Thu, 28 Jan 2016 13:00:00 GMT - Thu, 28 Jan 2016 14:00:00 GMT, 13.00

At The Cube, NUI Galway

Organised by Arts and Action

Arts In Action Concert: Dermot Byrne & Floriane Blancke 

Dermot Byrne is one of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians having been awarded the Irish Television station, TG4’s Traditional Musician of the Year 2013. He hails from Buncrana in the Inishowen peninsula, the most northerly part of Donegal, and has played accordion since a very young age, having learned from his father Tomás O’Beirn, who comes from Teileann area of South West Donegal, and is an enthusiastic promoter of the tradition. Dermot had the good fortune to meet all the greats of Donegal music, including Johnny Doherty, Con Cassidy and Tommy Peoples, Danny Meehan and many more, and they made a great impact on the young Dermot, who went on to develop a unique style. His seemingly effortless playing, combined with great subtlety, and a faultless ear, makes him one of the great accordion players of his generation.

As well as his mastery of the Donegal style and repertoire, Dermot can turn with ease to other styles and traditions such as French musette, or South American choro music. He guested on two Altan recordings The Red Crow and Island Angel and was a member of the band from 1994 until 2013. Dermot has guested on collaborations with many great musicians including Seamus and Manus McGuire, Sharon Shannon, Frankie Gavin, Pierre Schryer, Tim O’Brien, The Stunning, Salsa Celtica and the late jazz violinist, Stephane Grappelli. His eponymous solo recording,which he has reissued recently, received great critical acclaim.

Born in Paris, France, Floriane Blancke is a talented harpist, fiddler, pianist and vocalist who has been embraced into Irish Traditional music circles over the past numbers of years. The grand-daughter of Jazz musician Stanislas Suranyi, her music has been greatly influenced by this native Hungarian Gypsy style, and of her grand-mother Marthe Blancke, who was a classical French violonist. Floriane also studied classical music for 10 years in the conservatoire of Bordeaux before spending a few years studying Jazz and World music in the C.I.A.M Jazz School. After moving to Ireland from France to pursue a full-time career in Traditional Music in 2006. Floriane is now recognised as a skilled harpist and has performed with luminaries such as Sharon Shannon, Brid Harper, Steve Cooney, Paddy Keenan, Pierre Schryer, Seamus Begley, Tim Edey. While for the most part, Floriane collaborations are traditional, she has shown her versatility in sharing the stage with contemporary artists such as Shane Mc Gowan of the Pogues and the world renowned vocalist Patti Smith.