IMDL and Music Network Present Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Pauline Scanlon, Tom Morrow & John Doyle

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

A renowned artist with a proven record of performance, recording and innovation, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh is a multi-award-winning traditional singer and musician from Corca Dhuibhne, West Kerry. Muireann is a leading exponent of the sean-nós style, and loves to engage with audiences to share her love of the Irish song tradition. Her childhood in West Kerry saw her immersed in a rich cultural environment and vital living tradition. This was to be hugely influential on the foundation of her distinctive vocal and instrumental sound.

Muireann has enjoyed a successful career as a touring artist, with over thirteen years’ experience as lead singer and flute player with the Irish traditional supergroup Danú, as well as many years performing as a solo artist. In 2022, Muireann was awarded Best Folk Singer at the RTÉ Radio Folk Awards, and amongst many other awards, was Gradam Ceoil TG4 Amhránaí na Bliana in 2011. Always keen to explore new ground, she has collaborated with many musicians in genres ranging from traditional to classical, world music to electronica. Most recently Muireann recorded Róisín ReImagined, an album of sean-nós songs arranged by contemporary Irish arrangers and performed with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, which garnered many 5-star reviews.

Muireann is also a popular television and radio presenter, having hosted a range of programmes for Irish and Scottish TV and Radio over the past 15 years. She currently presents her own music programme Folk on One on RTÉ Radio 1. She holds an MA in Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick.

Pauline Scanlon

Pauline Scanlon’s voice is truly unique. Red Colour Sun, her stunning debut album, produced by John Reynolds in 2004, announced an original artist immersed in tradition, yet completely aware of the edgier developments within the folk world.

Signed to Sony in 2009 as part of the duo LUMIERE, Scanlon and fellow West Kerry singer Éilís Kennedy released their self-titled debut in September 2009 to widespread critical acclaim, leading to performances from folk clubs and festivals all over the world to London’s Barbican Theatre and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Her latest release, The Unquiet, is a piece of art possessed of an old soul, but thoroughly modern and of its time.

Pauline is a constant and generous collaborator. Working with artists such as Damien Dempsey and Sinéad O’Connor, she has featured as harmony vocalist on countless albums. Bird on the Wire, her collaboration with The Whileaways exploring the songs of Leonard Cohen, has led to sell out performances in venues across the UK and Ireland while her pairing with John Spillane has delighted audiences around Ireland.

As a founding member of FairPlé, the role of women in the arts is central to her creative path and something she is very vocal about and dedicated to. As a presenter she has fronted several music-based television programmes for both the BBC and TG4, including Ceol Ón gCroí, a documentary featuring the songs of the 1916 rising, TG4’s live music series Bosca Ceol, and a BBC documentary based on her collaboration with NOTIFY, An tÁmhrán Gaeilge.

Tom Morrow

Tom Morrow has been a key member of the world-renowned Dervish since 1998, touring extensively on the international stage and elevating the status of Irish music around the globe. He began playing music at an early age with fellow Co. Leitrim native Tommy Maguire, and he honed his craft around the county playing with Paddy McDermott’s Cornafean Group and Antoin McGabhann. While studying in Limerick, Tom played and toured with many leading musicians including uilleann piper Mick O’Brien and flautist Conor Byrne.

His outstanding band Dervish are renowned for their dazzling live performances, and their studio and live albums make up one of the outstanding catalogues in Irish music. Described by the BBC as “an icon of Irish music”, Tom and the band have played at festivals from Rio de Janeiro to Glastonbury. They accompanied the Irish President on state visits to Latvia and Lithuania, and the Taoiseach on a trade mission to China as Cultural Ambassadors, taking time out to play an impromptu session on the Great Wall of China. The Guardian put it best when they wrote “Dervish are simply brilliant.”

In addition to his stellar career with Dervish, Tom has regularly appeared in concert with other well-known artists including Chris Thile’s Nickelcreek at the Cambridge Folk Festival. He has won multiple awards including the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle championship in 1991 and has also guested on acclaimed albums including John Wynne’s With Each Breath, Galician piper Pepe Vaamonde’s Aviouga, Eamonn Coyne’s Through the Round Window and singer Mary McPartland’s The Holland Handkerchief.

John Doyle

Transatlantic Sessions’ John Doyle is one of the most exceptional artists of his generation. Some of the stellar artists for whom his signature guitar sound, singing or songwriting is essential include Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers, Karan Casey, Solas, Michael Black, Mary Black, the trio of McCusker, McGoldrick and Doyle, The Teetotalers (Martin Hayes, Kevin Crawford, John Doyle) and Usher’s Island – a veritable who’s who of the greatest names in Irish music.

A founder member of the super group Solas, John’s powerhouse rhythmic guitar style and innovative arrangements were instrumental to their success. With Solas, John performed to sold out audiences nationally and internationally as well as appearing on many national TV and radio programs: NBC’s The Today Show, various programs for National Public Radio and Public Radio International, A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, E-Town and World Cafe as part of that critically acclaimed group. He also received three NAIRD awards and a Grammy nomination for the band’s self-titled first recording.

John has performed and toured with other greats in the folk, celtic and bluegrass worlds – as music director for folk icon Joan Baez, guitarist for Mary Chapin Carpenter, Eileen Ivers, Tim O’Brien (John was included on Tim’s 2006 Grammy-award winning album, Fiddler’s Green), Linda Thompson, Kate Rusby, Cathie Ryan, Cherish the Ladies, and many others. He has appeared on soundtracks for the feature film The Brothers McMullan, Soldier, PBS’s Out of Ireland and also composed the music for the film Uncle Robert’s Footsteps and the play Down the Flats.