Lúnasa are internationally acknowledged as being the finest traditional Irish instrumental band of recent times, and one of the hottest Irish acts around today. Lúnasa bring their energetic, atmospheric blend of contemporary and traditional compositions to Theatr Mwldan on Sunday 6 May. The band’s concert at Theatr Mwldan is part of Lúnasa’s most extensive UK tour to date and will be their first visit to Cardigan.
Their inventive arrangements and bass driven grooves have steered Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory. Their recordings have been hailed as some of the best and most important world music albums anywhere, while their blend of intelligence, innovation, virtuosity, and passion has brought them to the forefront of Celtic music.
Formed in 1996 Lúnasa is widely-known for original compositions, powered by double bass-driven rhythms. The band features Kevin Crawford, Sean Smyth and Cillian Vallely on traditional Irish instrumentation of low whistle, uilleann pipes, tin whistles and fiddle augmented by Trevor Hutchinson on double bass and Ed Boyd on guitar. On this tour Tola Custy will guest for Sean Smyth on fiddle.
Lúnasa has toured and performed with some well-known and respected artists including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Rosanne Cash, and Billy Bragg. Their sell out tours of the UK, USA, Europe and Japan have helped them gain major international acknowledgement. Earning themselves the Coeur Miroir award at the Quebec City Summer festival in 2003 confirmed the band’s reputation as masters of modern Irish music, and in 2010 they won further major international acknowledgement in the LIVIES (liveireland.com) awards when they were named Performers of the Decade.
“This tour will be our most extensive UK tour ever” says Kevin Crawford. “We will be visiting all points of the compass but are especially looking forward to coming to Cardigan – we’ve not played here before so are looking forward to making new friends on this visit.”
With seven albums to their credit Lúnasa has a wealth of material to draw on to create a memorable evening. They recently released a new album Lá Nua (Irish for ‘new day’). So far, the band internationally have sold over 200,000 records and boast an impressive back catalogue of 7 highly acclaimed studio albums.
In the words of the Sydney Herald they will leave the audience in no doubt that “Lúnasa is the most exciting band to emerge from Ireland in a long, long time”.
Tickets for the concert at Theatr Mwldan are priced at £15 (£14) and are available to book now from the Box Office on 01239 621200, online at www.mwldan.co.uk, or via SmartPhones mwldan.ticketsolve.com/mobile.
