Founder member of the group Unbeaten Path along with Kieran Jordan, Mark Simos, Darrah Carr and Niall O'Leary. Also performs/has performed with: Cathie Ryan, Mick Moloney, James Riley, Sarah Blair, Solas, Alisdair Frasier.
Influences
Irish Music and Song: Desi Wilkinson, Packie Duignan, Conal O'Grada, Tommy Potts, Paul McGrattan, Keiran O'Hare, Frank Claudy, Niall Keegan, Sandra Joyce, Tom Doorley, Frank Torpy, Harry Bradley, Garry Hastings, Benedict Kohler, Patrick Olwell, Marcas O Murchu, John Carty, John Doherty, Malachy Bourke, Frank Harte, etc. etc.
Traditional Dance: Kieran Jordan, Aidan Vaughan, Mick Mulkerrin, Mairead Casey, Coilin Seoghe, Catherine Foley, Roisin Ni Mhainin, Sharon Gouveia, Niall O'Leary, James Keane, Frank McConnell, Darrah Carr, etc.
Sounds Like
Traditional Irish Music on wooden flute, whistle, bodhrán, song and sean nós dance.
Ben Power is a flute and bodhrán player, singer and sean nós dancer from just outside Liverpool, England. Moving to Dublin in the mid-nineties for the tunes, he studied Irish flute with the well-known flute player, Paul McGrattan, and subsequently moved West to complete an M.A. in Traditional Irish Music at Limerick University’s renowned Irish World Music Centre, where he studied with, among others, Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, the famous pianist and composer, Niall Keegan and Desi Wilkinson, the celebrated Irish flute players and Catherine Foley, Professor of Irish Dance. In Limerick he also began to learn sean nós dance, studying with various dancers from Connemara and the traditional Clare step dance master, James Keane.
Dancing with Solas
From 2002 to 2007, Ben lived in New York playing in the vigorous Irish session scene there and teaching, performing and lecturing around the New York area and nationally. He is a founder member of the innovative Irish dance ensemble Unbeaten Path, frequently performing and teaching the traditional sean nós style of Irish dance. Ben has performed with Solas, Alisdair Frasier, Dougie MacLean, Mick Moloney at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. He plays with the Cathie Ryan Band, and has recorded for RTÉ’s Christmas broadcasts. He recently spent a year living in Ullapool in the Scottish Highlands, learning new tunes from local musicians such as Carol-Anne Mackay and Rona Sutherland, and has a solo album available, The Mouse in the Mug. He has just moved West to begin a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at UC San Diego, and has produced his first ethnographic film there about the Southern California Piper's Tionól. Ben is available for private lessons or workshops in Irish flute, whistle, bodhrán (frame drum), traditional song and sean nós dance, or to give lectures on traditional Irish Music and dance.
Below are some shots from Ben's brush dance, performed with Solas, that the Boston Herald liked - "Power did a dance with a broom that was genius."
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 2 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN
Once drove an old sedan, up north, From a place in Sydney to Cairns; Then to Kuranda I went forth, By train, to look without set plans.
I browsed through the trendy market, With fresh fruits of tropical kind; Walked to the creek through lush thicket - Nature’s hand giving peace of mind.
I dined in a scenic cafe; Then, outside, as I wrote for yen, Some passing Kooris called-out: “Hey, You go walkabout with your pen.”
Request or question, I don’t know - Assured voices, elderly men. That’s now several years ago, And I’ve seen the world - with my pen.
Hey Ben, thanks for finding me here! Lovely to meet you this weekend and play a few tunes. Pity the lift yesterday didn't work out! Must get a copy of your 'gig' from the weekend, if you're making it available. :-) Helen
