Steve Cooney, Brid Harper, Dermot Byrne in concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDKMkYJlowI
Dermot Byrne hails from Buncrana in the Inishowen peninsula, the most northerly part of Donegal, and has played accordion since a very young age, having learned from his father Tomás O’Beirn, who comes from Teileann area of South West Donegal, and is an enthusiastic promoter of the tradition. Dermot had the good fortune to meet all the greats of Donegal music, including Johnny Doherty, Con Cassidy and Tommy Peoples, Danny Meehan and many more, and they made a great impact on the young Dermot, who went on to develop a unique style. His seemingly effortless playing, combined with great subtlety, and a faultless ear, makes him one of the great accordion players of his generation. As well as his mastery of the Donegal style and repertoire, Dermot can turn with ease to other styles and traditions such as French musette, or South American choro music. He guested on two Altan recordings “The Red Crow” and “Island Angel” before joining the band in 1994. Dermot has guested on collaborations with many great musicians including Seamus and Manus McGuire, Sharon Shannon, Salsa Celtica, Steeve Cooney, Dezi Donelly, Brid Harper, Frankie Gavin, Tommy Peoples, Pierre Schryer, Tim O’Brien and the late jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli. He recently recorded a duet CD with French Harpist Floriane Blancke.
Brid Harper is originally from Castlefinn Co.Donegal and now living near Dungannon Co. Tyrone. She has been hailed as one of the leading exponents of traditional fiddle playing of our time. She was senior All-Ireland Champion, Fiddler of Dooney and Oireachtas winner in 1988. For the past couple of years she has been performing with great musicians including Dermot Byrne , Steeve Cooney , PJ McDonald and many others. Brid has recently released her Solo Album which has been hailed as one of the best traditional albums of 2015.
Born in Melbourne, Australia, Steve Cooney started his professional musical career from the age of seventeen. He has been playing in rock bands including Bushwackers, Fruitcake and the successful folk/rock band Red Gum. In 1981 he bought a one-way ticket to Ireland where he joined Stockton’s Wing, playing bass guitar and didgeridoo. Since then he has been very active performing and recording with Dermot Byrne, Sharon Shannon,Martin Hayes, Mary Black, Sliabh Notes, Séamus Begley and many others.Steve has had a long association with Canon Goodman’s music and is one of Ireland’s leading authorities on the subject. In 1993 he performed (with Odhrán Ó Casaide) a concert of Goodman pieces to mark the opening of the Great Blasket centre in Dunquin, the first time those tunes were heard publicly in Goodman’s native West Kerry in over 100 years. In 2000 he recorded a selection of them for ‘Scéilín Ó Bhéilín’, an educational Irish language CD for schoolchildren.