Seamus Begley  TG 4 “Gradam Cheoil Singer of the Year & Tim Edey.  12.09.2015

Doors 8pm. Tickets £10   can be purchased via  www.theduncairn.com  or  by calling 028 90 747114.

A night celebrating the launch of the “Bold Kerry Man”, featuring one of Ireland’s finest singers, Séamus Begley with very special guest Tim Edey.Séamus and Steve Cooney created one of the seminal recordings in Irish music, Meitheal, which was released in 1996.The album was re-released in 2014 to 5* reviews and while it is perhaps best-known for its dance tunes, the sprinkling of songs from Séamus leaves the listener hankering for more of his sublime vocals. Arguably, the same can be said of all of Séamus’s recordings. With this in mind, UK record producer John Reynolds of New Air Music Studios in Kilburn London (who has worked with Damien Dempsey, Seun Kuti, Sinead O’Connor, Passenger, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Brian Eno and David Bryne),  persuaded Séamus to record an entire album of songs.  

Reynolds first met Seamus nine years ago and was captivated by his singing: “I picked him up from Paddington station and for the next 4 days, he sang from the morning until very late in the night; songs he’d had in his head for years, songs that meant so much to him. His knowledge of the traditional song is enormous; he could make 100 albums with the songs he knows and I wanted to try and capture that moment in this album”.“We started with just the voice, no music, no click, no fuss, just a drone for tuning and it’s quintessential Begley.   He is a huge strong man but his voice is the most tender I have ever heard” Then, of course, the amazing guitar of Tim Edey is the icing on the cake. This is a beautiful collection of the songs Begley loves, sung as if he were singing into your ear. We are extremely honoured that Séamus has chosen to launch this amazing album here at the Duncairn.