Wednesday 9th August | 7.30PM | ST. PAUL’S CHURCH N91KP29
TICKETS: €20 – Double Concert

Coda is a group of 7 singers and musicians: Declan Askin, Steve Bryant, Mike Cannon, Alan Drumm, Leonard Kelly, Brian Lennon and Conall Ó Domhnaill.

Drawing on vocal talent from the west of Ireland, Coda began developing their own approach to vocal performance several years ago. Their first album ‘mouthmusic’ released in 2013 was produced by Maurice Lennon, and their second album ‘Train of Spirits’ was produced by the legendary Dónal Lunny. Coda offers an exciting new perspective on traditional and contemporary folk songs, original compositions and popular songs. Their wide-ranging repertoire comprises both acapella arrangements and self-accompanied songs with a traditional Irish twist.

A Coda performance is rare, if not unique – seven singers whose harmonies blend beautifully topped off with multi-instrumentation as part of the package.

As part of the 2021 Achill International Harp Festival, Coda was commissioned to arrange and perform 9 songs written by the famous Irish harper, bard and composer, Turlough O’Carolan. They were joined for this premiere by Westmeath native, Westport-based harper, Freda Hatton, and have since made a CD of those recordings.

When asked about the specially commissioned performance for the Achill Harp Festival, Conall Ó Domhnaill said;

“We were thrilled to be asked by the Achill Harp Festival to get involved in this project. Tunes that we had been listening to for years now took on a whole new meaning when we realized that they were originally written as songs. It was wonderful to work with renowned harper, Freda Hatton. The harp works so well with our voices and instruments and we are so looking forward to performing them again into the future. As an added bonus, we got to work with TG4’s Cumadóir na Bliana (Composer of the Year), Steve Cooney. His insight into the tunes and instrumentation added greatly to our arrangements.”

‘Sometimes it happens completely out of left field, comes a band that just blows your socks off……. One of the most exciting bands I’ve ever heard. I can’t state too strongly how wonderful I think these guys are’

– Mike Harding, The Mike Harding Folk Show.

‘They’re based in Westport, County Mayo and I regard them as an invigorating and restoring breath of fresh air’

– Earle Hitchner, Wall Street Journal

Daithí Gormley, Oisín MacDiarmada, Elaine Reilly, Samantha Harvey

Biography

Oisín MacDiarmada

Oisín Mac Diarmada is an All-Ireland winning fiddle player, and founder of the internationally renowned group Téada. He has been described by The Irish Echo’s Earle Hitchner as “one of the most gifted and creative traditional fiddlers playing today“.

A graduate in Music Education from Trinity College Dublin and Royal Irish Academy of Music, Oisín began playing fiddle in Clare at a young age, over time developing a deep interest in the playing style of the Sligo region having moved there at the age of 11. He formed Téada in 2001, with whom he has recorded a number of successful albums on the Gael Linn & Green Linnet labels. Highlights on the concert stage have included appearing at specialist music festivals such as Masters of Tradition in West Cork, accompanying Irish President Mary McAleese on a State visit to Romania and a guest solo appearance with the Southern Georgia Symphony Orchestra in the USA.

Oisín has toured frequently in recent years with noted singer & accordion-player Séamus Begley and also with his wife Samantha Harvey (piano & dance). He was appointed Director of SCT (Scrúdu Ceol Tíre), the Traditional Irish Music Examination System administered by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, in 2012 and recently co-authored Fiddlers of Sligo Timebook along with fellow-Sligo musician Daithí Gormley.

Daithí Gormley

Described by legendary accordion player Joe Burke as a ‘master musician’, Daithí Gormley is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished button accordion players of his generation with an extensive and much-respected repertoire steeped in the rich musical heritage of his native County Sligo. He is a regular performer on Irish radio and television and has performed at festivals and concerts nationally and internationally. He has researched, published, and lectured on Irish traditional music and is in high demand as an accomplished tutor, lecturer, and performer. In November 2017 Daithí and Sligo fiddler Oisín MacDiarmada published the ‘Fiddlers of Sligo Tunebook’ and in April 2018 Daithí released his, much anticipated, debut solo album ‘Fiddling without a Bow’ – Irish Traditional Music on Button Accordion to critical acclaim. In addition to being an outstanding performer, Daithí is also in high demand as an accomplished tutor teaching widely at many festivals and summer schools nationally and internationally, including the South Sligo Summer School, Joe Mooney Summer School, Ceardlann Earraigh, Birmingham Trad Fest, New York Trad Fest, Return to Camden Town Festival and Scoil Egise to name but a few.

Elaine Reilly

From Granard, Co Longford, Elaine Reilly is one of the foremost tenor banjo players of her generation. She is in high demand as an accomplished and much sought after performer and tutor. She has taught at many events including The Willie Clancy Summer School, IMBOLC, and Scoil Eigse and has toured extensively in Ireland, Britain and North America. In 2020, Elaine was chosen as one of 20 musicians for Trad Ireland’s 20/20 visionaries project and recently recorded with fellow Longford banjo player, Angelina Carberry. In 2022, Elaine performed as part of a new project Ardán, alongside Sorcha Costello and Catherine McHugh. She has since performed at The Ace & Deuce of piping concert, The Return to London Town festival, The Patrick O’Keefe festival and featured on Tg4 programmes Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and Geantraí.

Samantha Harvey

Samantha Harvey is an award-winning step dancer, pianist and accordionist. She has performed throughout the world including gigs in the US, Canada, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia with groups Téada, IRELAND – the show, Irish Christmas in America, Atlantic Steps, Cosa, and Tomáseen Foley’s Irish Times. Samantha also enjoys the more intimate performance setting with her accordion and mandolin duo – Sam ‘n Ash.