Mark Evans
was first drawn to Irish traditional music by the inspirational flute playing of Matt Molloy and the powerful compositions of Planxty and the Bothy Band. His own early playing was in bars, clubs, festivals, concert halls and kitchens the length and breadth of Ireland, where he gained a natural initiation into the music. He grew within a community of musicians from the Irish music scene in England, including the Molloy and Conneely families, Kevin Crawford (of Lunasa and Moving Cloud), Ivan Miletitch, Karen Tweed, Luke Daniels and many others.
Mark's passion for the music took him to Ireland again and again to perform and to enjoy informal sessions by the fireside or in the warm congeniality of bars and clubs. In the 1990s he joined Smoky Chimney fiddle and box duo Eoghan O'Sullivan and Gerry Harrington for performances in Ireland and England. Over time, his growing love for the traditional songs of Britain and Ireland has earned him warm recognition as an accomplished singer as well as instrumentalist, arranger and composer. Nic Jones, Dick Gaughan, Andy Irvine and Andy M. Stewart are some of his formative singing influences -- Irish Music Magazine describes his voice as "rich, very clear and well-syncopated...full of resonance and musicality".
In the late 1990s he joined a lively traditional music community on the East Coast of the US. Here he performed at festivals, concerts and ceilis with a variety of bands and musicians, including Billy McComiskey, Zan McLeod, Eliot Grasso, Jimmy Eagan and Andy Thurston, all of whom feature on his acclaimed CD,
A Rival Heart.
His latest work with DisKan explores new combinations of rhythm and melody from the Balkans and Brittany, as well as Ireland and England, yet still firmly rooted in tradition. The DisKan sound mix also provides a rich, often exciting backdrop to Mark's treatment of traditional songs and ballads.
Click here to contact Mark
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Ivan Miletitch
is a highly talented French musician who has played with numerous traditional bands, in France and the UK. He was the driving force behind UK-based Irish band Long Acre, with Kevin Crawford (Lunasa) and Joe Molloy (the Fureys) in the 1980s, and has since performed with a host of respected musicians including Jean-Michel Veillon of Kornog, and Karen Tweed of the Poozies and Swap. His Balkans and French musical heritage now comes to the fore in DisKan. Described on Kevin Crawford's 'D Flute Album' as a "genius on guitar and bouzouki", Ivan is indeed remarkable for the diversity of his talent and for the many ethnic and traditional musical styles he has mastered. Equally at home with fiddle and with guitar/bouzouki, his inventive musicality and driving accompaniment add rhythm, depth and colour to DisKan's rich pageant of music and song.
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Karen Tweed's
prodigious talent on accordion needs no introduction. Learning piano accordion from the age of eleven, Karen won the
first of five All-Ireland championships at 14. Since that time, her virtuosity, versatility and dedication to musical tradition and heritage have rightly earned her a reputation as one of the most successful and respected folk accordion players in the world. Her eclectic tastes and skillful interpretation of diverse musical styles have led to collaborative work
with artists as diverse as SWÅP,
The Poozies, Kevin Burke, Kathryn Tickell, Christy O'Leary, Roger Wilson
and many more. Karen's recent addition to DisKan stems from her long-standing friendship with Ivan and Mark, from their shared formative interest in performing and promoting Irish traditional music, and their more recent mutual fascination in rhythms from Brittany, the Balkans and further afield.
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Nick Jones
is a highly versatile musician, widely renowned for his balanced and rhythmic fiddle technique. His formative influences are the Irish fiddle greats, such as Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran and more recently Tommy Peoples and Paddy Glackin. With his recent discovery of Balkan and Breton rhythms and melodies, his fiddle playing adds verve and finesse to DisKan's rich repertoire of dance music, while the fiddle works in perfect counterpoint to the ensemble of strings backing the songs. Nick's diverse talents have also seen him work as a drummer in a Clash tribute band and as a fiddler in blues and jazz ensembles -- an experiential mix which adds stylistic spice to his traditional music .
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Baltimore native
Eliot Grasso
hails from a long line of musicians. Learning Irish traditional music on the flute, tin whistle and uilleann pipes before reaching his teens, his earliest exposure included the music of The Chieftains and The Bothy Band. Eliot studied piping technique with Paul Levin and with Na Píobairí Uilleann instructor, Kieran O'Hare. Since 1996, Eliot has won regional and international titles at the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil and Ireland's International Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann on uilleann pipes and tin whistle.
Eliot has performed in concert with Liz Carroll, Dr. Mick Moloney, The Chieftains, Cherish the Ladies, and at the National Building Museum, the National Geographic Concert Hall and the home of the Irish Ambassador. He also entertained President and Mrs. Clinton at the National Endowment for the Arts Awards, and Irish President Mary Robinson at a special Fleadh Cheoil All-Ireland champions concert. He was also invited to perform with actor, Russell Crowe, for the unveiling of a memorial to fellow actor, Richard Harris, in Kilkee. Most recently, Eliot has performed with the Oregon Chorale directed by Bernd Kuehn and recorded with the University College Dublin Choral Scholars in Dublin, and on National Public Radio with host Garrison Keillor, where he was honored with the Ray Marklund Award for amiable stage presence. He has several other live radio broadcasts under his belt, including RTE’s “The Rolling Wave,” presented by Peter Browne. Eliot is four-times winner of the Rosenberg Scholarship for the Arts for piano performance and has twice been honored with the Frankie Kennedy Memorial Scholarship to fund music studies in Ireland.
Eliot holds a BA in music from Goucher College and a Masters Degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick. While in Ireland, Eliot was commissioned by Na Píobairí Uilleann to record and produce an album of solo piping for the club’s catalogue (May 2007). Eliot and his wife, Kate, reside in Portland, Oregon, where he is pursuing doctoral studies in musicology at the University of Oregon.
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© Rival Heart Productions
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