John McSHERRY - Dónal O'CONNOR
Trio:
featuring Paul Meehan on guitar
Irish Music
John Mc SHERRY: uilleann pipe
Dónal O'CONNOR: fiddle
Paul MEEHAN: guitar
John Mc Sherry is hailed as one of the finest exponents of
the art of uilleann piping in the world today – “a true master” – Irish Music
Magazine. Described as being “at the forefront of modern innovation” – Green Man
Review, he has taken piping and whistle playing to new heights with his unique
style. John has toured the world as both a solo performer and a member of
several outstanding bands. He was a founding member of top trad bands Tamalin’,
‘Lúnasa’ and ‘At First Light’ as well as lead instrumentalist with Dónal Lunny’s
ground-breaking supergroup ‘Coolfin’, which also included Sharon Shannon. He is
a composer, producer and arranger, with several highly acclaimed solo and
collaborative albums to his credit, including his latest release – the award
winning ‘Soma‘. John is also an established studio session musician of world
class renown, recording and performing with everybody from Clannad and Sinéad
O’Connor to Nancy Griffiths and The Corrs.
Born in West Belfast and coming from a family steeped in traditional music, John
focused his energies on the pipes from an early age. By the time he reached
fifteen he had two All Ireland Championship titles under his belt and at the age
of eighteen he was the youngest ever winner of the prestigious and much coveted
‘Oireachtas’ piping competition. Combining with his musical siblings, John
formed the exciting and innovative band ‘Tamalin’, bringing their unique fusion
of Irish, Rock, Eastern and Celtic music to enthusiastic audiences around the
world. Their bold debut album, ‘Rhythm & Rhyme‘ was released in 1996 to wide
critical acclaim including a four-star rating in Q Magazine.
Sometime previous to this (1995), John began collaborating with fiddle player
Sean Smyth, flautist Mike McGoldrick and guitarist Steve Cooney, touring
extensively throughout Ireland and England. The seeds for ‘Lúnasa’ were being
sown. A year or so later, and with a few changes in personnel, ‘Lúnasa Live‘ (their
dynamic debut album) was released. Described as – “simply stunningly impressive”
– Irish Music Magazine, it is now considered to be something of a classic.
As well as being a founding member of Lúnasa, John was a lead instrumentalist
with Dónal Lunnys’ now legendary super group ‘Coolfin’, which included Sharon
Shannon. Yet again, John was at the forefront of a band which would re-shape the
boundaries of Irish music. The ground breaking album ‘Coolfin‘ was released in
1998 and a heavy touring schedule ensued. The band played host to a wide range
of artists, among them Sinéad O’Connor, Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, and Eddie
Reader.
2001 saw John team up with life long musical comrade Michael McGoldrick to
release ‘At First Light‘, which received the award for ‘best traditional album
of the year 2001' – Irish American News. It was from the touring of this
benchmark album that John’s current band ‘At First Light’ arose which features
ace fiddle player Dónal O’Connor. In 2006 John and Dónal teamed up to produce
the album ‘Tripswitch‘. Described as ‘Acoustic perfection’ (Debbie Koritsas,
Living Tradition), the album received outstanding reviews worldwide and yet
again placed John right at the forefront and cutting edge of Irish music.
John’s first solo venture came in 2010 with the adventurous ‘Soma‘ album. Mixing
traditional music with John’s own compositions, it has been described as a
masterpiece. The album won an IMM (Irish Music association) award for ‘Best New
Irish Album’ of 2010 (John had won another IMM award the previous year for ‘Top
Uilleann Piper’). A lot of John’s own compositions from ‘Soma’ and indeed from
earlier albums have been used as theme music for various TV and radio programmes
and John has been commissioned to write the music for several short films and
documentaries.
In 2011, John and his band, ‘At First Light’, released their second album, ‘Idir’,
to rave reviews. The following year, John teamed up with ace American musicians,
Tyler Duncan and Michael Shimmin to form another band, ‘the olllam’. Their
innovative debut album of the same name was released in September 2012. Mixing
original compositions in the Irish style with rock, pop amd jazz elements , John
and the olllam have taken Irish music down some startlingly new and exciting
paths.
http://www.johnmcsherry.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STDIOTnPWZ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro1u1gbEGv0
