Folk Bands and Artists
Dermot Byrne
Dermot Byrne was awarded TG4’s Traditional Musician of the Year in 2013. From Buncrana in the Inishowen peninsula, he played accordion from a young age with his father the inspirational Tomás O’Beirn, an enthusiastic promoter of the tradition. Dermot has had the good fortune to meet all the greats of Donegal music, including Johnny Doherty, Con Cassidy and Tommy Peoples. A long-time anchor of Altan, Byrne’s subtlety as an accordion player has always marked him apart. In between he has found time to collaborate with Parisian harpist Floriane Blancke, Brendan O’Regan, Dezi Donnelly and Jim Murray. His eponymous solo recording received great critical acclaim and has recently been followed up with the release of ‘The Donegal Melodeon’ with Steve Cooney.
