Flute player and piper Harry Bradley heads the list of recipients of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2014 (Traditional Music Awards).

Born and reared in Belfast, he is regarded as one of the finest and most passionate exponents of his chosen instrument (and a noted piper too). Currently based in Cork and attending university there, he has toured and recorded extensively and also devised and delivered on-line research and tuition modules for his chosen instruments.

This year’s Gradam recipients range over a wide spectrum of talents.  They include a venerable North Clare concertina player; the doyen of Irish musicology in North America; one of Connemara’s most versatile sean-nós singers; a member of the latest generation in a Sliabh Luachra musical dynasty; and a trio of musicians whose musical collaboration has brought to life again a unique musical manuscript trove from Munster that had lain dormant for 130 years.
 
The full list of TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2014 recipients is:
– Gradam Ceoil TG4 – Harry Bradley
– Ceoltóir Óg  TG4  (Young Musician) – Bryan O’Leary 
– Gradam Saoil TG4  (Hall of Fame) –  Chris Droney
– Gradam Comharcheoil TG4  (Musical Collaboration) –  The Goodman Project
– Amhránaí TG4  (Singer) – Nan Tom Taimín de Búrca 
– Gradam Comaoine  TG4 (Special Contribution) – Mick Moloney 
 
An independent panel of adjudicators selects recipients of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil each year.   Each is presented with a specially-commissioned piece by sculptor John Coll as well as a stipend. This year’s awards ceremony and Gradam Ceoil Concert will take place in the UL Concert Hall, Limerick on Saturday 12th April. At the concert, hosted by Páidí Ó Lionáird and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, the 2014 Gradam recipients will be joined on stage by their special musical guests.  It will be recorded for broadcast on TG4 on Easter Sunday April 20th 9.30pm and promises a unique, star-studded line-up of musicians and award-presenters.    

TG4 Deputy CEO Pádhraic Ó Ciardha says that the Gradam Ceoil is unique in honouring a wide array of major figures in Irish traditional music during their lifetime and away from the competition platform.  “We are delighted to organise, sponsor and broadcast this well-deserved recognition for extraordinary and talented artists who bring beauty to our lives with their music and are a source of pride to us all,” he said.

Tickets for the Gradam Ceoil concert can be obtained by telephone from 061 331549 or on www.uch.ie

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Harry Bradley
Harry Bradley was born in South Belfast in 1974. He discovered traditional music through popular recordings and was encouraged by childhood holidays in County Down where there was an active community of traditional musicians. The vibrant recording heritage from the 1920s and 30s has had a huge influence on his personal playing style as has the playing of more contemporary exponents such as Seamus Tansey, Dessie Wilkinson, John Carty and piper Seamus Ennis, to name but a few. Noted for his unique tone and driving rhythm, Harry has come to be recognized as one of the most distinctive flute players in Ireland today.

To date he has recorded three critically acclaimed solo flute CDs; duet recordings with fiddler Paul O’Shaughnessy and fluter Michael Clarkson; and a trio recording with Jesse Smith (fiddle) and John Blake (guitar/piano/flute) entitled “The Tap Room Trio”(Claddagh Records). He appeared as a guest musician on Altan’s “The Blue Idol” and “The Poisoned Glen” CDs and has toured extensively with the group. His latest solo recording “The First of May” was released in January 2014.

Harry is also a dedicated uilleann piper and has served as a member of the board of directors of Na Píobairí Uilleann, the society for uilleann pipers, where he taught pipes. He designed and initiated the NPU Heritage & Research Project, a joint FAS/NPU training initiative based in the Na Píobairí Uilleann archive. You can hear many clips of Harry’s piping on his popular piping podcast The Errant Elbow: http://errantelbows.podbean.com/
 
And on flute form the following clips from NPU http://source.pipers.ie/Media.aspx?categoryId=882&mediaId=23424
 
Despite his young age, Harry has the distinction of being highly regarded and respected by all generations of musicians. His love of the music and adherence to tradition combined with a driving rhythmical style make him a Tour de force.  He is a highly individual and respected musician.

He currently resides in Cork where he attends UCC and he is father to two daughters Roisin aged 9 and Lily aged 5.
 
Bryan O’Leary
Bryan O’Leary is twenty years of age and comes from the townland of Tureencahill half way between Ballydesmond and Gneeveguilla, in the heart of Sliabh Luachra.

He started playing the accordion at the age of 10, shortly after his grandfather, the great accordionist Johnny O’Leary, passed away. He began his music career learning at his local National school under the guidance of Henry Cronin. He continued learning by attending classes with the respected teacher and multi-instrumentalist Nicky McAuliffe from Castleisland. He received tuition from Nicky all through his teenage years.

As Bryan progressed on the accordion, he began learning his grandfather’s music by ear and researching Johnny’s music and old recordings. This greatly improved his repertoire and knowledge of Sliabh Luachra music. In fact it should come as no surprise that he has a keen interest in the local Sliabh Luachra style of playing. In addition to the music of his late Grandfather, other Sliabh Luachra stalwarts such as Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford, Padraig O’Keeffe and Paddy Cronin were also highly influential to this young and talented musician. Paddy Cronin himself was the recipient of a Gradam Saoil award in 2007 and Bryan has appreciated playing with him on a few occasions.

In the past few years, he has also enjoyed sharing and playing music with Billy Clifford who has been another great influence on his music, which keeps the link between the O’Leary and Murphy/Clifford tradition alive.
He was also influenced hugely by the legendary accordion player Jimmy Doyle from Maulykaevane, Gneeveguilla along with his two musical partners Joe O’Sullivan (flute) and Paudie Gleeson (fiddle). Other influences of note include Kerry accordion players such as Paudie O’Connor, Brenden Begley, John Brosnan, Danny O’Mahony, and the late Stephen Carroll.

He has played at various festivals including Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, Scoil Cheoil an Earraigh, The Patrick O’Keeffe festival, The Gathering Festival and The Con Curtin Music Festival.
 
He has performed on many TV and radio programmes in the last few years such as Geántraí, Oireachtas na hEireann, The Rolling Wave, Ceili House, Radio Na Gaeltachta and many other programmes on TG4, Clare FM and Radio Kerry.
Throughout the past decade he has been encouraged and supported by his parents Maureen and Bertie, his brother Barry and sister Ailish, along with his aunt Ellen. They have been a great source of music to him and continue to provide a link with Johnny O’Leary’s vast repertoire and music.

Bryan is currently a student at the University of Limerick where he is studying Irish Music and Dance. Johnny O’Leary was honoured with the TG4 Gradam Saoil Award in November 2003 at the University of Limerick shortly before he passed away and as the young musician 2014 Bryan continues to honour his legacy and keeps the family tradition alive.
 
Chris Droney
Chris Droney was born in 1924 - a noted concertina stylist from Bell Harbour in North Clare. His father James and grandfather Michael (1829-1927) also played concertina and Chris learnt by ear and parental example from the age of eight. He began his musical career by learning two tunes The Wearing of the Green and Clare’s Dragoons.  The year was 1932 and like many people of his generation he remembers it as the year of the Congress.  Born and reared on the family farm in Bell Harbour, Chris was the eldest of five sons, and as was the tradition at the time, he was the one who remained at home to take over the farm.

His first public appearance was at the age of fourteen in Johnson’s dance hall in Kinvara for which he was paid a fee of half a crown. He went on to play in several bands and from 1956 he won ten All –Ireland medals – nine solo and one for a duet with fiddler Gus Tierney. The All –Ireland in Cashel was his last outing as a competitor.

He was a founder of the Bell Harbour Ceili Band in the 1940s – an ensemble which comprised a number of musicians including his father, John Linnane, Micho Linnane, Joe Maher, Tom O’Loughlin, PJ Halloran among others. He played with the Kilfenora, Old Aughrim Slopes and on occasions with The Ballinakill and The Kincora in Dublin. He also played with Kitty Linnane’s group for 12 years which included such stalwarts as Tommy Peoples, Paddy Mullins, Tom Hegarty and Tom Ward. He then played with The Four Courts Ceili band for 16 years.
 
A dancer, his hallmark was to join dancers for a set or a solo step during the night. Widely celebrated and travelled, he recorded The Flowing Tide on LP with Topic in 1974 (now on CD), The fertile Rock on 1995 and Down From Bell Harbour in 2006. His son Francis and daughter Ann have also won All-Ireland titles on concertina. Many of his grandchildren are continuing the family tradition on concertina and some most notably Daithí, are playing fiddle.

In 2004 his contribution to music was honoured by a CCÉ Bardic Award. He has also recently been the recipient of a Teastas award and in 2012 he received the prestigious Clare Person of the Year.

Now in his ninetieth year, he continues to live in Bell Harbour with his wife Margaret where he enjoys receiving visiting musicians and playing the concertina, affectionately known as the Clare man’s trumpet.

He was the subject of a programme in the series for TG4 Sé Mo Laoch in 2003 and as he said during the course of the programme - ‘Life to me without music, wouldn’t be life at all’.
 
Goodman Collaboration
Canon James Goodman (1828-96) from the parish of Ventry was a clergyman, a native Irish speaker, a flute player and uilleann piper. He also served as professor of Irish in Trinity College Dublin. From 1860-1866, he collected and compiled four music manuscripts which have been held since his death in the Library of Trinity. They contain well over 2000 melodies collected from pre famine times in Munster. The core element of the Goodman collection was edited by Dr. Hugh Shields and published by ITMA in 1998 as Tunes of the Munster Pipers: Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts.

This award is for a CD collaboration of Mick O’Brien - pipes, Emer Mayock - flute and Aoife Ní Bhriain – fiddle. As a trio they bring some of the tunes in this collection back to life and give musicians a chance to hear authentically what these tunes would have sounded like in pre –famine times. The music that was recorded here is a small selection from Hugh Shields’ edition of the Goodman manuscripts. This is an historic publication with similar editorial aims to the uncompleted work of the great collector Breandán Breathnach, whom Mick knew for many years while learning his trade as a young piper in the Dublin of the 1970s, not knowing that he was already working on the manuscripts that were in Trinity College.
 
Their introduction to the music of James Goodman was through Peter Browne, uilleann piper and producer at RTE Radio who initially invited Mick and Emer to take part in a documentary entitled Tunes of the Munster Pipers named after Hugh Shields edition. It was only when Aoife joined for a performance of music from the collection at the National Concert hall Dublin in 2009 that they decided to explore the music further and subsequently make the recording.
With funding from The Arts Council, the CD was recorded by Dónal Siggins in 2012. The skill and musical background, of all the musicians involved meant they could suitably enhance the rich settings in the collection.  The trio chose music ranging from unusual versions of tunes in the modern repertoire to those apparently unique to the collection.

Dublin born uilleann piper, whistle and flute player Mick O’Brien began his musical education in the renowned Thomas Street Pipers Club while his father Dinny O`Brien, a traditional ‘box’ player, was also a constant source of tunes and inspiration. Mick has toured extensively and given master classes throughout Europe and North America.  He has performed and recorded with numerous artists and performs regularly solo.
 
Emer Mayock is a musician and composer from Co. Mayo. She began playing traditional music as a child on a range of instruments including flute, whistle, fiddle and uilleann pipes. She has recorded two CDs Merry Bits of Timber and Playground, the latter continuing her interest in writing new music.
 
Aoife Ní Bhriain started learning violin at a very young age making her solo debut at the age of 9 with the National Symphony Orchestra. She is currently studying classical violin in Leipzig Germany and has won many awards for both classical and traditional music including the ‘Young Musician of the Year 2010’ at the Clandeyboye festival and ‘Bonn Ór Sean Uí Riada’ in 2011.
 
To conclude, this CD offers an interesting perspective from which to view the Goodman manuscripts, their music having remained unpublished for more than 130 years since their completion. This is the first time TG4 have honoured a musical collaboration.
 
Nan Tom Taimín de Búrca
Nan Tom Taimín’s singing style is deeply rooted in tradition. Her achievement as winner of the prestigious, Corn Uí Riada in 2000 and in 1998 succinctly proves this point. She had previously won the women’s Oireachtas in 1977, 1986 and in 1998. Throughout the 1970s she also won the All-Ireland three times in both English and Irish.
 
Nan is the youngest of seven children born to Tom Tamín A’Burc  and his wife Sarah Phádhraic Liam A’ Búrc, in Ruisín na Mainiach, Carna, Connemara, Co. Galway, arguably the richest area for sean nós singing in the country.  All of the children were musical, although only three of them were to become performers. Their son, Pádraic (RIP) was a very fine musician playing box and harmonica. There were singers on both sides of her family so needless to say their home was always full of music and song.  This combined with the rich musical heritage on her doorstep allowed her to fully absorb and appreciate the best of traditional singing.
 
Nan’s first memories of sean-nós singing are of listening to gramophone records of the great Connemara singer from An Aird Thiar, Seán ‘ ac Dhonncha (Johnny Joe Pheaitsín). Other influences of note include Dara Bán Mac Donnchacha, his brother Cólaí Bán, and especially Darach O’ Cathain. Nan learned her beautiful versions of An Cailín Fearúil Fionn, Róisín Dubh and Cailín Deas Crúite na mBó from her late mother Sarah who interestingly also sang many ballads in English.

Nan went to live in London in 1978 where she promptly joined a country music band, Silver Dollars, and, later, another band Country Roads and during that time she further enriched her repertoire of English ballads which have appeared on her Cds – songs like James Connolly and The Lambs on the Green Hills which appeared on her self-titled CD in 2001. Other recordings to date include The Home I Left Behind in 2007 and Banks of Old Ponchartrain in 2010; the latter a mixture of ballads, country and some Irish songs. She is releasing three recordings in 2014 which again reflect her varied influences combined with sean-nós.
 
She returned to Ireland in 1994 and started going to sessions. She is particularly drawn to the music of Coleman and Mairtin Byrnes and states that she loves the music every bit as much as the songs. She has three daughters and one son and they are all able to sing especially her daughter Tara who appeared on a national talent show. She has recently been made a grandmother to baby James. She lives in Carraroe and continues to give workshops and teach sean- nós in the local schools as well as private tuition.
 
Mick Moloney
Mick Moloney combines the careers of professional musician, musicologist, record producer, teacher and arts presenter, consultant and advocate. He holds an M.A. in Economics and Politics from University College Dublin and a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Moloney has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Boston College, Villanova University and New York University.

Born in Limerick in 1944 he was an important figure on the Dublin folk – song revival in the 1960s. In 1973 he moved to Philadelphia. He played with The Johnstons and The Emmet Spiceland and worked closely with a huge variety of individuals especially in the States, including The Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem.

He published Far From the Shamrock Shore: The Story of Irish American History Through Song (Random House, 2002) and an accompanying CD on Shanachie Records. This book and Cd draws together the strands of much of his work.

Professor Moloney has recorded and produced over fifty albums of traditional music and has acted as advisor for scores of festivals and concerts all over the United States. His album, McNally’s Row of Flats, was awarded top Irish traditional music album of the year. In 2009, he co-edited the dance book Close to the Floor (Macater Press).

Professor Moloney has served on National Endowment for the Arts panels on folk, minority and community arts. He also served as the Artistic Director for several major national and international arts tours including The Green Fields of America. He directed and coordinated major American multicultural dance festivals that toured West Africa and South and Central America under the auspices of the United States Information Agency.

Professor Moloney has hosted, consulted, musically arranged and/or performed in numerous television and film productions, including Irish television’s Bringing It All Back Home, the PBS documentary film Out of Ireland, and the 1998 PBS special The Irish in America: Long Journey Home.

In 1999, he was awarded the National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest official honor a traditional artist can receive in the United States. In 2000 he was awarded the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and in 2013 he was the recipient of the Presidential Distinguished Service Awards for the Irish Abroad.

He is affiliated to the following -University of Limerick Traditional as Music External Examiner, Green Fields of America Irish music and dance group, Advisor to the National Endowment for the Arts, Advisor to the Smithsonian Institution in a variety of capacities.

He is the Global Distinguished Professor of Music and Irish studies at New York University, where he teaches a course in Irish/Celtic music and directs the Washington Square harp and Shamrock orchestra.