Aileach

Aileach was formed in the late sixties featuring Dinny McLaughlin (fiddle), Bernard Heaney (guitar and vocals), Pat McCabe (accordion) and Brian McRory (banjo), although the band has featured many great musicians along the way, including Curly Coyle, Nicky Bryson and Seamus McLaughlin. In its heyday the band toured extensively in Europe, Ireland, Britain and America and appeared on many television shows including the Late Late Show and The Embankment. They released two recordings, ‘Aileach’ and ‘Ard Rí’ and had a big hit with Phil Coulter’s song ‘Lullaby’. During the last few years they have performed regularly, delighting audiences and re-kindling fond memories among old friends.


Aileach’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Tom Byrne

Before Ar Ais Aris little was known outside of Inishowen of the amazing talents of Tom Byrne. That all changed when he showcased his talents at last years festival, where he received a standing ovation from none other than fiddle mystro Frankie Gavin, leading to subequent performances with Gavin and Hybernian Rhapsody at many events and gigs througout the year.

Tom Byrnes performances at Ar Ais Arís:

World Premiere of ‘Franceso Walks'
Friday, March 28th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel 8pm (€15/10)

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Simon Bradley

Simon was first inspired to play fiddle after hearing sessions in his father's native Buncrana and later in Manchester. He began playing in the O'Carolan's Ceili Band in Manchester along with Michael McGoldrick. Moving to Edinburgh to study, Simon joined the band Miro and represented Scotland at Lorient Festival. In 1997 he was asked to join Asturian (Northern Spain)
group Llan de Cubel and has since toured the world headlining festivals in South America, the US and all over Europe. He had the distinction of being the first non-Spaniard to win the prestigious "Concurso de Parejas" competition in traditional Asturian music. In addition to his achievements as a musician, Simon Bradley has achieved widespread recognition for his ability as a composer. He was recently awarded a Scottish Arts Council grant to compose for orchestra and three types of bagpipes.

Simon’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Dermot Byrne

Guested on two Altan albums, The Red Crow and Island Angel before joining the band in 1994. Like Mairéad, Dermot first learned music from his father, Tomás O'Beirn, who was from the Gaeltacht area of Teileann, and from an early age was exposed to the great Donegal fiddlers including the Doherty's, Cassidy's and Byrne's. A renowned accordion player before he reached his teens, Dermot has played and recorded with many great musicians including Séamus and Manus McGuire, Frankie Gavin and Pierre Schrye, as well as producing a solo recording.

www.altan.ie

Dermot’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Michael Carey

Has played round the world with Aileach and Fir Uladh while finding time to win eight All-Ireland Championships for Tin Whistle. Michael has also played session with numerous other well known Irish bands and many notable solo artists. Michael adjudicates major competitions and presents Master Classes throughout the country. His tin whistle style subtly incorporates musical nuances from other instruments such as banjo, fiddle and accordion. After winning successive All-Ireland Slógadh competitions, Michael featured on the Gael-Linn Bualadh Bos album along with many other notable artists at the age of 14, and has appeared on the television programmes 'Bring Down The Lamp', and 'The Pure Drop'.

Michael’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

John Cutliffe

Is from Buncrana but now lives in Atlanta Georgia. John grew up playing Irish traditional and bluegrass music in the many pubs in his home county and has played with many pop and rock bands over the years. John started his musical career playing a few tunes with his cousin Paul Rodden in O Flaherty’s, Roddens and other bars in Buncrana.
John also played with some of Letterkenny’s finest rock bands including Jack’s Jack and Fiveskin. He then spent two years playing with Killybegs based pop band Pluto.
He is also no stranger to the airwaves, having worked as a dj on some of the early pirate radio stations in Donegal including Radio Donegal in Letterkenny, Radio Nova in Fahan and the now legendary NWCR.
After moving to London in the 80s, John soon got into the music scene there, recording two albums with Frank Tovey and the Pyros, an album with Rory McLeod and forming another band with Gino Lupari “Beware of the Dog”

John's is the owner and editor of JigTime, a site that chronicles Irish and American roots music and has worked as Tour Manager in America for Altan. He is a keen photographer and his pictures can be seen on websites including Rosanne Cash's site and the Merlefest site and on album covers both in Ireland and Nashville. He has also designed websites for many people including Ciaran Tourish’s own website.
John has just completed the biggest project of his life, co-producing Hands Across The Water, a 16 track collaboration CD featuring many of his friends in Celtic and American music, including Altan, Vince Gill, Cerys Matthews, Rodney Crowell, Bonnie Raitt and many more. The CD is already getting rave reviews worldwide with rumours of a grammy nomination for next year already doing the rounds. All the proceeds from the CD will go towards rebuilding the lives of children badly affected by the South East Asian Tsunami.

John is single again and starting to wonder what is wrong with him.

www.jigtime.com

John’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

The Pyros
Friday, March 28th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)
Saturday, March 29th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)

Laurence Doherty

Laurence began playing music at school with Paul Rodden. After a few years jamming with local bands he teamed up with bass player, Billy Robinson, to form Quarterdeck in the mid-‘80s, having success both in the Charts and on tour. Around the same time he was playing with the ever popular Pros and The Gooseberries, both successful bands on the touring circuit. More recently Laurence has been playing and touring with various artists including singer-songwriter Marian Bradfield, Canadian musician, Reverend Neil Down, Buncrana’s Kevin Doherty, country blues guitarist, Paul Buckely, and The Henry Girls.

Laurence’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

The Pyros
Friday, March 28th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)
Saturday, March 29th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)

Liz Doherty

Is a fiddle player from Buncrana. Started on the fiddle by her uncle, Joe Grant, she took lessons with Dinny McLaughlin for several years before pursuing a BMus degree, and later a PHD, with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin in Cork and Limerick. Having lectured for many years in the Music Department of UCC, and later at Magee in Derry, Liz now works as Traditional Arts Consultant with the Arts Council. Liz has toured and performed around the world with various groups such as the Bumblebees and Fiddlesticks, and with Riverdance – the Show. She has featured on numerous albums and has released two solo CDs, ‘Last Orders’ (1999) and ‘Quare Imagination’ (2002). She is also the author of ‘From Barefoot Days: A Life of Music, Song and Dance in Inishowen’, celebrating the life and times of Dinny McLaughlin.

www.lizdoherty.ie

Liz’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

World Premiere of ‘Franceso Walks'
Friday, March 28th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel 8pm (€15/10)

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Michael Gallanagh

Michael Gallanagh has been playing guitar and singing since he was a boy, first with his family and then in a group with fellow Pyros member John Cutliffe, John’s sister Caroline and Carmel McElhinney. The group was one of the most fun bands ever to come out of Donegal and appeared in concerts with Phil Coulter and Joseph Locke in the Plaza ballroom. Since those early days Michael has managed to combine his music life with one in the “real” world. He lived for many years in London and Paris playing with many well- known musicians as well as forging out a career in the corporate world. Michael spent a long time as one of the entertainers at Eurodisney and was well known in the traditional Irish music scene in Paris. Since marrying and starting a family back at home in Ireland, he has continued to play music in sessions with Dinny McLaughlin and others. Michael is one of the most innovative and dynamic guitarists in traditional music and his unique versions of old Irish songs have earned him the respect of music lovers far and wide. Michael is Chairperson of the committee responsible for putting together the Buncrana Arts Festival and works tirelessly to promote the music and more importantly, his home town of Buncrana.

Michaels’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

The Pyros
Friday, March 28th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)
Saturday, March 29th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Jimmy McBride

Jimmy McBride was born in the Donegal Gaeltacht of Gaoth Dobhair and later moved to Buncrana where he taught primary school from 1960-1998. He has collected folk songs and ballads from older singers in Inishowen since the early ‘70s and published two collections of these songs – My Parents Reared me Tenderly (1985) and The Flower of Dunaff Hill (1988). Jimmy was also responsible fro the formation of The Inishowen Singers’ Circle in 1988 and was the Director and Organiser of 14 International Folk Song and Ballad Seminars (1990/2003). He currently researches and presents a weekly programme, Thall agus Abhus, on ICR FM, featuring traditional music, song, story and poetry.

Jimmy’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

World Premiere of ‘Franceso Walks'
Friday, March 28th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel 8pm (€15/10)

P.V.O'Donnell

If Donegal fiddle playing has traditionally lived in the shadow of the Clare and Galway styles, it's rediscovery in recent years has placed it firmly at the forefront  of Irish traditional music and it's practitioners highly sought after for performances on two or three continents. One such artist is the Donegal fiddle player, PV O Donnell, originally from Buncrana in Inishowen and for the past two decades resident in Hartford, Connecticut.

PV is that rare genius who can couple mesmeric skill on the fiddle with a great sense of enveloping the listeners in a world of stories, anecdotes and verse, many of them  referring to the tunes he has just played or is about to play. His stories of growing up in Donegal, the warmth of the people and the grandeur of the scenery have encouraged countless visitors to Ireland to include Donegal in their
travels. Not just content to be a 'session' player alone, PV understands the need to connect, to share his own love of the music and transmit this deep warmth to listeners everywhere.

After a lifetime on the roads of Ireland, Canada and the USA as band leader
of the highly successful group, Barley Bree, (and their influential weekly
television show on Canadian television), PV now spends a lot of his time
passing on his great skills to a host of  fiddle players of all ages in the
Hartford area and beyond, with a waiting list of prospective students
growing longer. He also hosts a number of very famous sessions in the Connecticut region where he has become something of a legend in the field of Irish traditional
music.

A man of many parts and one not much given to resting on his laurels, PV
also fills the bill as a highly regarded music impresario and his concerts
with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra each March are immediate sell-outs and
eagerly anticipated by the media and public alike. He is careful in the
caliber of guests he brings to join him with the Symphony, and performers
like the brilliant Galway musician, Carl Hession and the seminal
Boston/Irish box player, Joe Derrane have set Symphony Hall alight on PV's
special presentations.

Often players of great skill assume it is enough that they simply show up
and put little effort into the great and ultimate art of 'communication'.
If PV O Donnell possesses one special gift it is his immediate rapor with
those around him. Both his playing and personality are infectious. A good natured
man, he laughs a lot and wears his profound knowledge and talent lightly -
a trait that has earned him so many friends and admirers over the years
across the world.

His recordings of fiddle music don't only reflect the deeply rooted essence
of Ireland that runs in his bloodstream, but acknowledgement is also given to
the considerable time PV spent with his many musical friends in Canada,
especially Nova Scotia and particularly Cape Breton.
Do yourself a favour and hear PV either 'live' or on recording. He is
unique in every way and his likes are becoming rarer by the year. Let's hope that
some young people are watching and listening, because there is no better
influence in all of Donegal fiddle playing and in every aspect of 'life' itself than
this 'Son Of Dark Inishowen', PV O Donnell.

www.pvodonnell.com

P.V.’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Michael Rodden

Michael Rodden now lives in Stockport, England and is returing home to Buncrana for the festival. Michael Rodden is a singer, guitarist and fiddle player who was born and reared in Buncrana. His first introduction to traditional music was with Dinny in the back lounge of the Excelsior Bar. Subsequent to this, he played for 3 years with Dinny in the Drift Inn which marked the beginning of the sessions in Buncrana.

Michael’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

Recital:The Family Connection
Friday, March 28th, The Library, St. Mary's Road Buncrana, 5pm (Free)

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)

Paul Rodden

Was born and raised in Buncrana and at an early age showed great talent in both music and art. He was originally a guitarist and in his teens formed Kraft with Laurence Doherty and John McEleney. Paul took up the 5 string banjo after being given one by his brother and was soon learning the music of the Appalachian mountains and bluegrass legends such as Earl Scruggs. He then discovered the fast paced picking and earthy sound was perfect for traditional Irish tunes as well. Paul went on to spend some years at Liverpool’s college of Art where he continued his music, busking in the streets and playing in many of Liverpool’s bars and clubs. Paul’s paintings were gaining popularity at home and he was commissioned to do a painting of Tip O’Neill’s old family homestead for the late politician’s visit to Ireland. The painting was eventually hung in Mr O’Neill’s office in Washington DC. Paul moved to London in the 80s and was soon an integral part of the roots music scene there, playing sessions all over the city and playing in groundbreaking bands like The Wise Monkeys, Sons of the Desert and Frank Tovey and the Pyros.
Paul has been living in Nantes in France for many years with his long time girlfriend Nelly and continues to play and record there with his band Mr. Midnight. He recently appeared both as an actor and on the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed western movie “Blueberry”.

Pauls’s performances at Ar Ais Arís:

The Pyros
Friday, March 28th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)
Saturday, March 29th, The Inishowen Gateway Hotel 12 Midnight (€15)

Recital:The Family Connection
Friday, March 28th, The Library, St. Mary's Road Buncrana, 5pm (Free)

AAA Festival Finale - Festival Club
Sunday, March 30th, Inishowen Gateway Hotel, 8pm (€20/15)