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Extrait de l'album
SOLAS (1996), avec: Karan
Casey (chant); John Doyle (guitare); Winifred
Horan (violon); Seamus Egan (flûte);
John Williams (accordéon).
Biographie:
"Led by Seamus Egan, this Irish folk
supergroup has invigorated the Irish traditional music scene
by incorporating non-traditional instruments. The group's
members make use of instruments like guitar, banjo and bouzouki
to add a modern spice to their sound, which is heavily rooted
in Irish reels, jigs and other folk song forms. Egan was
born in Philadelphia but moved to Ireland with his parents
at age three. He began taking lessons on tin whistle when
he was little more than a toddler, and later returned to
the U.S. with his family when he was 14. He recorded his
first album, Traditional Music of Ireland, for Shanachie
Records at age 16. As a teen prodigy, he toured with Peter,
Paul and Mary and bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, and also
recorded with Vernon Reid of Living Colour, playing uilleann
pipes. Solas consists of Egan on flute, tin whistle and
banjo, fiddle player Winifred Horan, concertina/accordion
player John Williams, guitarist John Doyle and vocalist
Karan Casey. Most of the group's members come from New York,
and as a trio, Egan, Horan and Doyle discovered they enjoyed
playing with the Chicago-based Williams. The group didn't
become Solas -- the Celtic word for "light" -- until they
added vocalist Karan Casey. Multi-instrumentalist Egan has
won All-Ireland championships on several instruments, including
flute, tin whistle, mandolin, and banjo, while the other
members of the group (except for guitarist Doyle) have training
in Irish music and dance going back to their grammar school
years. The band made their debut as a group at Georgetown
University in Washington, D.C., and their second performance
was at the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife in
Washington, D.C. Solas had no aspirations to tour and record
as a band, but within a matter of months playing in Manhattan's
Irish bars, they had a record deal. A short while later,
in 1996, they found themselves on a cross-country tour,
where they performed on National Public Radio programs like
Mountain Stage and Prairie Home Companion. Solas has recorded
several albums for the New Jersey-based Shanachie label,
among them Solas, their 1996 debut, and Sunny Spells and
Scattered Showers, 1997. Words That Remain followed in 1998.
Egan has recorded several albums under his own name, including
Traditional Music of Ireland, (1986), A Week In January
(1990), and When Juniper Sleeps (1996), all for Shanachie
Records. Casey's album Songlines (1997) was released on
the same label. John Williams' self-titled debut was released
in 1995 on Green Linnet Records. Winifred Horan can be heard
on several albums by Cherish the Ladies, including The Back
Door (1992) and Out and About (1993). The group won a National
Association of Independent Record Distributors (NAIRD) "Indie"
award in 1997 for their self-titled debut album. -- Richard
Skelly, All Music Guide "
(source http://music.yahoo.com/)
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