The Piper's Hut Concert Series

2010

Chulrua

www.chulrua.com

Location

IMC
202 South Broadway Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801

Tickets
$20	Adult
$10	Student/Senior
"Tickets" sold on-line will be available the night of the show at a "Will Call" booth or at the door depending on the venue.

This concert is in parnership with the Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival. The C-U F&RF takes place in and around downtown Urbana, Il the weekend of September 23.

CONCERT TIME: 8pm. Doors should open at about 7:15pm.

Chulrua (pronounced cool-ROO-ah), translates from the Irish as "red back," and was the name and distinguishing feature of the favorite wolfhound belonging to ancient Irish hero Fionn MacCumhaill. It is also the name of an internationally acclaimed trio of some of the most respected and unique exponents of Irish traditional music.

Button accordion icon Paddy O'Brien has accumulated a veritable hoard of rare versions of tunes and stories gleaned from more than forty years of patiently seeking out and spending time with older musicians throughout Ireland. A native of County Offaly in the Midlands of Ireland, he is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant to record and annotate 500 dance tunes (a small fraction of his repertoire), and is revered by aficionados worldwide.

Fiddle player Patrick Ourceau was born and raised in France, settled in New York City in 1989 and is now based in Toronto, Canada. Although he is mostly self-taught, Patrick’s fiddle playing has been greatly influenced and shaped by the music of the great Co. Clare and East Co. Galway musicians he has been in contact with over the years—from his many visits to Ireland and frequent meetings with fiddle players Paddy Canny and Peter O’Loughlin, but also from the great musicians living in New York City, particularly flute player Jack Coen from Woodford in Co. Galway. Patrick has been performing across the U.S., Canada, and Europe since the early nineties, has been featured on a host of recordings, and is in demand as a teacher at festivals and summer schools across North America and Ireland.

For twenty years, Tipperary man Pat Egan has developed his own powerfully emotive style of guitar accompaniment and vocal delivery. He has chosen to feather his nest with some wonderful but little-known songs, old and new, that fit into both traditional and contemporary contexts.

Randal Bayes & Davey Mathias

www.randalbays.com

Location

tba

Randal Bays is an American musician whose mastery of the intricate art of Irish fiddle playing has earned him an international reputation among fans of Irish music. He’s known as an exciting and dynamic performer whose music grows out of a deep respect for the ancient wellsprings of the Irish tradition.

Randal was born not in Ireland but in Indiana, where he started on trumpet at age eight, and then took up the guitar at age twelve. A year later he had his first paid gig and went on to play in several popular rock and blues bands around the Midwest while learning to play the classical guitar. Randal attended two years of music school in Indiana, where he studied music theory and composition before emigrating to the Pacific Northwest at the age of twenty. He’s made his home there ever since, and now lives on Whidbey Island, near Seattle.

Randal was born not in Ireland but in Indiana, where he started on trumpet at age eight, and then took up the guitar at age twelve. A year later he had his first paid gig and went on to play in several popular rock and blues bands around the Midwest while learning to play the classical guitar. Randal attended two years of music school in Indiana, where he studied music theory and composition before emigrating to the Pacific Northwest at the age of twenty. He’s made his home there ever since, and now lives on Whidbey Island, near Seattle.

In recent years Randal has toured and recorded with many of the finest Irish musicians, including James Keane and Daithi Sproule (in the band FINGAL), James Kelly, John Williams, Martin Hayes, Tony McManus, Aine Meenaghan, Roger Landes. His most recent recording, “Dig With It” (2009) features the brilliant Canadian guitarist Dave Marshall, with whom Randal now tours in North America and Canada.

The HiB's

www.hibsmusic.com

Location

tba

Kate (Wade) Dowling grew up step-dancing and playing music in an Irish-Italian neighborhood in Chicago, where maintaining one’s heritage was a way of life. She studied Irish music with Noel Rice (Co. Offaly) and dancing with Jim McGing and Mark Howard (later Trinity). A championship level dancer, Kate turned her full attention to the music after the age of 17, playing with various groups including Baltiorum, Mind-the-Gap, Quaking Bog, Field Day, Doon Ceili Band and the HiBs. Overall, Kate has been playing Irish traditional music for 30 years.

After meeting her husband Jode while playing tunes at Milwaukee Irish Fest, Kate moved to Minnesota in 1995. Through college and grad school, she kept at the music and traveled many times to Ireland, most frequently to Cork and Belfast, where she has enjoyed playing music with friends and family. Among these were her great influences Martin McHugh (Co. Rosscommon) and Fintan Vallely (Co. Armagh).

Kate is an exuberant, passionate proponent of traditional Irish music and is a sought-after music instructor. A natural teacher, she has given lessons in North America, Ireland and Germany. In 2004, she and Jode founded the Center for Irish Music (CIM) in St. Paul, MN. CIM is an independent, non-profit organization based on a community of musicians and serving whole families in the Twin Cities and Western Wisconsin.

Born in the US of Irish parents, Jode started playing Irish music at a young age and never quit. Early influences on Jode's playing included lessons from Liz Carroll, John Kelly Sr., Bobby Casey, and Joe Ryan, along with the undeniable influence of his mother Betty (from Gurteen, Co. Sligo), his father Joe (from Tulamore, Co. Offaly) and his older brother Martin, also a fiddler. Jode has also spent a good deal of time in both Belfast and Cork, playing with and learning from the talented and generous musicians there.

After moving to Minnesota in 1989, Jode played with the Minnesota Music Award-winning band formerly known as the Clumsy Lovers. He then went on to form Field Day and Corncrake, both highly influential groups in the Twin Cities. Jode was one of the founding members of Shanachie recording artists, the Doon Ceili Band. In his spare time, Jode is a fiddle instructor and the co-founder of The Center for Irish Music.