KEVIN CONNEFF PRESENTS THE DUBLIN TRIO

Three Internationally acclaimed touring and recording artists with a shared passion in traditional Irish music led by Kevin Conneff, of The Chieftains, on vocals and bodhrán with Joe McKenna on pipes and Tony Byrne on guitar. Each has an extensive background in live performance and deep love of music which translates to a magical experience for the audience.

A celebration of life in all its local colour and a testament to the indomitable spirit of a storyteller who still has plenty to say.

Kevin Conneff is probably best known as the bodhrán player and vocalist with The Chieftains since 1976. A Dubliner, he first became interested in traditional Irish music in the 1960’s, when he and some workmates hitched to fleadhanna ceoil all over Ireland, sleeping in hay barns and eating tins of Denny’s stew! In Dublin, he frequented O’Donoghue’s, The Pipers Club, The Clareman’s Association and the weekly session in Church Street. For many years, he and friends ran the prestigious Tradition Club in Slattery’s of Capel Street, where singers and musicians from all over Ireland and the U.K. performed. These included Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis, Joe Heaney, Treasa Ní Mhiolláin, Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Anne Briggs. Apart from touring and recording with The Chieftains, he has performed with Mary Bergin, Tim Edey, Redmond O’Toole, and from Nashville, JeffWhite, Laura Cash and Deanie Richardson

Joe McKenna from the Liberties in Dublin studied the pipes in the Pipers Club where he learned from Leo Rowsome. Other influences were Patsy Touhy, Johnny & Felix Doran and Willie Clancy. Over the years he absorbed and extended the art of piping, creating his own individual style and techniques. Such was his passion for the pipes that he studied the pipe making skills of Matt Kiernan, which led to him buying a lathe and with Matt’s help he made his own pipes. These are the pipes he plays to this day. After winning a few All Ireland titles, Joe’s professional career began in the early 70’s when he played with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. In the late ‘70s he headed to the U.S. where his musical career took offvery quickly, after he and his wife Antoinette,who played the harp, played in front of 8000 people at the National Folk Festival in Wolftrap, Washington. For the next fifteen years Joe and Antoinette played at all of the major Irish Festivals and gigs in America along with the Clancy Brothers, The Boys of the Lough, De Danann etc.

Tony Byrne, Dublin guitarist, has been involved in music from a young age. Starting out playing in rock bands as a drummer at age 11, Tony began performing around Dublin city centre venues at age 12. Following family holidays in West Kerry, Tony developed an Interest in Irish traditional music and has been involved in the performance, recording and teaching of it since leaving college in 1999. Past performances include concerts with acts such as Danu, Sharon Shannon, Michael mc Goldrick, Gerry O’Connor, David Munnelly Band, Matt Molloy, Paul Brady, Julie Fowlis, Lunasa and many more.