Irish Traditional Music
The Band
Patricia O'Riordan
Keyboard, concertina, vocals
Born in Co. Cork in Ireland, she started playing the piano when she was tall enough to reach up to the keys. She studied Music and Spanish at Cork University and when she was in her twenties she went to Barcelona for a year... and there she stayed.
Her music studies turn out to be of great use to her when she finds herself accompanying the elusive melodies of her native land and she faces a whole jungle of possible harmonies.
Some years later, when she has explored the world of accompaniment in depth, it seems the time has come for another adventure. The concertina is an instrument that she finds herself increasingly drawn to and finally it is the one that leads her even deeper into the jungle, where, in the company of her fellow musicians she will become lost in the world of melody.
Nacida en el condado de Cork, Irlanda, y tocando el piano desde que pudo llegar a las teclas, estudió músicologia y español en la universidad y al cumplir la veintena decidió ir a Barcelona durante un año ... y allí se quedó. Sus estudios en la música clásica le servirán de gran ayuda cuando se encuentra acompañando las melodias elusivas de su país natal y se presenta delante de ella toda una selva de harmonias posibles..
Ya con el mundo del acompañamiento bien explorado, parece que ha llegado el momento para otra aventura. Atraída por las sonoridades de la concertina será éste el instrumento que le lleva más adentro de la selva y a perderse con sus compañeros en el mundo de la melodía.
Llibert Ribó
Uilleann pipes, whistles, harp
Originally from province of Lleida at the southern end of Catalonia, he began his musical life with piano and theory-of-music classes at the age of 7, since his parents thought some after-school activity would be good for him.
Though leaning towards the sciences in his outlook and in his work, he has always sought to keep the right side of his brain fit with music, playing electric contraptions with strings in rock and heavy-metal groups in his noisy teens before growing into folk music.
He took up the flute around 10 years ago after hearing some Jethro Tull records a friend had lent him (and he's still in an acoustic-rock duo with that friend). Around then he formed the folk-rock group l'Herba d'Hamelí with some friends at university, though he no longer plays with them: one fine day he decided to wave goodbye to the open-air gigs, unplug his amplifiers and take the enchanted path of the uillean pipe and assorted flutes in Irish music sessions, plus a hurdy-gurdy for those times when he feels like something else entirely.
Originario de Lleida, (el Segrià) Se inicia con los estudios de piano y solfeo a la edad de 7 años, debido a que sus padres vieron oportuno que realizara alguna actividad extraescolar.
Con profesión y mentalidad de ciencias, siempre ha querido humanizar su lado derecho del cerebro con la musica, ya sea tocando trastos electricos con cuerdas en grupos de rock y heavy en su ruidosa adolescencia, como ya de mas "mayorcito" introducirse en el folk y en la flauta travesera hace unos 10 años a traves de unos discos de Jethro Tull dejados por un amigo suyo con el que aún forma un dueto de rock en formato acustico. De aquí funda con unos amigos suyos de la "uni" el grupo de folk-rock l'Herba d'Hamelí con los que ya no toca, porque un buen dia decidió dejar de hacer bolos al aire libre, desenchufarse de los amplis y seguir ese divertido camino con la uilleann pipe y flautas diversas en multiples sesiones de musica irlandesa y la zanfona para cambiar de chip.
Toni Ribas
Flute, whistles, bodhrán
Although he was born in Barcelona in the 60s, he has roots in the area of Empordá. Since he was a child he felt attracted to music, tormenting his parents and neighbours on his guitars with imitations of his pop and rock idols. Like many teenagers, he went through phases of hard-rock and progressive rock until he finally discovered the calming nature of folk and in particular that of Irish traditional music.
Like many others, he began by playing bodhrán and whistle until he deduced from the looks from his fellow musicians that neither were instruments to be played for hours on end without trying the patience of the listener.As he felt a great fascination for the sweet sound of the wooden flute, he decided to take the plunge and learn yet again, a new instrument.
Many years and many sessions later, he remains faithful to his flute though he also plays the other two instruments on occasion.
De origen empordanès, aunque nacido en la Barcelona de los 60, desde pequeño se sintió atraido por la música, torturando a sus padres y vecinos con sus guitarras, con las que intentaba emular a sus ídolos del pop i del rock.
Como muchos adolescentes de la época, pasó por etapas de hard-rock y rock progresivo hasta que con la edad descubrió la calma del folk, y particularmente de la música tradicional irlandesa, en la que se introdujo, como casi todo el mundo, con el bodhrán y el whistle. Pronto descubrió, gracias a las miradas de compañeros de sesión y audiencia, que ambos instrumentos no podian ser tocados durante horas sin herir la sensibilidad y los oidos del personal, asi que, fascinado por el dulce sonido de la flauta de madera, decidio dar el salto y aprender por enésima vez a tocar un instrumento.
Años y cientos de sessions más tarde sigue fiel a la flauta, aunque sigue tocando esporádicamente los otros dos instrumentos.