Master Artists

A native of County Clare, Martin Hayes is regarded as one of the most extraordinary talents to emerge in the world of Irish traditional music. His unique sound, his mastery of his chosen instrument – the violin – his acknowledgement of the past and his shaping of the future of the music, combine to create an astonishing and formidable artistic intelligence. He is the recipient of major national and international awards: most recently the prestigious Gradam Ceoil, Musician of the Year 2008 from the Irish language television station TG 4; previously Man of the Year from the American Irish Historical Society; Folk Instrumentalist of the Year from BBC Radio; a National Entertainment Award (the Irish ‘Grammy’); six All-Ireland fiddle championships - before the age of nineteen - and cited by the Irish Sunday Tribune as one of the hundred most influential Irish men and women in the fields of entertainment, politics and sports in the year 2000, as well as one of the most important musicians to come out of Ireland in the last fifty years.

Randal Bays is an American musician whose mastery of the intricate art of Irish fiddle playing has earned him an international reputation among fans of Irish music. He’s known as an exciting and dynamic performer whose music grows out of a deep respect for the ancient wellsprings of the Irish tradition. In recent years Randal has toured and recorded with many of the finest Irish musicians, including James Keane and Dáithí Sproule (in the band FINGAL), James Kelly, John Williams, Martin Hayes, Tony McManus, Aine Meenaghan, Roger Landes. Bays is a dedicated and thoughtful teacher of Irish fiddling, often in demand for workshops and music camps, and is a co-founder of the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp. He’s also composed original scores for several award-winning films and documentaries.

Born in Birmingham, England, Kevin Crawford’s early life was one long journey into Irish music and Co. Clare, to where he eventually moved while in his 20’s. He was a member of Moving Cloud, the Clare-based band who recorded such critically-acclaimed albums as Moving Cloud and Foxglove, and he also recorded with Grianán, Raise The Rafters, Joe Derrane and Sean Tyrrell and appears on the 1994 recording The Sanctuary Sessions. Kevin now tours the world with Ireland’s cutting edge traditional band, Lúnasa, called by some the “Bothy Band of the 21^st Century,” with six ground breaking albums to their credit; Lúnasa, Otherworld, The Merry Sisters of Fate, Redwood, The Kinnitty Sessions and Sé. A virtuoso flute player, Kevin has recorded two solo albums, D’Flute Album and In Good Company and recently released On Common Ground with Lúnasa band mate Cillian Vallely.

Dáithí Sproule, a native of Derry in the North of Ireland, is a singer and guitarist and one of the premier accompanists in the Irish tradition. When he played with Skara Brae in the late 60's and early 70's, he was the first person to use and develop the DADGAD tuning in Irish music, a style now widely used in Irish and Celtic music in general. Dáithí learnt the bulk of his song repertoire in his teens and 20s in Rannafast, Co. Donegal, and in Derry where he was born and raised. He has performed live and on recordings with many great Irish musicians including Altan, Trian, Fingal, Skara Brae, Paddy O'Brien and James Kelly, and Tommy Peoples. As well as traditional music, Dáithí also teaches the Irish language, mythology, and Celtic culture.

Danny Diamond is a fiddler, music Archivist and photographer from Dublin, Ireland. He works as Field Recordings Officer for the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin, making field recordings of traditional musicians and traditional music events around Ireland, processing other field recordings donated to the Archive and contributing to the Archive's website (www.itma.ie).

Danny has been playing the fiddle since his early teens, learning mainly from former Altan fiddler Paul O'Shaugnessey, his parents Dermy and Tara Diamond, and on summer trips to counties Clare and Donegal in the west of Ireland.

He plays with the band Mórga (www.morga.ie) and with them he has performed at some of Europe's premier folk music events such as Tonder Festival (Denmark) and The Shetland Folk Festival (Scotland). Danny is also currently working on a project combining Irish, Scandinavian and American fiddle music with Finnish multi-instrumentalist, Aki.

Danny's work as a photographer has been published by such newspapers as The Derry Journal (Northern Ireland) and The Irish Voice (USA). His first exhibition will be held in Dublin later this summer (see www.dannydiamond.ie for more info).