a singer who plays as opposed to a player that sings." To that extent, he has recorded a new solo album entitled "Song Ablaze" focusing on his singing.
GEARING UP FOR SESSIONS
Daniel Lowery
Daniel is originally from Dallas, Texas and has been playing Irish music for approximately thirteen years. Beginning on the tinwhistle, he eventually picked up the wooden flute, and soon became heavily involved in the Dallas Irish music scene. In 1999, he went on to play and compete around Ireland and the U.S., leading him to win first place in the senior whistle competition at the 2001 Midwest Fleadh Cheoil. Meanwhile, he joined the traditional Dallas-based band Idle Road, and played with them for several years before moving in 2002 to study philosophy and music in the northeast. Having now graduated from college, Daniel currently lives and works as a professional musician in New York City, where he can regularly be found teaching, recording, sessioning, and performing with a variety of traditional musicians.
IRISH MUSIC FOR CLASSICAL PLAYERS
Heather Gilmer
Heather Gilmer arrived in Texas from New England, where she discovered Irish music in 1994. In 1997 she moved to Austin, where she found a place to play music before she found a place to live. She has taken Irish fiddle classes with Seamus Connolly, Kevin Burke, Ben Lennon, Paul O'Shaughnessy, Tony DeMarco, and Matt Cranitch, and has almost completely recovered from classical training. She has been performing with various Celtic acts in Texas since 1998, has been the music and dance coordinator for the Austin Celtic Festival, and often plays for dance classes and workshops. For more information on Heather, visit her website at www.fiddlista.com.
IRISH MUSIC OVERVIEW
Patrick Ourceau
Since moving to America in 1989, Patrick has performed with many U.S.-based musicians, including the legendary accordion players James Keane and Paddy O'Brien, concertina wizard John Williams and the band "Celtic Thunder." In June 1999, Patrick joined the Tulla Ceilí Band on their last U.S. tour, and regularly performed with former Tulla Ceilí band accordion player Andrew McNamara. One of Patrick's main concert partners has been Gearóid O'hAllmhuráin, a renowned County Clare concertina player. They performed in concerts and festivals all across Europe and North America. In 1999, they released "Tracin'," a critically acclaimed duet recording faithful to the style and repertoire of the older generation of traditional musicians in Clare and East Galway. Patrick is also featured on flute player Cathal McConnell's (Boys of the Lough) last solo album, "Long Expectant Comes At Last," released in February 1999, on the Compass Records label, and on accordion player John Whelan's "Celtic Roots," re-released in February 2002 on the Narada Records label. In 2000, Patrick appeared with a host of local musicians on "Music and Songs from East Clare — Volume I", an archival recording made as part of a Millennium Project to preserve and and collect folklore in that part of Ireland. For the last ten years, Patrick has also been in great demand as a teacher and regularly teaches out of his home in Brooklyn. He has taught at various festivals in the U.S. and Canada, such as the Chris Langan Weekend in Toronto; the St. Louis Irish Festival, Friday Harbor Irish Camp, Washington and the Augusta Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia. He has been part of the teaching staff for the past several years at the Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York, and the Celtic College in Goderich, Canada.
IRISH TUNES PLAYED SLOW
Michelle Feldman
Michelle has lived in Texas since 1991. She morphed from college orchestra player to Irish session fiddler while attending California State University at Sonoma. In Southern California, she played for contra and ceili dancers, and performed with Shannon, the only all-girl Celtic band in Los Angeles. Since coming to the Dallas area, Michelle has played Celtic music for festivals, parties, and pub gigs with such groups as Moveable Feast, Cuckoo's Nest, Old Age & Treachery and Chattervox. She was also a recent member of the North Texas trad band, Idle Road and now plays in the fiddle driven Gallus and with the Trinity Hall Session Players.
Daniel Lowery
Daniel is originally from Dallas, Texas and has been playing Irish music for approximately thirteen years. Beginning on the tinwhistle, he eventually picked up the wooden flute, and soon became heavily involved in the Dallas Irish music scene. In 1999, he went on to play and compete around Ireland and the U.S., leading him to win first place in the senior whistle competition at the 2001 Midwest Fleadh Cheoil. Meanwhile, he joined the traditional Dallas-based band Idle Road, and played with them for several years before moving in 2002 to study philosophy and music in the northeast. Having now graduated from college, Daniel currently lives and works as a professional musician in New York City, where he can regularly be found teaching, recording, sessioning, and performing with a variety of traditional musicians.
David Lovrien
David took up the Irish whistle a couple of years ago after many years as a professional classical, jazz and rock musician and composer. He proved himself a quick learner and was soon invited to join the Trinity Hall Session Players. David performs regularly with Irish band "Gallus" and also with the Dallas Wind Symphony, one of the only professional civilian wind bands in the world. His classical compositions are frequently heard on local classical radio (WRR-FM 101.1).
LEARNING BY EAR
Kevin Alewine
For more than two decades, Kevin has played with traditional American or Irish ensembles performing on guitar, mandolin, flute, tinwhistle and tenor banjo. He has been active in leadership with the Southwest Celtic Music Association and has directed the North Texas Irish Festival. He has been a member of Sweet Song String Band, Waifs & Strays, Loose Change and is a current member of Jigsaw, Lone Star Ceili Band and the Trinity Hall Session Players. Kevin teaches mandolin, flute and guitar at workshops in the North Texas area.
LEARNING YOUR ABC'S
Rick Roberts
Rick has been a fan of Irish music for 20 years, but only recently begun to play tinwhistle, thanks to opportunities afforded by the Traditional Irish Music Education Society (TIMES). As part of the learning process, he has become skilled at ABC music notation, using it to compile Irish tune books of tunes frequently heard at local sessions. Rick helps organize the North Texas ContraJam – an informal session for contradance music students. He has degrees in both music education and computer science from the University of North Texas.
MUSIC OF SLIABH LUACHRA
Matt Cranitch
Matt Cranitch, who lives in Cork, is renowned as a fiddle-player and teacher, both at home in Ireland and abroad. He has performed extensively with various groups at concerts and festivals, as well as on radio and television. He has also presented lectures, master-classes and workshops on various aspects of Irish music, particularly fiddle-playing. He is author of The Irish Fiddle Book, first published in 1988 and now in its fourth edition. This book, with accompanying CDs, explains and shows in detail the various techniques used by fiddle-players in creating a traditional style of playing. “The Irish Fiddle Book is a must for every serious student of Irish fiddling.” – Folk Roots. He has also contributed to a number of other books on Irish traditional music.
He has a particular interest in the music of Sliabh Luachra, which is located in the south-west of Ireland, and which has a distinctive style and repertoire of traditional music. He has successfully completed a Ph.D. on the fiddle-playing style of this region at the Irish World Music Centre, University of Limerick, where he also teaches traditional music performance. In recognition of his work on the music of Sliabh Luachra, he was awarded a ‘Government of Ireland Senior Research Scholarship’ in 2002.
His current band is Sliabh Notes, which also includes Dónal Murphy and Tommy O'Sullivan. They have performed at many venues and major festivals, including Milwaukee Irish Fest, the largest Irish festival in the world, the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas, Copenhagen Irish Festival in Denmark, Torino Festival in Italy, the Camden Festival in London, and many many more. Their most recent album, "Along Blackwater’s Banks", has been highly praised and has received much critical acclaim: “One of the best albums to be released this year so far comes form Sliabh Notes.” – Irish Post.
Matt is a regular contributor to radio and television programs as a performer and commentator on matters relating to traditional music. He is traditional music consultant for TG4, the Irish-language television service. “An exceptional musician and an authority on Irish fiddle-playing, Matt Cranitch has been a major force in Irish music since the early 1970s.” – The Rough Guide to Irish Music. In 2003, he received the ‘University College Cork Hall of Fame Award’ in recognition of the contribution he had made to Irish traditional music.
WHAT MAKES IT IRISH MUSIC
Matt Cranitch