Piper Mick O’Brien was born in Dublin in 1961. He began his musical education on the uilleann pipes at the city’s famous Thomas Street Pipers Club. The O’Briens are a musical family; Mick’s father and four brothers played and Mick recorded his first album with them when he was just 13 years old. He later […]

Dan Brouder, from from Monagae, on the outskirts of Newcastle West, is a highly regarded exponent of West Limerick accordion playing. He recorded with Geantraí in the early 1990s and appeared on The High Part of the Road, an Irish music programme presented by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh in Knocknagree, Co. Cork. He continues to perform with […]

Making a welcome return to the festival, the Star of Munster Céilí Band, from Co. Clare, was founded in 1992 by accordionist Michael Sexton, who led the band until his death in 2003. The band reformed in 2004 and has since played throughout Ireland and the UK, in Spain and Holland and on Gertrude Byrne’s […]