BUILLE WITH STRINGS

Thursday 30th July 2009

The group Buille was formed in 2004 by Armagh born brothers Niall and Caoimhín Vallely, along with Paul Meehan and Brian Morrissey, as a vehicle to perform a body of new music composed by Niall and arranged by the various members of the band. The music was based on traditional forms but freely borrowed stylistic elements from various genres including jazz, blues, Eastern European music and contemporary classical music. Their debut album, Buille, was produced by Donald Shaw and released by Vertical Records in 2005 to rave reviews. The group went on to tour extensively across Ireland, the UK, Europe, USA and Canada and along the way performed at such prestigious festivals as Celtic Connections in Glasgow, St. Chartier Festival in Central France, Festival de Cornouaille in Quimper, Brittany, Beo Festival at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and the Winnipeg Folk Festival in Canada. The Buille line-up for the JHISS will be Caoimhín Vallely (piano), Niall Vallely (concertina), Paul Meehan (guitar) and Brian Morrissey (bodhran & banjo), and the guest string players will include Donal O'Connor (fiddle), Adrian Hart (violin), Oleg Ponomarev (viola) and Kate Ellis (cello).

Niall Vallely, a founder member of Nomos, is one of the most original and distinctive voices in Irish music and has been acclaimed as one of Ireland's greatest concertina players. In 1999 he released his debut solo album, “Beyond Words”, and in 2003 “Callan Bridge” with his brother Cillian on uilleann pipes.  In 2007 he was commissioned by the BBC to compose music for a major TV series on the Flight of the Earls and the resulting piece was then premiered at the Grand Opera House in Belfast as part of the Belfast Festival at Queen’s.

Caoimhín Vallely first came to prominence as fiddle player with the exciting Cork band North Cregg but has emerged in recent years as one of the most interesting and individual piano players on the current music scene though his work with Buille and the Karan Casey Band, and in 2005 he released his debut album, Strayaway. He has recorded on albums and performed with groups and musicians such as Brian Finnegan, Cormac Breatnach, Alan Kelly, Tejedor, La Musgaña, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and the Crash Ensemble.

Paul Meehan grew up and started learning Irish music in Manchester. In his early teens Paul moved back to Middletown, County Armagh with his family and established himself as a rising star on the banjo, while more recently spending a lot of time on the guitar. He became a member of the highly acclaimed North Cregg, with whom he recorded three albums and spent a number of years touring and recording with Dorsa and the Karan Casey Band. He is currently a member of one of Ireland's foremost traditional bands, Lúnasa. In recent years Paul has also appeared on stage with the likes of Altan, At the Racket, Michael McGoldrick, Tommy Peoples, Tejedor, Alan Kelly and Liz Carroll.

Brian Morrissey from Nenagh in Co. Tipperary, first met up with Caoimhín and subsequently Niall Vallely while studying music in UCC and since then has gone on to forge an exciting musical partnership with them ever since.  Equally adept at banjo, bodhrán and an array of percussion instruments, Brian’s unique take on percussive accompaniment in traditional music has unmistakably shaped the Buille sound, and that of several other projects he has been involved in over the past number of years. He also plays regularly with the Tommie Cunniffe trio, jazz fusion outfit Carmina, and singer-songwriter Eoin Coughlan.

Donal O'Connor, son of the celebrated fiddler Gerry O’Connor and renowned singer Eithne Ní Uallacháin, has inherited a great musical legacy of at least five generations of fiddle playing. Since taking part, at 21, in the prestigious ‘Music Network Tour of Ireland’ alongside Scottish Guitarist Tony Mc Manus, Fermanagh singer Gabriel McArdle and Belfast piper, John Mc Sherry, Donal has gone on to forge an exciting musical partnership with McSherry which culminated in the release of the critically acclaimed album Tripswitch. He has toured Europe and the USA extensively with a number of bands including Lá Lugh, At First Light, and most recently, Lúnasa.

Kate Ellis is a freelance cellist based in Dublin. Working extensively within all genres of contemporary, classical and improvised music, she is a member of both the Crash Ensemble, one of Ireland's most innovative performance groups, and the Karan Casey Band. She also performs with Improvised Music Company artists the Fuzzy Logic Ensemble and the Balkan inspired Yurodny.

Adrian Hart is a violinist living and working in Dublin.  Equally at home in the world of eastern European music and contemporary classical music, as well as Irish and American fiddle music, Adrian has played professionally in groups all over Europe and North-America, as well as  in Ireland. Adrian is also a member of the exciting Balkan/jazz ensemble Yurodny and currently plays with Oldtime-Cajun band Prison Love with whom he recently graced the stages of Glastonbury!

Oleg Ponomarev is a consummate musician who has won many international awards, and whose intense stage presence and mastery of both violin and guitar have won him fans and critical acclaim all over the world. Born in Habarovsk, Russia, his virtuosity as a violinist first came to the attention of Irish audiences during the 90’s with the Russian-Gypsy Band “Loyko” with whom he toured for ten years. Since then he has gone on to play with the Irish-based gypsy jazz band “The Hot Club of Dublin” and “Koshka”, a Gypsy-World music band who tour regularly in the UK and Europe, as well as French chanteuse Caroline Moreau. He is also renowned as bassist, pianist, composer, arranger, producer, singer and teacher and is currently a member of Balkan fusion band - Yurodny.