Friday, October 13th, 7pm, $20
Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne


Dublin native Niamh (pronounced “Neeve”) Parsons is more than a gorgeous voice. “For me,” she says, “the song is more important than listening to my voice. I consider myself more a songstress than a singer – a carrier of tradition.” She has been carrying that tradition to audiences around the world for over three decades and has a justly earned reputation as one of Ireland’s very best folk and traditional singers.

Niamh grew up during the heyday of the Irish folk revival in a music-loving family that frequented the famous folk club at the Old Shieling Hotel in Raheny, where she heard the top ballad singers of the day and pioneering folk groups such as The Johnstons, Sweeney’s Men and Emmet Spiceland. She became devoted to singing, and to discovering “new” songs in old folk music archives.
 
She made her first recordings with the Belfast-based Loose Connections band and was featured with the traditional music supergroup Arcady on their 1995 CD Many Happy Returns. Her purely traditional 1999 album Blackbirds and Thrushes was her solo breakout. A Boston Globe writer thought it “expressed the sorrow and longing of the Celtic soul more deeply than any [recording] within recent memory.” Niamh followed up with In My Prime, one of the top folk recordings of 2000 in Ireland, the U.S. and Britain.

For the past two decades, Niamh has formed a firm partnership, and made three recordings, with Graham Dunne, a guitarist of rare sophistication and taste and one whose picked and fingered accompaniment is informed by a familiarity with jazz, flamenco and Indian music as well as the Irish tradition.
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November 17: Kevin Burke
Kevin is a living legend of Irish traditional music, one of the greatest fiddle players of modern times. His easy charm and good humor on stage make him a virtuoso of the art of solo performance.
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