Saturday 22nd April 2023 at 8 pm
Daoiri Farrell
We
are delighted to welcome Daoiri back to Whitchurch for his 3rd visit to
North Shropshire Folk,
A former electrician, who decided to become a musician after seeing
Christy Moore perform on Irish TV, Dublin-born traditional singer and
bouzouki player Daoirí (pronounced ‘Derry’) Farrell has been described
by some of the biggest names in Irish folk music as one of most
important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years.
After a promising debut album, ‘The First Turn’, back in 2009, Daoirí
spent several years studying traditional music and performance at respected
colleges across Ireland. While at the University of Limerick, Fintan
Vallely introduced him to the singing of the late Liam Weldon, an
encounter that was to prove formative to his sound and his approach to
folk song.
Daoirí had cut his teeth as a singer in Dublin’s famous Góilin Singers
Club and at other sessions across the city, many of which he still
visits regularly. Following his studies he quickly found work
accompanying artists including Christy Moore, as well as a list of names
that sounds like a who’s who of folk music: Dónal Lunny, Martin Hayes,
Dennis Cahill, Alan Doherty, Danú, Dervish, Julie Fowlis, Arty McGlynn,
The John Carty Big Band, Kíla, Sean Keane, Gerry O’Connor (Banjo), Gerry
O’Connor (Fiddle), Lankum and more. In 2013 he won the All Ireland
Champion Singer award at the Fleadh in Co. Derry, and in 2015 won the prestigious Danny Kyle Award at Celtic
Connections in Glasgow with the line-up FourWinds.
Daoirí finally stepped into the limelight in his own right, launching
his own solo live career at Celtic Connections, in January 2016. In May
the same year he was invited to fly to Manchester to do a live session
on the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe just a week before his
first UK tour. His name was suddenly everywhere and festival and show
dates started to stream in from across the world.
His long-awaiting follow-up album to ‘The First Turn’, ‘True Born
Irishman’ was released in October 2016. The following spring his won two
BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards – Best Traditional Track and Best Newcomer – and
performed with a six piece line-up at the awards ceremony at London’s
Royal Albert Hall.
He has since performed in Australia, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden,
The Czech Republic, USA, Portugal and more and played festivals
including Cambridge Folk Festival, Milwaukee Irish Festival, Vancouver
Island Folk Festival, the National Folk Festival of Australia and many
more. In 2018 he toured the UK with Transatlantic Sessions and recorded
his next album with Dónal Lunny in the producer’s chair. His new
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Friday October
13th 2023 at 8 pm.
Hannah Saunders and Ben Savage
 
Since emerging in 2016, Hannah & Ben have been defying all conventions
of style, genre and compartmentalisation. A touch of ‘Americana’, yet
quintessentially English. Traditional, yet contemporary, with their
individual writing style. Playful and instinctive, they make music with
such panache and natural chemistry it makes perfect sense.
Hannah Sanders has an alluring mystique and a voice of disarming purity
that massages your senses. Ben Savage is a singular guitarist with a
sound as distinctive as it is innovative. Together their harmonies and
unique stage presence shimmer with an infectious enthusiasm and joy for
the connection music offers.
Hannah & Ben released new album "Ink of the Rosy Morning" on Topic
Records in April 2022 to critical acclaim. MOJO declared it "as
heartwarming as it is beguiling" and the record peaked at number 3 in
the Official UK Folk Album Charts.
Where is Whitchurch Leisure Centre?
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Friday December 8th 2023 at 8 pm.
A Winters Union

They sound like that moment,
on Christmas eve, when the kids have gone to bed, the presents are under
the tree, the fire’s just dying down, there’s pine, cinnamon and
nectarine in the air, there’s excitement, anticipation and giddiness.
Everything is just about to burst. Whatever that feeling is, A Winter
Union is that!
Hannah Sanders has a voice that is both snowflake perfect and icicle
pure. When she starts Ding Dong Merrily on High a visible chill ripples
around the room, and then Rhiannon and Gilmore join in the harmonies and
that Christmas Eve feeling washes over everyone.
The three voices twist and twirl together again and again – like Holly,
Ivy and Mistletoe weaving around an old tree trunk – making Joni
Mitchell’s River even more beautiful than ever. Jade Rhiannon, from much
missed Americana/folk dynamos The Willows, is like one of those actors
that help make everyone else look brilliant and then, when she’s in the
spotlight, you wonder why she’s not in every film ever.Her
voice is absolutely glorious, her harmonies are fantastic and when she
sings solo the world simply melts away around her. On both Our
Wassail and The Holly and The Ivy she is divine. Whilst Rhiannon and
Sanders have these beautiful, crystalline voices, it is violin genius,
Katriona Gilmore, that has the voice of a cosy fireside. When she sings
her own Every Midnight Mile, every Christmas Eve spent with loved ones
is effortlessly conjured.
On the reflective Raise a Candle the others hover around her single
microphone but it is her voice that reminds us that December can be
tough as well as joyous. All of which just leaves Ben Savage and Jamie
Roberts. They are the sellotape on the carefully wrapped presents, the
extra, crucial roast potato at the feast. They hold everything together,
adding acoustic guitars and yet another layer of exquisite harmonies.
Roberts has an honest fierceness, bringing to mind harsh, frost hardened
ground while Savage gives us a different type of winter. His is sun
dappled and Los Angeles bound, with covers of songs by Townes Van Zandt
and The Band balancing the chill.
In amongst the glittering
jewels and celebrations of winter one song stood out however. An
incredible Gospel Folk version of the hymn Rise Up, Shepherd,
and Follow had all five harmonising, the unmistakable power of a simple
song sung with joy and passion. It was truly amazing. Seeing A Winter
Union in the weeks before Christmas is starting to become a bit of a
tradition. It’s one tradition that is well worth upholding. Time to deck
those halls.
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