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CRAN @ Celtic Connections 2008

While we were in Glasgow for Celtic Connections 2008, we played a concert for the BBC radio programme Travelling Folk presented by Archie Fisher. You can take a listen here on the BBC archive website.

It was a great gig and we shared the stage with some very nice others including Fiona Mackenzie, Darrell Scott, June Tabor and Session A9. You can see some pics here from one or two steps back on that BBC archive page.

The CRANcy Brothers...

RONAN BROWNE (uilleann pipes, flutes, vocals)

www.ronanbrowne.com

"One of the finest pipers of his generation…an innovator who has developed his own unique style."

– Irish Times.

Since Ronan took up the uilleann pipes in 1972, he has soaked up the music of the old Masters of Irish Music, Willie Clancy, Seamus Ennis, Johnny Doran, Tommy Potts and Denis Murphy.  He straddles that difficult divide between pure traditional music and the modern world, ranging from solo work and writing for film & television, his celebrated duo with Peter O'Loughlin, through playing with CRAN, on to his work as the original piper with both the Afro Celt Sound System and Riverdance.

SEÁN CORCORAN (bouzouki & lead vocals)

www.rollwave.com

‘His highly ornate vocal technique is the true voice of Irish folk' – Washington Post

Seán, an award-winning singer who has worked with everyone from Phil Lynott to Paul Brady, is a vastly experienced performer who has appeared in major festivals and theatre circuits throughout Europe, North America and Japan. He is a song collector, bouzouki player, ethnomusicologist, a general wit and cultured man-about-town.  Sean's extensive field work has drawn CRAN towards previously unrecorded songs and his deep interest in the great collectors has provided numerous songs from the pre-recording era.   He recently re-formed his cult a capella group Pressgang and they holding celebrated concerts.

DESI WILKINSON (flutes, whistle & vocals)

http://homepage.eircom.net/~shadywoods

‘A dazzling display of virtuosity and quirky genius'

– In Dublin

Desi plays concert flute (some fiddle, guitar, pipes and clarinet) and is a fine singer, to boot. He has an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Queens University, Belfast, where his thesis was on Sligo-Leitrim flute styles and a Ph.D from the University of Limerick where he wrote a doctoral thesis on Breton music. He is currently Lecturer in Folk and Traditional Music at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. He has comparable attitudes to literature, food and other unspecified things. His wish is to be relatively healthy, try to do some good, have a good time and to be always able to enjoy music and to play and sing honestly and well - that's about all.