We are blessed here in Dublin because in the last 6 weeks we have been given the opportunity to see three of the best up and coming traditional acts around.  Crossharbour, a London band who played in January. Last week we saw We Banjo 3 and today Moxie.   Today, despite being in the sterile environment of a university lecture room at lunchtime, Moxie treated us to a half hour…

The trad music calender is entering a busy phase starting in July and as part of that there are a number of retreats, schools and festivals taking place which we will try and highlight as they occur.  Starting next week in Clare there is a new opportunity for flute players to smarten up on their technique.  The…

The Yanks debut album is now available for download. For a limited time it is available on a "pay-as-you-want" basis.  So get on over to yanksband.bandcamp.com, have a listen and then download.  

The Yanks are a new group with some TradConnect regulars in the shape of …

For those of you that follow the great TG4 Series Geantraí on Sunday nights check in this Sunday for Episode 3 that will be hosted by Harper Freda Hatton and will feature Tradconnect member Enda Seery.…

Tradconnect members Colleen Raney and Stuart Mason, with John Weed are teaming up to form a new group and are kicking off a US West Coast tour.  They go…

Having enjoyed the album Roots of The Banjo Tree by We Banjo 3 the opportunity to see them live could not be passed up. It won The Irish Times album of 2012 award and set them on course for a tour of live shows.  Could their stage shows live…

Oisín Mac Diarmada will give a series of master classes at the TIMES Springhill Retreat Center, 3991 Renner Road, Richardson, Texas April 15th - 19th 2013. The classes are designed for students, ages 18 and older, who already play fiddle and consider themselves intermediate or advanced in their level of ability. A…

Every now and again a delightful discovery from the past shows up on our desk.  Fonnchaoi was recorded by Verena Commins and Julie Langan back in 2001 and was only recently revealed to us by a member of Tradconnect.  Both musicians are part of the vibrant Galway music scene. This is without doubt an album I could play every day and never tire of,…

Here is an interesting video where painter and musician JB Vallely talks about his life and work as one of Northern Ireland's most respected and productive artists. Born in Armagh, J B Vallely was painting from an early age and by the time he was thirty was regarded as one of the most exciting Irish painters.

He talks to Northern Visions about his…

Michael Coleman's fiddle will be in The Cobblestone Bar next Tuesday Feb 26th and will be available to play with care on the night. "Coleman's records were to have a major impact on musicians back in Ireland, and were to exercise an influence on traditional music which was to long outlast his…

Here is an interesting 6 track EP from Mike Considine who now lives in Hollywood, USA but has roots in The Burren region of Clare. It’s not all that often that you come across a bouzouki and guitar driven album, which are Mike's instruments of choice. He describes the album as a trip around the places he loves to call home,…

Bradford's own Stephanie Hladowski has been shortlisted for

The Spiral Awards 2013 - Best Female Singer music award

http://www.spiralearth.co.uk/spiralawards2013/best-female-singer.asp

AND

The Spiral Awards 2013 - Best Debut Album

The Wild Wild Berry

Stephanie Hladowski & C. Joynes

 …

The second programme in this new series comes from Pat Shortt's Pub in Castlemartyr, Co. Cork.

It is presented by banjo player and Tradconnect member Daithí Kearney where among the guests are brothers Caoimhín & Seán Ó Fearghail, singer Mike Hanrahan and comedian, publican and flute player Pat…

Young emerging acts with their own unique brand of Irish traditional music are encouraged to take part in an exciting new project in association with Comhaltas Dhoire and Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin. ‘An Ré Nua ~ the New Era’ is a competition designed to encourage young and innovative musicians to compete against each other for a chance to kick start a…

We are listening to this short EP by Baile an Salsa at the moment.  Its fun, its different and its well recorded. Of late we have been mixing Irish music with lots of foreign influence so why not mix it up with a bit of Salsa. According to their Facebook page "Baile an Salsa are set to the take the Irish music scene by storm. The band sound is an eclectic mix of…

Check out our very extensive Events/Gig listing on Tradconnect.com. With the festival season starting we have the most detailed listings for traditional Irish music related events on the web.  With our ever growing readership you can reach the largest global audience with close to 10,000 unique visitors visiting us every month. Once an event is…

With the festival season upon us we have updated our festivals guide to provide the latest dates for festivals in 2013.  There are still a number of festival dates that need to be confirmed for the period September - December 2013.  

This should provide a comprehensive list for people travelling to…

The following is a quote from Mike Harding  "Two blokes at the top of their mark, one of the world's best melodeon players and one of the world's best mouth organ players"  This very well describes Brendan Power and Tim Edey live at the Harcourt Sessions last night.  Supported by the Jennifer Byrne Band…