We're delighted this year to be bringing sean-nós singer Áine Meenaghan to Friday Harbor. She will be teaching a special two-hour workshop on Saturday, and will sing in the staff concert Saturday night. Sean-nós means "old style", and Áine is one of its finest singers, with her wonderfully rich voice, her repertoire of beautiful and rare songs, and her complete mastery of the complex phrasing and ornamentation of this ancient music.

Aine was born and raised in the heart of the Connemara Gaeltacht, the Irish Gaelic speaking area of western Ireland. Irish was her first language, and she began singing the traditional songs at an early age. Aine is now one of the most accomplished sean-nós singers of the Irish language.

[Aine Meenaghan's home page]

Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh is a young, Dublin-based fiddler whose thoughtful approach and dedication to understanding the wellsprings of traditional music have made him one of the most interesting musicians in Ireland today.

His CD with piper Mick O'Brien, "Kitty Lie Over", was one of the finest traditional recordings of the last few years. As one reviewer said:

"It's an album you can take at many levels, the gloriously tight duet work, the absence of accompanists, tunes played at a good lick without making the CD player smoke, drawing you into the magical world of the older more melodic tradition."

[Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh Home Page]

“Patrick Ourceau, a Frenchman now living in New York City, is among the most accomplished members of traditional Irish music’s Foreign Legion. A fiddler of rare talent and sophistication, his music has all the hallmarks of great Irish fiddling - beautiful tone, pulsing rhythmic lift, deft bow work and crisply executed ornamentation.” Don Meade -- Irish Voice

That quote, from someone who really knows what he's talking about, aptly describes fiddler Patrick Ourceau. Patrick is also a wonderful and very experienced teacher. Currently he's a member of the excellent trad band Chulrua, with Paddy O'Brien and Pat Egan. Patrick's own recent release, "Live at Mona's", is one of the best recent releases of Irish traditional music.

[Patrick Ourceau's Home Page]

Fintan Vallely is a highly regarded flute player, singer, composer and a leading scholar of traditional music. From Co. Armagh he has taught at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co. Clare for the last twenty one years, and was the author of the first tutor for Irish flute, "Timber, the Flute Tutor" in 1986, to be reissued this summer in a new, expanded form as "The Irish Flute Tutor", published by Walton's, the leading publisher of teaching manuals in Irish music. He is currently lecturer in Traditional music on the newest and most innovative undergraduate degree programme in music in Ireland, on the border at Dundalk Institute of Technology.

Fintan's other books include The Blooming Meadows (with Charlie Piggott and photographer Nutan), and his major reference work, the edited, A-Z Companion to Irish Traditional Music (1999), is currently being revised with the support of Dundalk Institute of Technology.

[Fintan Vallely's Homepage]

Catherine has released two excellent recordings of traditional flute music, her self-titled "Catherine McEvoy" (1998) and her latest CD with her brother, fiddler John McEvoy, "The Kilmore Fancy" (2004). She now lives in Co. Meath with her husband, Tom, and three children, Jane, Ruairí, and Fergus.

[interview with Catherine McEvoy]

Born in Drimnagh, Dublin in 1948, James Keane took up the button accordion at age six, drawing his primary inspiration from his mother, father and uncles (musicians all) and the rich cultural legacy of their home counties of Longford and Clare. While still in his early teens, James co-founded the Castle Ceili Band and won the All-Ireland ceili band competition in 1965. He went on to earn four All-Ireland titles as a soloist on the accordion. James emigrated to the United States in 1968 and now resides in New York. He plays in the group Fingal, with Randal Bays and Daithi Sproule.

[James Keane home page]