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Local Irish Music performers
IBBCCEFest22Sept2007

Alexandria-based band featuring 8 to 12 or more musicians drawn from Maryland, Virginia, and DC. They perform extensively in the Washington metropolitan area for community groups and at local festivals. To contact the band, Please send an email to Sean, or phone at (703) 548-3095. More information at www.irishbreakfastband.com.

Irish Breakfast Band

definintion: lilt noun \ˈlilt\ 1: a spirited and usually cheerful song or tune 2: a rhythmical swing, flow, or cadence 3: a springy buoyant movement

“Lilt” -- a duo consisting of Tina Eck on flute and whistle and Keith Carr on bouzouki and banjo -- are trying to impersonate all of the aforementioned definitions of their name with their music. They met in the Washington DC session scene some years back and found that “flute and zouk” were a good instrumental match for what they love to play: traditional dance music from Ireland. Jigs and reels, polkas and hornpipes, the occasional slow air or vocal number. Lilt loves and tries to capture the essentials of Irish traditional music: boundless energy, wildness and melancholy.

Lilt peforms regularly in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond, and they have released several critically acclaimed CD's. They have garnered a variety of nominations for the annual international Irish Music Awards and the Wammy Awards.

Lilt

Lilt - Keith Carr, Tina Eck

Rambling House plays dance music with an "Irish persuasion". Energetic Irish traditional music for ceilis and contradances in the greater Washington DC, MD and VA area. Rambling House formed in 2008 and has since performed at numerous dances, ceilis and parties Members: Joe de Zarn - fiddle, Patrick Cavanagh - banjo, Marc Glickman - piano, Tina Eck - flute

Facebook page: link

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Rambling House

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Síor-Óg was formed in 2002 and performs primarily traditional Irish tunes, songs, dances and verse. Síor-Óg also performs Celtic music from such places as Scotland, Wales, and the Asturian and Galician regions of Spain.

The band's name ("forever young" in Irish Gaelic) reflects the music which has been played in Ireland for at least 150 years. The music evokes Ireland's abundant and varied musical heritage in the form of traditional reels, jigs, slip jigs, slides, clan marches, polkas, hornpipes and slow airs. Síor-Óg plays traditional Irish instruments such as the fiddle, bodhrán and a variety of high and low Irish whistles accompanied by guitar and bouzouki.

Síor-Óg's songs draw upon the rich history and legends of Ireland for inspiration telling of the legendary beauty of this land, the terrible price paid by rebels and the yearning for freedom over the centuries, the mass emigration caused by famine and the tender love of a mother for her child. The band often includes in its performances examples of Ireland's rich store of poetry by such masters as Yeats, Tynan, Heaney and Sigerson. Síor-Óg is often joined in performances by dancers from local dance schools who put on a spectacular display of Irish step dancing.

Síor-Óg has performed at such venues as the City of Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts and First Fairfax; A Celtic Christmas in Fairfax City; Old St. Mary's Labor Day Picnic; Harpers Ferry Olde Tyme Christmas; Fairfax County's Concerts in the Park and and Irish Heritage Night, George Mason University Festival of the Arts; 4-H Fairs; and private events. Email: sior_og@mac.com

Síor-Óg

(pronounced Shear Og with a long "O" in "Og")

Pints

The Dirty Pints perform a mix of traditional Irish tunes and songs with the occasional contemporary classic. The group formed in 2006 out of a traditional Irish music session at Ireland's Four Provinces. Its members are Alan Carrick, Tim Griffin and Marc Cheek.

website: www.thedirtypints.com
or phone Alan at (202) 294-8956.

The Dirty Pints

Ashbrook

Karen plays wooden flute, pennywhistle and hammered dulcimer with her husband, Paul Oorts, a Belgian-born musician who performs on harp guitar, 10-string cittern, mandolin, and musette accordion. They play Irish and continental Celtic & European music.

website: karenashbrook.com

Karen Ashbrook & Paul Oorts

bogband

The Bog Band is a talented group of young people with a passion for Irish music. The band leader is Pete Moss (aka Mitch Fanning), one of Washington's prominent teachers of Irish music. Most band members play fiddle and many of them play multiple instruments including flute, guitar, bodhran, cello, tin whistle and uilleann pipes.

The Bog Band was created in September, 2004 when a group of sixth grade boys at the Washington Waldorf School (Bethesda, Maryland) and their strings teacher, Mitch Fanning, formed a fiddle club to play traditional Irish tunes. As their talent and success grew,

other young musicians joined. Today, the Bog Band has about 20 musicians ranging in age from ten through teen (and beyond).

The Bog Band has performed to great reviews at events and festivals throughout the Baltimore/Washington area including: Potomac CelticFestival, The Folklore Society of Greater Washington, Smithsonian's Discovery Theatre, The DC Mayor's Awards Gala, Montgomery County Arts Council events, ShamRock Fest, and MetroPerforms!

In 2006, the Bog Band recorded its first CD, "Got Bog?". A second CD, "On Their Own Turf", is a live seission recording that captures the excitement and enthusiasm these young musicians bring to their performances. A third CD, "Our Voyage with Brendan" (featuring legendary Irish fiddler Brendan Mulvihill) followed in 2011. For more information and a schedule of upcoming performances, please visit The Bog Band website at www.bogband.com.

The Bog Band

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Hammered dulcimer performer, producer of Celtic and Holiday concerts and owner of Maggie's Music, an acoustic and Celtic record label that features twelve recording artists and over fifty recordings. Fiona Ritchie, host of NPR's The Thistle & Shamrock said,"Maggie's Music is a gathering place of much inspired and Celtic rooted music in the USA."

Maggie Sansone brings a unique beauty and vision to the ancient music of the Celts. Her albums ring with a Renaissance spirit, Celtic melodies, and a jazzy new crossover into what she calls "cool Celtic." It's a fusion of ancient sounds and modern sensibility, fueled by the innovative use of old and new instruments. And at the center of it all, there are the percussive yet melodious sounds of Maggie's wooden mallets dancing across the dulcimer's seventy strings.

mailing address: Maggie's Music PO BOX 490 Shady Side, MD 20764
website: www.maggiesansone.com

Maggie Sansone

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Seacht is Irish for "seven" (pronounced shocked) came about when members of the Craggy Island Band and Ceol Anam Cara joined together to perform a concert at a local folk venue. Warm praises and positive response came to the seven multi-instrumentalists from this concert to now form this combined venture.

The seven musicians met a few years ago playing at local sessions. They have recently recorded a demo at Cabin Studios and their music can be heard on their website: www.reverbnation.com/seacht7

Seacht

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Craggy Island plays Traditional Irish and American music, with a few surprises. The band is made up of Patrick Fenning, from Dublin, Ireland, on guitar, Gail Lees on bouzouki and mandolin, and Susan Withers on fiddle. Gail and Susan have been singing together since their teens. The band is well known for their rich vocal harmonies, lively instrumentals and original arrangements. Website: www.craggyislandband.com

Craggy Island

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann

O'Neill-Malcom Branch, Washington DC

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The MollyHawks is a Washington, DC-based Celtic Ensemble performing an eclectic mix of historic and contemporary music from the Golden Age of Sailing to Irish immigration. Their unique sound is a blend of vocals and instruments rarely heard in combination on stage.

Teri's blues-infused vocal styling is often performed in Gaelic and accompanied on the hurdy-gurdy, guitar, or her potpourri of Celtic percussion.  This past year, Teri took 1st Place in the Irish Vocalist Championships at both the Buffalo and Washington DC Irish Feiseanna.

Kenny provides the vocal backbone of our driving work songs, called “shanties,” and is an award-winning concertina, bodhrán and rhythm bones player.  Competing on concertina, he took 1st Place at the 2011 CCE Mid-Atlantic Fleadh, and this year, Kenny took 1st Place in the Instrumental Championships at the Buffalo and DC Feiseanna.

mollyhawks

Our virtuoso on the Irish flute and whistles is Chris McFarlane. He also provides backing vocals and will launch into unbridled lilting while our backs are turned.   Chris and Kenny had the distinct honor of performing together at the White House during the 2012 St. Patrick’s Day State reception while members of the Cheiftains sat in with them for some tunes!

The MollyHawks are available for festivals, private and community events, educational programs, as well as pubs and restaurants.

The MollyHawks

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