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William Kennedy Piping Festival in armagh Nov. '02
BIOS FOR THE BAND MEMBERS
Five strong and diverse personalities have come together producing
a musical amalgam which transcends comparison, but with subtle references to music past and present.
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paul meehan (guitar)
From Middletown, Co.Armagh,
Paul is also an outstanding banjo player and has recorded on two albums as member of North Cregg. He has also recorded on
Niall Valelly's solo album. He has composed numerous tunes, some of which have been recorded by other bands. He performs regularly
on T.V with different artists.
Yet, it is for his uniquely subtle yet powerful guitar accompaniment that
he is best known with Dorsa but has been known on occasion to play banjo with them. He has accompanied fellow Armagh musician,
Brendan McGlinchey and piper, Paddy Keenan. |
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martin quinn (accordion), comes from a family of
musicians and raconteurs of traditional stories. The family has its roots in Co. Armagh, as do other band members (both Pauls!),
He has played with "La Lugh" and does solo work in America and Europe. Often featured on TV and Radio Martin has also contributed
to numerous albums including Paul Bradleys' "Atlantic Roar"(Outlet records), Josephine Keegans' "A Lifes Work" (Celtic Music)
and an album with Outlet Records which featured other musicians from the North of Ireland. Prior to playing full time with
Dorsa Martin toured with players such as Gerry (fiddle) O Connor and Gerry Harrington of the group "Doon". He is an experienced
player for set dances and ceilidhes and has toured Europe with dance shows. |
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tiarnán ó duinnchinn ( uilleann pipes & whistles)
From
Monaghan, Tiarnan is a piper in great demand at piping festivals and tionols (piper's meetings) all over Ireland and Europe
alongside such piping greats as Paddy Keenan, John Rooney and Kathryn Tickell. Tiarnan is continously recording with various
artists as diverse as Hazel Ó Connor, Vards, Danish rock singers and Gaelic singers like Aoife Ní Fhearraigh. His playing
has featured on two movies as well as numerous advertisements. He has been recording and touring with Maire Brennan (Clannad)
for the last four years. He was the soloist on the specially commissioned "L'Epopée Celtique" at Festival Interceltique in
Lorient and has also played with the New Scottish and Irish orchestras alongside work in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. |
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paul bradley (fiddle/viola) is one of the foremost
players of his generation in Ireland. His fiddle style is highly energetic and evocative. Born in Bessbrook, Co. Armagh. His
first solo effort, Atlantic Roar, received excellent reviews in Folk Roots Magazine and Irish Music Magazine,
while The Irish Times wrote "Key and style changes show off not only his talent and utter comfort with the instrument,
but also his thorough understanding of the music he plays." Recent gigs in Armagh, Wicklow, Antrim and Belfast with Clare
concertina player Padraig Rynne and Paul Meehan on guitar produced some wild and versatile music. Paul plans another solo
album for the near future. Paul is a violin-maker and studied at the Newark School of violin-making in England. He lives in
Galway. |
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stephanie makem (vocals)
From Co. Armagh, Stephanie's
singing is deeply rooted in a long lineage of singers, stretching back to her great grandmother who was the celebrated Ulster
folksinger Sarah Makem and indeed, to her granduncle, Tommy Makem. Stephanie is currently collecting and collating Sarah's
work with a view to publication in the near future. Stephanie sings a lot of Sarah's own songs together with songs from southeast
Ulster in both Gaelic and English. Stephanie performed on TG4's music programme "Flosc" which was aired in 2001. "Irish Traditional
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When they played for us this was the make up:
Paul Bradley - Fiddle; Martin Quinn - Button Accordion
Tiarnan Ó Duinnchin - Pipes/ Low Whistle
Paul Meehan - Guitar/Bouzouki
Margaret Cunningham - Songs
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Na Dorsa’s debut album THE
WILD MUSIC OF THE GAEL presents a distinctive sound, unfettered by the studio and overproduction. The group came together
during a couple of all night sessions in Galway, the musicians having been friends for years. The smoky music and great craic
of those nights prompted them to try to recapture that mood. Strong and diverse personalities have come together producing
an amalgam which transcends comparison, but with subtle references to music past and present.
...this band as tight as the proverbial mouse's
ear. There is an enormous elegant energy in the playing of Na Dorsa and they blow like a revitalizing gust of fresh air out
of the north.. Jim Kelly, Irish Music Magazine
Seriously crisp,
straight ahead material from talented Ulster band Mic Moroney, The Irish Times
Margaret Cunningham
has the voice of a mermaid…A great concert by Na Dorsa, fresh and shining like the grass and waters of Ireland.
Mauro Quai, Messegero Veneto, Italy.
…the intelligence
and imagination here make this an exceptional first album. Fintan Vallely, The Sunday Tribune
honorable mention
for 2000 - Earle Hitchner, IRISH ECHO |
Credit: Black Bird Agency www.torchlight.com
IT WASN'T the best of starts, down two members for the opening gig
at The Cobblestone in Dublin's Smithfield. However Peter Browne stood in for the absent box player. Na Dorsa quickly
pulled themselves together and their November Irish tour took in a TV recording for TG4's Geantraí series, a big night
before the home crowd at Tí Chúllain in Mullaghbawn before travelling on to Galway and the Ennis Traditional Festival. They
finished off on a high note with a packed house in Dublin's Harcourt Hotel.
"It was a learning experience in terms of how you read a venue and
how you adjust to it in terms of material," according to fiddle player Paul Bradley.
Na Dorsa is a group of six Northerners who got together following
a couple of all-night sessions in Galway where Paul and Desy Adams now live. The immediate result was the album The
Wild Music of the Gael.
Their name comes from Dorsey in South Armagh (Na Dorsa in Irish).
It was the gateway of a bronze age fortification, believed by some archaeologists to have been part of the Black Pig's Dyke.
The group's members are: Desy Adams (flute) from Belfast, Martin Quinn (accordion), Tiarnan O Duinnchin,
Monaghan, (pipes and low whistle), Paul Meehan (guitar and bouzouki), Paul Bradley, Bessbrook, Armagh, (fiddle
and viola) and singer Margaret Cunningham from Carrick in Co Donegal.
As all the musicians come from the North, it's interesting to listen
to Paul talk about influences. "Even before the revival of the sense of identity of music in Ulster, I suppose the Donegal
music revival, I myself would have been keenly interested in Northern fiddle playing and Donegal music as well. I wouldn't
see that as a totally separate thing from the tradition which existed in the North, but certainly as something that was more
defined. So, I mean, in my own area, which is South Armagh, my older brothers played fiddles and I suppose, musicians like
Josephine Keegan, who is a personal friend of mine since I was a young fella, would have been a big influence. Plus
other less well-known musicians in the area."
Paul was the youngest in his family and got a lot of his music from
older brothers who listened to the older fiddle and box players. "Those were largely the instruments that were played - fiddle
and melodeon. Not so much flutes. But I know that way back there were a few flute players. My brothers would have known and
played with those musicians.
"And the Fermanagh music of the likes of Mick
Hoy would have come to younger musicians like ourselves indirectly through flute players like Gary Hastings
and Gerry O'Donnell."
After going to live in Belfast he heard a wealth of Fermanagh tunes
circulating there among younger players. "Then there would be the East Down music, even highlands and stuff played out around
there and unusual polkas. And even around South Armagh a lot of schottisches were played as well."
A lot of those tunes can be actually found in the Fr Luke Donnellan
Collection, which was collected in the early 1900s around North Louth, South Armagh and Monaghan. Gerry O'Connor of
La Lugh has already been exploring this source. Fr Donnellan was stationed for a while around the Moy in Co Tyrone, but he
would have travelled down into South Armagh. He was also involved in the archaeological uncovering of a few cairns on top
of Slieve Gullion.
Na Dorsa are conscious of this music but not preoccupied with it.
"The feeling that's in our music, we're not afraid to play nor do we have any problems with music from Clare and Sligo and
Leitrim, as you'll find on the album. Generally the vibe or the verve that you'll feel from our music would suggest something
from the North which is pretty virile sort of music, it is very punchy."
Their vocalist, Margaret Cunningham, sings quite a wide variety of
songs. She sings traditional songs in Gaelic from her own locality around Carrick, near Glencolmcille in southwest Donegal,
and other songs in Gaelic and English that she got from other influences, including songs from other traditions like Canada.
"What's different about the music that we are playing." Paul emphasises,
"is that all the players in the band would be very strong personalities with musical hallmarks of their own. So when we do
play together, we pull that together into something that is very hard-hitting and we don't try to over-arrange what we do.
We do try to keep it interesting, but what's important to us is power and energy and being as true to playing real traditional
music as is possible to be when you bear in mind that you're trying to entertain large audiences."
Na Dorsa are setting up a second Irish tour in February and they
have a short tour in Italy around March.
Email: nadorsa@yahoo.com. Phone +87 612030.
The Wild Music of the Gael, Na Dorsa.
Credit: www.irishmusicweb.ie
