|
Planxty
Planxty were an Irish folk music band formed in January 1972, consisting initially of Christy Moore (vocals, acoustic guitar, bodhrán), Andy Irvine (vocals, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, harmonica), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitars, bodhrán, keyboards), and Liam O'Flynn ( uilleann pipes, tin whistle). They transformed and popularized Irish folk music, touring and recording to great acclaim. Subsequently, Johnny Moynihan, Paul Brady, Matt Molloy (flute), Bill Whelan (keyboards), Nollaig Casey (fiddle) and briefly, Noel Hill ( concertina) and Tony Linnane (fiddle) were also temporary members. Planxty broke up twice, first in December 1975 and again in April 1983. The original quartet reunited in October 2003 and their final performance was on 31 January 2005. History Formation and first run (1972–1975) Christy Moore and Dónal Lunny had been friends since school days in Newbridge, County Kildare, Lunny having taught Moore how to play both guitar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy Irvine (musician)
Andrew Kennedy Irvine (born 14 June 1942) is an Irish folk musician, singer-songwriter, and a founding member of Sweeney's Men, Planxty, Patrick Street, Mozaik, LAPD and Usher's Island. He also featured in duos, with Dónal Lunny, Paul Brady, Mick Hanly, Dick Gaughan, Rens van der Zalm, and Luke Plumb. Irvine plays the mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, harmonica, and hurdy-gurdy. He has been influential in folk music for over six decades, during which he recorded a large repertoire of songs and tunes he assembled from books, old recordings and rooted in the Irish, English, Scottish, Eastern European, Australian and American old-time and folk traditions. As a child actor, Irvine honed his performing talent from an early age and learned the classical guitar. He switched to folk music after discovering Woody Guthrie, also adopting the latter's other instruments: harmonica and mandolin. While extending Guthrie's guitar picking technique to the mandolin,''Andy Ir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny (born 10 March 1947) is an Irish folk musician and producer. He plays guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozaik, LAPD, and Usher's Island, he has been at the forefront of the renaissance of Irish traditional music for over five decades. In 2025 he was the recipient of the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. Lunny is the brother of musician and producer Manus Lunny. He had a son, Shane, with singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor; Shane was found dead on 7 January 2022, aged 17. Early life Lunny was born on 10 March 1947 in Tullamore. His father Frank was from Enniskillen in County Fermanagh and his mother, Mary Rogers, came from Ranafast in The Rosses in County Donegal; they raised four boys and five girls. The family moved to Newbridge in County Kildare when Dónal was five years old. He attended secondary school at Newbridge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was one of the founding members of the bands Planxty and Moving Hearts and has had significant success as a solo artist. His first album, ''Paddy'' ''on the Road'', was recorded with Dominic Behan in 1969. Moore is best known for his political and social commentary and left-wing, Irish republican views. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards. Early life Moore was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, son of Andy Moore and Nancy (nee Power). He attended Newbridge College. His mother was a Fine Gael election candidate. Moore originally worked as a bank employee. He wanted to express himself using traditional music, and during a bank strike in 1966, which lasted twelve weeks, he went to England, as many striking officials did, but did not return when the strike was settled. "I had a wild and wonderful time ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liam O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn, Óg Flynn (, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish people, Irish Uilleann pipes, uilleann piper and Folk music of Ireland, Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn recorded with: Christy Moore, Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine (musician), Andy Irvine, Kate Bush, Mark Knopfler, The Everly Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Mike Oldfield, Mary Black, Enya and Sinéad O'Connor. O'Flynn was acknowledged as Ireland's foremost exponent of the uilleann pipes and brought the music of the instrument to a worldwide audience. In 2007, O'Flynn was named Musician of the Year at the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards, considered to be the foremost recognition given to traditional Irish musicians. Early life He was born 15 September 1945 in Kill, County Kildare, Ireland, to musical parents. His father, Liam, was a teacher and fiddle player. His mother, Maisie (née Scanlan), who came from a family of musicians from County Clare, Clare, played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Whelan
William Michael Joseph Whelan (born 22 May 1950) is an Irish composer and musician. He is best known for composing a piece for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. The result, "Riverdance", was a seven-minute piece of original music accompanying a new take on traditional Irish stepdance that became a full-length stage production and spawned a worldwide craze for Irish traditional music and dance. The corresponding soundtrack album earned him a Grammy. "Riverdance" was released as a single in 1994, credited to "Bill Whelan and Anúna featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra". It reached number one in Ireland for 18 weeks and number nine in the UK. The album of the same title reached number 31 in the album charts in 1995. Whelan has also arranged a symphonic suite version of ''Riverdance'', with its premiere performed by the Ulster Orchestra on BBC Radio 3 in August 2014. A studio recording was released on CD (on the RTÉ lyric fm label) in 2018. Biography Whelan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Moynihan
John Moynihan (born 29 October 1946, Phibsboro) is an Irish folk singer, based in Dublin. He is often credited with introducing the bouzouki into Irish music in the mid-1960s. Music career Sweeney's Men Known as "The Bard of Dalymount", he was a co-founder of the band Sweeney's Men with Andy Irvine and 'Galway Joe' Dolan (who was later replaced by Terry Woods). Sweeney's Men broke the mould of Irish music and are credited with starting the folk revival there in the late 1960s. The most famous innovation of Sweeney's Men is probably Moynihan's introduction of the bouzouki, originally a Greek instrument, into Irish music, albeit with a different tuning: GDAD' (one octave lower than the open-tuned mandolin), instead of the modern Greek tuning of CFAD'. However, the original three-course bouzouki used in early Rebetika was also tuned DAD. In his book, ''The Humours of Planxty'', Leagues O'Toole documented that Moynihan bought his first bouzouki from a friend called Tony F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the mid-1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine and "Galway Joe" Dolan. First line-up Before creating the band in 1966, Irvine, Moynihan and Dolan had met in Dublin and had performed and travelled together, on and off, around Ireland; Irvine and Dolan hitch-hiked together around Europe (Munich, Vienna and Rome) in late 1965. The name 'Sweeney's Men' was inspired by Dolan's reading of Flann O'Brien's comic novel ''At Swim-Two-Birds'', which depicts the mad, anti-religious, tree-leaping pagan King Sweeney of Antrim. The band's manager was Eamonn O'Doherty, and he and the band travelled in a red VW van. The band often travelled to Milltown Malbay to enjoy musical sessions with the piper Willie Clancy. The early days of the band have been described by Irvine in his song "My heart's tonight in Ire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosperous (album)
''Prosperous'' is the second album by Republic of Ireland, Irish folk music, folk musician Christy Moore, released in 1972. His first album, ''Paddy on the Road'', was recorded by Dominic Behan in 1969 and has long been out of print. In addition to Moore's guitar and voice, ''Prosperous'' featured musicians Andy Irvine (musician), Andy Irvine (mandolin, mouth organ), Liam O'Flynn, Liam Óg O'Flynn (uilleann pipes, tin whistle) and Dónal Lunny (guitar, bouzouki). These four musicians later gave themselves the name Planxty, making this album something of the first Planxty album in all but name. Other musicians included Kevin Conneff (later of The Chieftains) on bodhrán, Clive Collins on fiddle, and Dave Bland on concertina. The album takes its name from the house and town of Prosperous, County Kildare, where it was recorded by producer Bill Leader in the summer of 1971. The house (featured on the front cover of the album) is owned by Dr Andrew Rynne, surgeon and medical practiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Brady
Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing Irish traditional music in a duo with Andy Irvine and later with Tommy Peoples and Matt Molloy and solo, he later turned to a more rock-inspired electric style with poignant political lyrics. Some of his most popular songs are his interpretations of the traditional " The Lakes of Pontchartrain" and "Arthur McBride", and the originals "Crazy Dreams", "Nothing but the Same Old Story", " The Island", "Night Hunting Time", "Steel Claw", " Paradise Is Here", the "The World is What You Make It" and "Once in a Lifetime". Early life Paul Joseph Brady was born in Belfast and raised in the small town of Strabane in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on the border with County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. His father Seán Brady and mother Mollie Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irish Folk Music
Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a Music genre, genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there were at least ten instruments in general use. These were the ''crwth'' (a small rubbed strings harp) and ''Celtic harp, cláirseach'' (a bigger harp with typically 30 strings), the ''tiompán'' (a small string instrument played with a Bow (music), bow or plectrum), the ''feadán'' (a Fife (musical instrument), fife), the ''buinne'' (an oboe or flute), the ''guthbuinne'' (a bassoon-type Natural horn, horn), the ''beannbhuabhal'' and ''corn'' (Hornpipe (musical instrument), hornpipes), the ''cuislenna'' (bagpipes – see Great Irish warpipes), the ''stoc'' and ''storgán'' (Clarion (instrument), clarions or trumpets), and the ''cnámha'' (bones (instrument), bones). [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nollaig Casey
Nollaig Casey () is an Irish fiddle player, and has an international reputation as one of Ireland's finest fiddle players. By the time she was eleven years old she could play violin, piano, tin whistle and uilleann pipes. During her teenage years she learned to play in both the classical and traditional musical traditions. She won several All-Ireland titles for fiddle and traditional singing culminating in an award for her in 1972 for the best all-round performer. Life She graduated from University College Cork with a B.Mus. degree at the age of nineteen, and started her career with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra where she remained for five years. She began performing live with the band Planxty in 1980, touring with them throughout Europe and appearing on their final album, 1983's '' Words & Music''. Casey has also recorded and toured with Moving Hearts, Liam O'Flynn, Frances Black, The Clancy Brothers and Elvis Costello. Her television appearances include the BBC TV seri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noel Hill (musician)
Noel Hill (born 1958) is an Irish concertina player from County Clare who has had great influence developing the modern playing style of the Irish concertina, as a performer and educator. Early life Noel Hill was born in Caherea in West County Clare, Ireland, into a family with seven siblings. His parents and grandparents were all concertina players. He was particularly influenced by his uncle, Padraig A Chnoic, (Paddy Hill). He lived in a house which was the last house in the area to hold the traditional Irish house dance, where musicians were always welcomed; particularly towards the end of the year when farm work was done. It was at these events that he learned his early tunes, rather than from the radio, books or records. Hill started playing at nine and listened extensively to Willie Clancy, Paddy Canny, Peter O'Loughlin, Paddy Murphy, and Micky Hanrahan. Much of the music in his later repertoire comes from the music he learned as a child from those players. Hill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
