The celebrated virtuoso partnership of England's premier flatpicking guitarist, Chris Newman, and Máire Ní Chathasaigh 'the greatest Celtic harper of our age,' is coming to Strule Arts Centre on Thursday, November 5 at 8pm, tickets £12.
Since their début as a duo exactly 21 years ago, Máire and Chris have toured in 22 countries and given TV and radio performances on five continents. Their concerts showcase not only the richness and emotional range of the Irish tradition, from dynamic Irish dance-music to moving airs and evocative songs, but their own striking compositions – this enticing cocktail being further spiced with exhilarating shots of hot jazz and bluegrass and Chris's subversively witty introductions. Of their most recent CD together, FireWire, the critics said: "Takes one of the most effete instruments in traditional music by the scruff of the neck and breathes a fire into its belly" – The Irish Times.
Máire received Irish music's most prestigious award, that of Traditional Musician of the Year 2001 "for the excellence and pioneering force of her music, the remarkable growth she has brought to the music of the harp and for the positive influence she has had on the young generation of harpers."
She began to play the harp at the age of 11. A West Cork background steeped in the oral tradition led her, while still a teenager, to develop new techniques that made it possible for the first time to play traditional music on the harp in a stylistically accurate way. She won the All-Ireland and Pan-Celtic Harp Competitions several times and in 1985 recorded the first harp album ever to concentrate on traditional Irish dance music. Her approach has been profoundly influential wherever in the world lever harps are played.
Chris began to play the guitar at the age of four and at 14 played his first paid gig in a folk club. He dabbled in the jazz scene in his late teens, playing with and learning from people like Stephane Grappelli and Diz Disley and honing his skills as a gifted improviser. After a brief foray into the commercial world that resulted in a silver disc for producing the Top Ten hit 'The Oldest Swinger in Town', he resolved to concentrate on his first love - the acoustic guitar.
A prolific composer, arranger and record producer, he has been principal guitar tutor for Newcastle University's Folk B. Mus course since its inception. His third solo CD, Fretwork, was "a stunning and stylistically-varied album, heaving with good tunes" – Folk Roots.
Tickets are available from Strule Arts Centre box office on 028 8224 7831 or online at www.struleartscentre.co.uk
