Songs of People Concert
Friday 27th September Doors| 7:00pm
The Playhouse Portrush
ENTRY £20
Making a compelling duet and creating music that communicates the beauty of a living tradition, Síle and Barry are celebrated as two of Ireland finest traditional musicians/singers. Their repertoire is a sympathetic merging of both traditional and original material, ranging from Síle’s ancient sean-nós songs to Barry’s self-composed modern folk tales. Their instrumental music on uilleann pipes, flute and harp is underpinned by subtle and inventive motif based arrangements. Originally from the southern shores of Lough Neagh, multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and visual artist Barry is one of Ireland’s most accomplished artists. A master on both uilleann pipes and flute, his recent work has explored the concept of relating musical performance and composition with visual art. Barry was the recipient of the prestigious Liam O’ Flynn Award in 2020 and is currently the tradition musician in residence at UCC. Síle is a harpist and sean-nós singer who is deeply influenced by her upbringing in the Connemara Gaeltacht where she was surrounded by music and song from an early age. Síle was recently named Amhránaí na Bliana (singer of the year) in the prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil and her most recent album Anamnesis, a recording of sean-nós songs in collaboration with producer John Reynolds and cellist Caroline Dale, has just been released.
John McSherry, Brendán Quinn and Francis McIlduff are three phenomenal musicians who first got together as a trio at Belfast’s ‘Féile Trad Trail’ in August 2022.
John has been a major figure in Irish music for over 20 years. He is a composer, producer, arranger, and established studio session musician of world renown, having recorded and performed with artists including Sinéad O’Connor, Rod Stewart, Nanci Griffith, Gary Kemp, The Corrs and Clannad. A founder member of top traditional bands Lunasa, Tamalin, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, At First Light and Irish-American super-group the olllam, John has produced a string of critically acclaimed and innovative albums, both solo and collaborative.
Brendán has toured the world as a singer-songwriter and traditional accompanist for many years. Hugely influenced by his love of Irish music and the Irish language, his ability to convey the stories of strangers and his own experiences through song has created his distinctive, captivating style.
Francis, a member of the legendary McPeake musical family from Belfast, has been immersed in traditional Irish music from an early age. He debuted with the family band Clann McPeake in the 1980’s, and has gone on to play with leading outfits including Alias Ron Kavana, Afterhours, Sin É and more recently At First Light, the band in which Francies and John first created the “double pipes” sound that has become their trademark.
