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Len Graham

County Antrim born Len Graham has been a full-time professional traditional singer since 1982. He won the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann traditional singing completion in 1971. In 1992 he received the Seán O'Boyle Cultural Traditions Award in recognition of his work in Ireland as a collector and singer. In 2002 he was honoured with the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Award as 'Singer of the Year' and in 2008 the US Irish Music Award in the 'Sean-Nós Singing' category."


Róisín White

Róisín White comes from the Mourne Mountains area in south County Down, where she grew up in a musical family, always encouraged along the paths of music, Irish language and culture. She spent her working years as teacher of Irish in Armagh. Now retired Róisín is still involved in the pursuit of songs, and has been a guest singer at many festivals in Ireland and further afield.


Jim MacFarland

Jim is one of Ireland’s finest traditional singers, with a voice and repertoire admired by many.  He has travelled extensively, guesting in Ireland, the UK, Europe, North America and Canada. His talent also lies in collecting and is no stranger to Inishowen, having co-produced ‘My Parents Reared Me Tenderly’ a collection of Inishowen songs in the 1980s.  Jim runs a singing session in Derry and is a stalwart supporter of the Inishowen Traditional Singers’ Circle.  He has produced 1 solo CD, 1 CD with Jackie Boyce and has featured on a number of compilation CDs.



Grace Toland

Born and reared in Inishowen, Co. Donegal, Grace is a passionate supporter of the rich singing tradition of the peninsula. Her songs and style come from time shared with older singers and friends such as Dan McGonigle, Jimmy Houten and the James Eoghain clan. She is married to Brian Doyle and lives in Wicklow (with a heart in Inishowen). Grace is one of the organisers of the Inishowen Traditional Singers' Circle and one of the driving forces behind the Inishowen Song Project. She works in the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin.

Róisín Gaffney

Róisín Gaffney was born in Killucan, Co. Westmeath and now lives in Dublin. Her interest in song started with her fathers singing and then in the folk club in U.C.D during the 1970s. This led to visits to Miltown Malbay and legendary trips to Northern Ireland, bringing her in contact with all the great singers from around the country. Her singing features on the Goilín Traditional Singers’ Club first recording Keep in Touch, Macalla’s first album Mná na hEireann and the online archive The Góilín Song Project which also features an interview with her about that Song Club. Róisín composed the song The Hill of Knockshebane as part of the As I Roved Out project in 2012 - the lyrics, recordings and interesting background to the song can be found at www.asirovedout.ie Roisín has appeared as guest singer at numerous traditional song festivals throughout the country as well as leading song workshops. She sings regularly at the Góilín Singers Club and is involved in organising the annual Frank Harte Singing Festival.



Fergus Russell

Fergus Russell is from Dublin and learned to sing at his mother's knee. A stalwart of An Góilín and one of the organisers of the annual Frank Harte Festival, Fergus has a passion for collecting and reviving long forgotten traditional songs. When he finds a song that interests him, Fergus will try to track down the original air, but if that proves futile he will write a new air to suit. Some of these songs have proved popular and are being reabsorbed back into the tradition. In an endeavour to bring them to a wider audience Fergus has recently released Landless & Free a CD comprising fifteen traditional songs not previously recorded. A welcome guest at singing circles and clubs at home and abroad Fergus has recently returned from a tour of Australia where he entertained audiences at venues in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. 

Sandra Joyce

Sandra Joyce is a traditional singer from Co. Galway, now living in Co. Limerick.  She is interested in the diverse practices of Irish traditional song, and particularly in English language repertoire. Her research interests include traditional song pedagogy, the transformation of traditional song in different cultural contexts and the singing traditions of the Irish travellers.  Recent performances include the Klangfestival Naturstimmen Festival, Toggenburg, Switzerland (June 2014) and the closing concert for the Limerick City of Culture, Phoenix Rising: The Music of Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (December 2014).  Sandra works at the University of Limerick.


Hammy Hamilton

Hammy Hamilton, born in Belfast in 1953, was initially drawn to singing through the ballad boom of the 1960s and the recordings of the Clancy Brothers and the Dubliners. Through involvement with the Folk Music Society in QUB in the early 70s he quickly became immersed in traditional song, under the influence of such seminal singers as Len Graham, Joe Holmes, Geordie Hanna and Cathal McConnell.


In 1976 he accidentally moved to Cork, initially living in the city but soon moving to the song rich environment of the Múscraí gaeltacht village of Cúil Aodha, where his neighbours were the Maidhcí Sullivans. Although continuing to draw on the Northern repertoire, Hammy also became influenced by the singing of the Ó Suilleabháin family, in particular Diarmuidín. Also a flute player, and more particularly a flute maker, Hammy still lives in Cúil Aodha, where he divides his time between flute making, working for the local Cruinniú na bhFliúit festival, and teaching workshops at home and abroad. His singing can be heard on the recently re-released CD It’s No Secret, with Seamus Creagh and Con Fada Ó Drisceoil.

Jerry O’Riley

Jerry O’Reilly is a noted singer and is one of the organisers of the Goilín Traditional Singers’ Club in Dublin, which is reckoned to be the foremost singing club in Ireland and which has been running for over 32 years.  He has acted as M.C. / Fear ‘a Ti at all of the major singing festivals in Ireland in recent years. He has also been involved with the production of several fine CDs of traditional singing in English and also the Irish language.  In 2003 he released his first solo CD called “Down from your pulpits, Down from your thrones”, which has been enthusiastically received.  Amongst his projects were the production of “Around the Hills of Clare”, the double CD of archive recordings from the Jim Carroll and Pat MacKenzie collection, which has been described as an inestimable resource by reviewers, “The Spoons Murder and Other Mysteries”, a book and CD of the songs of Con “Fada” O’ Drisceóil, which has been a “best seller” and “Cascades of Song” the CD of the Clare Festival of Traditional Singing, which was released in 2008 to popular acclaim.  His second album, “Havoc in Heaven” was launched in early 2012 and has been described by The Irish Times as “a strapping collection which will fuel repertoires from Stonybatter to Sneem”.  This is Jerry’s first attempt at song writing, although he admits to having “interfered” with some songs previously.