ICE is made up of 5 virtuoso concertina players – Míchael O Raghallaigh, Caitlín Nic Gabhainn, Pádraig Rynne, Edel Fox and Tim Collins. ICE creates a new sonic template for Irish Traditional music. Situating it within this quintet format pioneers an exciting and innovative performance trajectory for the concertina, where…

For the pianists.  Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin is one of the stand out performers of traditional Irish music with influences of classical and jazz resulting in his own unique style.  As an academic he also made huge contributions with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of…

Another one for the pianists.  Ryan Molloy is an academic, composer, fiddle player and pianist, but it is his piano expertise that is on show here.  Released in 2019, this is a wonderful demonstration of the full range of traditional Irish music on piano.  Favourite tracks on this for this…

Rooney is a leading harpist, pianist, composer and teacher.  This work is a symphony of music commemorating the ship wreck of the Spanish Armada off the western coast of Ireland, drawing on the history of the event as well as his own Sligo background, this is a wonderful suite of…

The band has its origins in a chance meeting at Craiceann Bodhrán Festival, Inis Oírr, resulting in an improvised live performance recorded by the shipwreck of the Plassey on the wild Atlantic seafront (that is the ship wreck on the island at the start of Fr Ted). Featuring Molly Donnery…

Commissioned for the 100 anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, this suite of music – comprising 11 separate movements arranged in a single continuous performance of just over 30 minutes is one of the most moving and inspirational music performances done for the 1916 Centenary.  Debuted in Portlaoise in May…

Martin Tourish is one of the most accomplished piano accordion players of his generation.  In addition to his solo work as composer, arranger and performer, he is also a member of Altan.  On this album, he combines with Luke Ward on bouzouki to great effect – and this album has…

An album for the mandolin player.  While there are lots of great banjo albums, and many banjo players are great mandolin players, mandolin albums are not as popular.  This one should be added to your collection.  Featuring a range of traditional Irish tunes, it also blends some classical pieces from…

Kíla are an Irish folk music/world music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish language secondary school Coláiste Eoin in County Dublin.  The band’s first performance was upstairs in the Baggott Inn, Dublin, and was attended by three people.  They have moved on considerably since then, with 10 studio…

If your ambition in life is to play safe and learn a nice traditional tune to please a Fleadh Cheoil judge, then this album is not for you.  Move on.  However, if you want to listen to musicians who have won All Irelands, and then decided to move their music…