Author: Breffni Banks

Music Generation has announced the appointment of Leo Blennerhassett as Chairperson of the Board of Directors. A former Managing Director of Accenture Ireland, Leo is currently Chairperson of the Board of RSA Insurance Ireland Ltd. Previously Leo was also an adjunct lecturer on the MBA programme at Trinity College Dublin and a member of the Advisory Board of the Business School.

Welcoming the announcement, U2’s The Edge commented: ‘Leo has been a constant and active supporter of our common cause to bring music education to children and young people throughout Ireland. We are delighted that he has agreed to take on the role of Chairman and continue the work to make Music Generation a national movement.’

National Director of Music Generation Rosaleen Molloy said: ‘I am delighted that Leo has been appointed as Chairperson of the Board of Music Generation. Leo brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the organisation, particularly in the areas of management, leadership and strategic planning. As a member of the Board since 2010, Leo has already made an enormous contribution to Music Generation during an important period of development. We very much look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we embark on an exciting phase of expansion.’

On his appointment, Leo Blennerhassett said: ‘I am delighted to continue my work on the Board of Music Generation and to take up this new role as Chairperson. The achievements of the programme during its first phase have been nothing short of remarkable. The ground-breaking approach to public-private partnership that the organisation models has paved the way for further growth while ensuring sustainability, enabling positive outcomes for children and young people through music. I look forward to collaborating with my fellow Board members, the Executive of Music Generation, the programme’s philanthropic donors, the Department of Education and Skills and Local Music Education Partnerships to advance the shared vision of the organisation.’

Music Generation is Ireland’s National Music Education Programme, initiated by Music Network and co-funded by U2, The Ireland Funds, the Department of Education and Skills and Local Music Education Partnerships. Currently established in 12 areas of Ireland, the programme provides high-quality, subsidised performance music education to more than 38,000 children and young people annually who would not otherwise have the choice of access or the chance to participate. Since its formation Music Generation has created more than 330 employment opportunities, mainly for musicians who deliver over 99 different programmes in 680 tuition centres. Music Generation focuses on performance music education – that is vocal and instrumental tuition, encompassing all music genres and all types of instruments and vocal styles, from ukulele groups to rock bands, choirs, orchestras, composers’ clubs, rock schools, hip hop squads, traditional Irish music ensembles, rap groups, song-writing sessions and more.

http://www.musicgeneration.ie/

Formed in 2015, Ivy Nations are an indie-pop quartet from Dublin, Ireland who are setting the dance rock world on fire.

Only two singles deep, the group have been praised for their refined sound which they have established well with producer Phil Magee (Kodaline, The Script). Their debut track “The Mile Road” was released to universal plaudits and reached #3 on the HypeM Twitter chart. Second single, “You Are the Centre of Me” premiered on BitCandy in December 2015 receiving national airplay in Ireland & non-com radio in Australia and the USA.

2016 saw the band perfecting their live show with performances at Whelan’s Ones To Watch, Electric Picnic and Other Voices, a sold out headline show in Whelan’s Upstairs, and coveted support slots for acts like The Academic, Kodaline, The Strypes The Frank And Walters and The Blizzards.

New single “Live By Design” holds faithful to the energetic, dreamy sensibilities of the band’s previous releases, but pushes forward. It’s a shade darker, the band shares, and influenced by themes in Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” and Godfrey Reggio’s “Koyaanisquatsi”. Singer Joe Kiernan says of the single, “[Live By Design] deals with the pace of modern life, where live out our fantasies while existing on the outer edges. The song reflects frustration, an inability to change the inner discourses that hold us back, and a desire to remove oneself from the race.”
Set for release on Reckless Records, “Live By Design” is available everywhere on April 7th.

Ivy Nations will be performing at various Irish festivals this year, to be announced very soon.

www.facebook.com/IvyNationsOfficial
www.twitter.com/IvyNations
www.soundcloud.com/ivynationsofficial
www.ivynations.com

Stoat are back with a new single and video Trampolina, released on March 17th, ahead of new album “Try not to think about it” due later in the spring.

Trampolina is classic indie-pop, with guitars, a lot of bounce and a big chorus – full brass section like. Like all their tunes, particular attention has been paid to the words, which are sharp and sweet. Who does it sound like? Maybe Lily Allen fronting Belle and Sebastian, except of course they’re all fellas.

Trampolina is the follow up to the first single to be taken from our upcoming album. It was called “Talk Radio Makes Me Feel Alone”, it picked up airplay on RTE 2FM, KCLR, 96 FM Cork, Beat 102-103, Dublin City FM, Flirt FM, Spin South West and 8Radio, and people said some nice things about it:

“as infectious as anything currently in the Top 10” – Pure M Zine

“by far the greatest thing I’ve heard this year” – musician.ie

Trampolina is a bit of a departure for the band in that it’s an honest-to-god love song, the first they’ve ever done. It describes a short lived affair, touches off the tragedy of the human condition, and ends kind of poignantly.

The video that accompanies the single is kind of interesting in that it was shot in one take and was made without any external help. No one to even hold the camera.

Twitter @StoatMusic
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stoatmusic/

Freshly formed in July of 2016, Tullamore group Chasing Abbey bring a unique pop, dance and hip-hop style to the fore. Having grown up and sharing a love of music together, Ro, Bee and TeddyC have an unparalleled charisma that culminates in an explosive live show. Their latest track ‘That Good Thing’ will be released on Friday 31st March 2017.

“3 men who are very, very talented. They’ve got a brilliant sound and I think a very unique sound in Ireland.” – Louise Duffy, Today Fm

“You know where you should be going for your Hip Hop? Tullamore, Co. Offaly. This is Ro, Bee & TeddyC, their called Chasing Abbey and we love this tune here at Today Fm.” – Dermot & Dave, Today Fm

“One of the most promising bands in the country.” – iRadio

“One talented bunch.” – Spin South West

Social media links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChasingAbbey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ChasingAbbey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChasingAbbeyHQ
Snapchat: ChasingAbbey3

Irish alt-folk artist Ailbhe Reddy has now topped 1.5 Million Spotify streams for her debut self released EP ‘Hollowed out Sea’ and is currently receiving some amazing reviews internationally for her new track ‘Relent’, a live video of which has just been released.

Following her recent ‘Sold Out’ shows in London and Dublin and appearance last week on Other Voices Ailbhe heads off to Toronto in April to showcase at Canadian Music Week before embarking on her first Irish Tour.

Irish Tour Dates 

29th April – Waterford, Spraoi Studios ( Sold Out )
3rd May – Galway, Roisin Dubh
5th May – Cork, Connollys of Leap
6th May – Ballydehob, Levis Cornerhouse
10th May – Dundalk, Spirit Store
11th May – Cork, Cyprus Ave ( Music Cork Showcase )
12th May – Belfast, The Mac
13th May – Westport, The Clock Tavern
26th May – Cork, Coughlans

‘Ailbhe Reddy stands head and shoulders above the folk mainstream‘ – The Line of Best Fit

‘Ailbhe Reddy’s realness on her song Relent is staggering‘ – Earmilk

‘Haunting and breathtaking‘ – Wonderland Magazine

‘Prepare to be floored‘ – Record of the Day

‘An immensely dynamic track, engaging and forward-thinking pop music‘ – Music News UK

www.facebook.com/ailbhereddy
Twitter @ailbhereddy
www.ailbhereddy.com

Sharon Shannon returns with her brand-new studio album “Sacred Earth” on 17^th March 2017.

Newly signed to Irish record label Celtic Collections, this is Sharon’s first new studio album in 3 years and her tenth studio album to date.

Sharon Shannon is a musician who likes to surprise. While she is best known for her arrangements of traditional Irish tunes and Irish-influenced compositions, she has always been eager to explore new styles, and to meet and work with other musicians. There are Irish influences here, of course, but these are cheerfully mixed in with often unexpected styles from around the world, including – for the first time – Africa.

Sharon has perfectly mastered an African/Irish crossover. But Sacred Earth is more than this: musical elements from the classical world, the Shetland Fiddle Tradition, Hip Hop, country and blues all conspire to make this album a ground-breaker.

She was helped in the project by Justin Adams, who co-produced the album, plays guitar and a variety of percussion instruments, and was, says Sharon, “the obvious guy to help us get that sound”.  The guitarist in Robert Plant’s band, The Sensational Space Shifters, Justin has long been an expert in African (and Middle Eastern) styles, and produced that great Malian band ‘Tinariwen’. He played on Sharon’s 2007 album ‘Renegade’, and Sharon wanted to work with him again both because of his African connections and because “he’s such a generous musician. I love his fearless approach to trying different ideas”.

As for Justin, he described the collaboration like this: “ever since a late-night music session at her house in Galway, I’ve been aware of the joy and openness that goes alongside Sharon’s rootedness in tradition. My musical passions that have led to immersion in Blues, North and West African music and Reggae sit easily with Sharon’s dancing rhythm, and show the ancient connections from South and East to West and back again, connections we need to celebrate more than ever”.

There is indeed a sense of celebration to this set, as Irish dance tunes interact with music from around the world. The African-influenced material includes rousing instrumentals. Away from Africa, there are more surprises.

A key player in uniting the sound of the tracks is Rushed Eggleston on cello. A virtuoso musician, Rushed can tackle any genre with equal mastery. He switches seamlessly from classical (Bas Pelles / The Merry Widow) to wildness (Pull out the Stops / Rusheen Bay).

‘The Merry Widow’ is a re-working of the waltz from the operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár, first performed at the start of the last century.

Frenchie’s Reel comes from the New England/ Canadian border tradition and was learnt from Rodney Miller. However, the addition of 6 Shetland Fiddlers (recorded on Shetland when Sharon performed there), gives this track a unique twist. The sweet tone of these incredible players also gives a classical, orchestral feel.

Sea Shepherd features the incredible playing of Seckou Keita on the Kora (an Africa Harp). This is in a true African style but the playing again gives a classical, almost regal tone to the piece.

Alongside the instrumentals there are three, very different songs, There’s the Jim Reeves (and Elvis) hit He’ll Have to Go’, now featuring Finbar Furey.

Then there’s the stomping rockabilly/bluesy ‘Let’s Go’, which started out as an instrumental, but then acquired lyrics, thanks to an Australian based duo called ‘Hat Fitz and Cara’. Real Blues royalty was added to this song in Chicago in the shape of Greg Guy, son of the legendary Buddy Guy, on guitar. Harmonica was supplied by Majiec Zawarone. This track has the distinction of having been recorded and mixed in 5 different countries; Ireland, England, Australia, USA and Poland!

The third song comes out of the touring experience in New Mexico, where Sharon met Alyra Rose. The Machine is a song political in nature and a musical hybrid of hip hop and a traditional Irish style reel.

“ It’s this free-wheeling approach that makes Sharon Shannon so exciting. And she puts it all down to the time she spent working with The Waterboys, when there were “no rules as to the type of music played…we could move very easily from a punk song to an old timey American waltz to Irish jigs and reels and onto New Orleans-type blues”. As a soloist, she has continued that approach. Working with Denis Bovell on ‘Out The Gap’, back in 1994, she found that “the reggae rhythm lent a very groovy backing to an Irish reel”. Since then there have been excursions into Argentinian tango, Breton music, American folk and country, and much more besides – including, of course, that massively-successful collaboration with Steve Earle on ‘The Galway Girl’.

Sharon Shannon has had a remarkable and adventurous career. ‘Sacred Earth’ is a rousing reminder of why she is still so unique.”  Robin Denselow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.shannon1

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gaffalo

St. Patrick’s Festival is proud to present Young Blood: The Beats and Voices of our Generation Live at the National Concert Hall this Saturday, 18th March.

When the rhythms, the musings and the mutterings of a young Irish generation intertwine it’s bound to be one of those special nights you just have to witness.

Young Blood will meander through the genres of hip hop and spoken word in what promises to be a powerful collective performance of Ireland’s smartest, expressive young musicians, rappers and poets. Curated by Aoife Woodlock, Music Producer of Other Voices, the line up includes: RTÉ Choice Music Prize winners, Rusangano Family, Dublin’s soul pop rappers, Hare Squead, named in NME’s top ten BEST new bands to watch for in 2017, Kojey Radical (UK), nominated for two MOBO awards in 2016 and credited for his explosive live shows and subversive storytelling ability.

Dublin poet Stephen James Smith’s response to a spoken word commission on the Festival’s theme Ireland You Are ….. inspired Young Blood. Smith is central to the rise of the vibrant spoken word genre in Ireland today. His passionate delivery of epic new poem My Ireland, most recently performed at the Oscar Wilde Awards in LA, is something not to be missed.

Smith is joined by poets: Abby Oliveria; the formidable Emmet Kirwan (Heartbreak, Dublin Oldschool, RIOT); Colm Keegan, John Cummins; 16 year old Natalya O’ Flaherty; Felispeaks and Sarah Clancy. Vocalist and musician Katie Laffan completes the stellar line up, although expect more surprises on the night!

Young Blood will amplify the voice of a generation!!

https://www.nch.ie/Online/St-Patricks-Festival-18Mar17

The Journal of Music has announced Anna Murray as Assistant Editor.

A composer, writer and concert manager, Anna has been contributing to The Journal of Music since 2009, writing important articles on Kaleidoscope, Kirkos Ensemble, New Music Dublin and more.

Anna studied music at NUI Maynooth and subsequently completed an M. Phil. in Music and Media Technologies at Trinity College.

She is currently Secretary of the Association of Irish Composers and also concerts manager for the Quiet Music Ensemble. Previous roles include Press Officer with the Irish Composers’ Collective, Artist Management Assistant with Lundstrom Arts Management, and project manager for a variety of music events.

Toner Quinn, Editor of The Journal of Music, commented, “I’m delighted that Anna is joining The Journal of Music. Not only is she an important music writer with a fresh perspective on the current Irish music scene, but with the launch this week of our two new music writer mentoring schemes, her project-management skills will be of enormous benefit.

As a composer, Anna’s work has been performed by Crash Ensemble, Lucy Railton, and Michelle O’Rourke and Michael McHale, and last year she was the commissioned composer at the first Music Currents electronic music festival.”

Commenting on her appointment, Anna said, “I am thrilled to be appointed as the new Assistant Editor. The Journal of Music has always provided a platform for writing on music that is stimulating and insightful, and it is exciting to be a part of it. I am looking forward in particular to working with the participants of the new music writer mentoring schemes.”

Anna will take up her new part-time position on 20 March.

After a series of successful appearances and performances, Scullion play their first headline show in Dublin for some time on Friday 31st March. It promises to be the return that has long been anticipated ahead of some new recordings and special shows being planned throughout Ireland, to be announced later in 2017. The shows intend on bringing together and inviting in some of the many musical acquaintances and collaborators that the band have crossed paths with along their adventures.

This band has been on a musical expedition since its inception…

“We have played in back rooms, front rooms, bar rooms and bedrooms, flat bed trucks, concert halls The Albert Hall and everywhere else in between,” says Philip King

“The urge to sit and play in some of these rooms especially in the Ireland in 2017 is powerful. The exchange that happens when engaging live with an audience is more alluring and vital than ever in this age of virtual connection. We have an amazingly diverse musical language on this creative island and many of those strands are woven into Scullion’s musical DNA”

Sonny Condell the creative core and inspiration for the band continues to invent and innovate. He writes music and songs that are powerful, poetic, soulful and joyful. He is one of Ireland’s most enduring creative artists and with Robbie Overson and Philip King creates the signature sound that is Scullion.

Scullion’s back pages include the anthems, ‘Down In the City’, ‘Eyelids into Snow’ and ‘John the Baptist’. Recent Scullion performances have sold out in a heartbeat, reconfirming their status as one of the best bands ever.

Scullion grew from a chance meeting in the late seventies, of its two main founders, Philip King and Sonny Condell. As a band they started rehearsing and writing in a small apartment above a chip shop in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, which eventually followed with regular appearances at various Dublin haunts including the Meeting Place in Dorset St. Dublin…and on out into the world.

The band’s founding members, Sonny Condell and Philip King, have not so much floated as careened below the radar for over three decades now, surfacing with some of the sharpest and most original songs written this side of the Brill Building. Quite why they never made their millions on the back of such perfect pop as ‘Oh Carol’, or at the very least discharged a pair of sizeable mortgages on the back of ‘Eyelids Into Snow’, remains one of the enduring mysteries of the music world, but such quotidian distractions are not the stuff of which founding member and aesthete, Sonny Condell, is made.

Scullion recorded 5 albums, Scullion (Produced by P.J Curtis), Balance and Control (Produced by John Martyn), The White Side of Night, (Produced by Enya Producer Nicky Ryan) Spin and LongwaveA live St Under The Moon was released last year

Quote from Sonny Condell:
“The band never stopped, we just have some periods of intense rest! Philip is a successful film maker and broadcaster and produces Other Voices and I have my own band and recording career, Robbie plays the music the world over, so we come together when the time is right for us.”

Tickets €25 from www.tickets.ie

http://www.scullion.com/