Folk Bands and Artists
Jackie Daly & Matt Cranitch
https://www.mattcranitch.com/matt-jackie
For many years, Jackie Daly (accordion) and Matt Cranitch (fiddle) have been among the foremost interpreters of the rich Sliabh Luachra tradition of instrumental music. They have travelled extensively throughout many countries, performing individually, with various groups, and together. In 2011, they featured on two tours in the US as part of Imagine Ireland, the year-long celebration of Irish arts in the US.
Their CD, The Living Stream, issued in 2010, draws very much from the Sliabh Luachra tradition, and features fourteen tracks, mostly unaccompanied.
Jackie Daly (accordion)
Described in the New York Times as “probably the best accordionist in Ireland”, Jackie was born in Kanturk, Co. Cork. One of the greatest influences on his early musical development was Ballydesmond fiddle-player, Jim Keeffe, a pupil of the renowned Sliabh Luachra fiddle-master, Pádraig O’Keeffe. Over the years, Jackie’s lifelong affinity with fiddle-music has resulted in highly-acclaimed albums featuring fiddle and accordion – with the late Cork-based musician Séamus Creagh, with Kevin Burke, and now with Matt Cranitch. He was a central figure in De Danann, Patrick Street, Buttons and Bows, Arcady, Reel Union and Kinvara. He has toured extensively throughout the world, and has also presented workshops and classes. In 2005, he received the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Musician of the Year Award, and in 2009, the Kanturk Arts Festival Award.
Matt Cranitch (fiddle)
Matt Cranitch is renowned as a fiddle-player and teacher, performing extensively internationally. He has presented lectures, master-classes and workshops on various aspects of Irish music, won All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil titles, as well as The Fiddler of Dooney and Oireachtas Crotty Cup. He is author of The Irish Fiddle Book, first published in 1988. Matt has made various albums, including those with Na Filí, Any Old Time and Sliabh Notes, in addition to Éistigh Seal which consists entirely of slow airs. He received a PhD from the University of Limerick for his study on Sliabh Luachra fiddle-playing. A long-time consultant for the Geantraí series on TG4, he is a former advisor to the Irish Arts Council scheme for the traditional arts, and has served on the board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive. In 2003, he received the Hall of Fame Award from University College Cork where he has taught courses in Irish traditional music.
