Eimear Arkins comes from a small village on the West Coast of Ireland called Ruan in County Clare and has been living in St. Louis, Missouri for the last number of years. She is an award- winning musician, singer, and dancer, with eleven Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann titles to her credit. Eimear has toured extensively with the international music organization Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann on concert … [Read more...] about Eimear Arkins
Singing
Karen Ballew
This will be Karen Ballew’s 13th year to attend the O’Flaherty Retreat, and she is very excited to be teaching the Gaelic Singing workshops! Karen’s love for sean-nós singing and songs in the Irish language inspired her to teach lessons in this music, which eventually led her to found The Gaelic Youth Chorus at The North Texas School of Irish Music in 2013. She credits Danny O’Flaherty (Karen’s … [Read more...] about Karen Ballew
Joseph Beckey
Joseph Beckey comes from a choral tradition until discovering Irish music at a pub in 2008. One of the musicians taught a class “Traditional Songs In Harmony” at the Center for Irish Music in St. Paul, MN. After that, he was hooked. He has taken numerous song classes as well as learning to play mandolin, guitar, bouzouki and bodhrán. Soon after learning his first chords, Joseph was … [Read more...] about Joseph Beckey
Michael Black
Michael Black hails from the foremost family of Irish song, which includes siblings, Mary, Frances, Shay and Martin. He has been playing music and singing songs all his life and though from Dublin, he has lived in Limerick, London before emigrating to the bay area of San Francisco. His repertoire is very broad and includes old Dublin street songs, stories of emigration and history, folk songs from … [Read more...] about Michael Black
Shay Black
Shay Black is an avid songcatcher, musician and singer and is known for his extensive knowledge of songs and music from the Irish, English, Scottish, and North American traditions. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he moved in 1994 to Berkeley, CA from Liverpool, where he had lived for the previous twenty years. While in Liverpool, he toured and recorded with Irish band Garva, the celebrated Stan Hugill … [Read more...] about Shay Black
Peter Brice
Peter Brice sings old songs in a traditional style, and plays Irish traditional music on the button accordion. A native Annapolitan and an exponent of Baltimore, Maryland's Irish traditional music community, Peter's work blends singing and musicianship with musicology and history, humor, colorful design, and a vision for traditional culture as the foundation for an intellectual life. A lifelong … [Read more...] about Peter Brice
Pat Broaders
Pat Broaders grew up in Dublin, the son of parents from Wexford. He began his journey in traditional music at the age of eight. He started out on the whistle, and later moved on to theuilleann pipes under the tutelage of Leon Rowsome. He took up the bouzouki in 1988, inspired by the sounds he grew up hearing from bands like Planxty, and the popularity of the instrument in Dublin’s vibrant … [Read more...] about Pat Broaders
Matthew Cook
Matthew Cook has been singing all his life, but when the Irish genre took hold of him, the songs in his head were forever changed. The music touched a part of his heart and his soul that lay dormant, and he was instantly connected into the long history of Irish music. Now he plays and sings Irish Music in the DFW area as much as he possibly can. He plays with the band Slugger’s Rule, and played … [Read more...] about Matthew Cook
Sarah Copus
Sarah Copus is an award-winning, Billboard charting singer/songwriter and harpist. She has been performing and recording for over 8 years with her parent's platinum selling band, and more recently as a solo artist. For a musician under 16, she has had some extraordinary success: three albums hit the Billboard charts that feature her as lead singer, radio airplay across hundreds of … [Read more...] about Sarah Copus
Jimmy Crowley
Jimmy Crowley has been a central figure in the Irish folk scene since the enthusiastic reception of his debut album "The Boys of Fairhill" in 1977. With his band Stokers Lodge, their mission was to present the street ballads of Cork city complimented by the ornate folk songs of the rural hinterland of Cork and Kerry in an exciting orchestration of uilleann pipes, concertina, autoharp, harmonium, … [Read more...] about Jimmy Crowley