The Gloaming

After some incredible performances at Melbourne Festival & Sydney Opera House in 2014, the Gloaming are returning to Australia in 2015 to appear at Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria.

The Gloaming carves new paths connecting the rich Irish folk tradition and the New York contemporary music scene. From haunting seanin's songs to rousing instrumental medleys, they create a new musical alchemy between ancient traditions, experimentation and modernity.

Fiddle master Martin Hayes, guitarist Dennis Cahill, seanin's singer Iarla Lionaird, hardanger innovator Caoimhin O'Raghallaigh and New York pianist Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), The Gloaming are five master musicians, each with highly successful individual careers, who have come together to create new music which pairs memorable, yearning melodies with a progressive style.

Although charged by the traditions of Ireland, what The Gloaming do with the structures of Irish music is anything but simple nostalgia. They introduce deep wells of personality and experience. Lyrics are drawn from the history of Irish literature, old and new. The music is played with the authority of virtuosos. The result is unclouded by sheen or sentimentality. Instead, it's haunting and emotionally charged. It sounds ancient without being a mere reproduction.

Martin, Caoimhin and Dennis have been recognized for extending the Irish and Celtic music traditions, balancing traditional rigor with an energy that seems entirely new. Thomas has been identified with the independent rock scene for his work with artists as diverse as The National, Glen Hansard, and Antony and the Johnsons. Iarla has made many ground breaking recordings with the Afro Celt Sound System, his distinctive voice venturing far beyond the boundaries of any one genre.