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Friday Harbor 2008 Faculty


Special guest

Áine Meenaghan - sean-nos singer

Aine

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]


Full-time instructors


Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh - fiddle
Caoimhin

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 - fiddle

“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]


Patrick



  Randal Bays - fiddle

American-born fiddler Randal Bays has been playing Irish fiddle for nearly 30 years. His recordings and concerts have earned him recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. As Dirty Linen Magazine says, "His playing has power and passion, simply a joy to listen to."

He's widely known as a teacher of Irish fiddle, whose focus is on helping non-Irish fiddlers develop an authentic Irish style, making the music their own while nurturing respect and understanding for its roots in Irish culture. Randal lives in Washington and tours regularly with Daithi Sproule and James Keane in their group, Fingal.

His recent album "House to House" was picked by the Irish Times as one of the Top Five Traditional Recordings of 2005.

[Randal Bays Home Page] 





Fintan

Fintan Vallely - flute

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 McEvoy - flute
Catherine McEvoy is one of the leading flute players in Irish music today, and one of the most popular teachers of that instrument. From 1984-1988 Catherine was a member of "Macalla," the first all female traditional group. In more recent years she has been one of the senior flute tutors at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.

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]




James Keane - button accordion

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]







Gearoid OhAllmhurain - concertina
Pronounced Ga-ROAD O-hal-ver-awn

A fourth-generation Clare concertina player, Gearoid spent many years under the tutelage of Paddy Murphy, Clare's master concertina player. Pioneering a unique fingering system for the Anglo-German concertina in the 1930's, Murphy's innovative style was a vital catalyst in determining the course of Irish concertina music down to the 1980's.

In 1996, Gearoid released the critically acclaimed "Traditional Music from Clare and Beyond", firmly establishing himself as one of the finest concertina players in Irish music. He followed this up in 1999 with "Tracin" a lovely duet album with fiddler Patrick Ourceau.

In addition to his performing and recording, Gearoid is Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Missouri-St Louis. His workshops and concerts are enriched by his extraordinary knowledge of Irish traditional music, cultural history and folklife.

[Gearoid OhAllmhurain home page]

Gearoid

Part-time instructors



Andrea Cooper - Introduction to Pennywhistle
A trained teacher, Andrea Cooper has taught everything from computers to clawhammer banjo. Andrea caught the Irish music bug when she was living in Toronto. Since then, her hobby has taken her to places as far as Eek, Alaska and as close as Lopez Island. While living in Vancouver she co-hosted the session at the Irish Heather, a piece of it captured on the CBC recording “In the Heather”. This year’s whistle class will be offered once a day as an introduction to the intricacies of Irish music. Andrea now lives in Seattle with her partner, Mark Roberts.




Maldon Meehan - Irish set dancing
Maldon Meehan

Maldon has over 11 years experience bringing Irish music and dance to the public through performance, education and promoting concerts. As an instructor for Irish dance, including Set, Sean-nós and Céilí dance she has offered workshops throughout the U.S, Canada and Ireland. Maldon has performed at festivals and concerts, including appearances at the Irish World Music Center in Limerick, Ireland, the Celtic Festival in Portland, Oregon, and Northwest Folklife Festival in Seattle, Washington.


[Maldon Meehan home page]











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