Gearoid O hAllmhurain & Patrick Ourceau

Mostly self taught, Patrick’s taste for Clare and East Galway music developed early in his playing after being introduced to recordings of the legendary fiddle players Paddy Canny, Paddy Fahey and Bobby Casey. Patrick regularly visits Ireland and especially county Clare. Over the years, he has during those trips, been able to play with and learn from Paddy Canny, as well as from many other local musicians including flute and fiddle player Peadar O’Loughlin. During the many years he lived in New York, Patrick often played with such great musicians as fiddle players Andy McGann and Paddy Reynolds among many others, but was particularly influenced by the style and repertoire of Woodford, Co. Galway flute player Jack Coen.

He is a member since 2003 of the band Chulrua, along with accordion player Paddy O’Brien and guitarist and singer Pat Egan. The trio released last year, on Shanachie Records, The Singing Kettle, their first recording together. When not touring with the band, Patrick performs with guitarist Eamon O’Leary. In 2004, Patrick and Eamon Released Live at Mona’s, a live recording project praised by critics and fans alike as one of the best recent releases of Irish traditional music.

Since the mid nineties, Patrick has performed with many Irish and Irish American musicians and bands. Most notably in duets with Ennis, Co. Clare concertina player Gearoid O’hAllmhurain with whom he recorded Tracin‘ in 1999; with Tulla, Co. Clare accordion player Andrew McNamara, and with the legendary Tulla Ceili band, on the band’s last American tour.

Patrick is featured on flute player Cathal McConnell’s last solo release Long Expectant Comes at Last, on Compass Records; on accordion player John Whelan’s Celtic Roots, on Narada Records and more recently on the TG4’CD and DVD release Geantrai, a compilation celebrating the first ten years of the popular traditional Irish music television program.

In the last fifteen years, Patrick has been in great demand as a teacher and regularly teaches both privately and at various festivals and summer schools across North America and Ireland. He has been part, since 1999, of the teaching staff at Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York and at Celtic College in Goderich, Canada. He has been teaching for the past several years at Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp in San Juan Island, Washington and at the Chris Langan Weekend in Toronto. Patrick taught several years at Augusta’s Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia. He has also taught at the Alaska Fiddle Camp in Chugiak, Alaska; at the St. Louis Tionol in St. Louis, Missouri; at the East Coast Tionol in East Durham, New York; at the O’Flaherty’s Retreat in Dallas, Texas; at the Armagh Piper’s Club in County Armagh, Northern Ireland; and at the Fleadh Nua in Ennis, County Clare, Ireland.

Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin

In 2001, Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin was profiled in the Rough Guide to Irish Music (London: Penguin Press). A fourth generation musician and a native of Co. Clare on the west coast of Ireland, Ó hAllmhuráin holds five World Championship Irish music titles: as a concertina player, uilleann piper, and as a member of the renowned Kilfenora Céilí Band, the oldest traditional dance band in Ireland. Over the years, he has adjudicated numerous Irish traditional music competitions, including the prestigious Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (World Championship Irish music competition) and various Irish music competitions throughout North America.

Popular for his workshops and multi-media lectures, he has been on the faculty of many traditional music schools since 1994, including the Catskills Irish Arts School, (NY); the Swanannoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College, (NC); the Milwaukee Irish Summer School at the University of Wisconsin, and Goderich Celtic College, Ontario, Canada. He has also performed in festivals and concert halls throughout North America and Europe.

His first solo album, Traditional Music From Clare and Beyond, (Celtic Crossings, 1996) featured Clare fiddle masters Paddy Canny, Martin Hayes, and Peadar O’Loughlin, was hailed as ‘among the best concertina recordings OF ALL TIME’ by Irish music critics.

His subsequent duet album Tracin’ Traditional Music From the West of Ireland, (Celtic Crossings, 1999), recorded with French fiddler, Patrick Ourceau, exemplified the seminal duet style of Peadar O’Loughlin and Paddy Murphy in the 1950s. Critics praised its ‘brilliant instrumental performance and inspiring liner notes’.