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At The COATESVILLE CULTURAL SOCIETY
143 East Lincoln Highway /Coatesville, PA, 19320
Admission, $15 / (610) 486-2220

ALL SHOWS START AT 8:00pm

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The Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series – CTIMS to our friends – is a series of live concerts and workshops featuring the cream of the crop of Irish musicians, presented in an intimate and cozy venue in Coatesville, PA, west of Philly. In the very beginning we’d contact traditional players whose music we admired, like revered 82 year old Irish flute player and Galway native Mike Rafferty ... then County Offaly button-accordion player Paddy O'Brien and his band Chulrua ... later fiddle, banjo and flute virtuoso John Carty from Roscommon ... eventually things started rolling and now that the series has been going strong for more than five years, traditional musicians from Ireland are starting to call us when they’re over here on tour. There's a little more history on how we got started further down on the page if you’re interested in that sort of thing, but for now, why not just read about our next concert?

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SUNDAY, MARCH 7
KEVIN CRAWFORD
& CILLIAN VALLELY

Masterful music on flute, uilleann pipes, tin whistle, bodhran and who knows what else from two of the talented lads of the Irish traditional band "Lunasa".

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Born in Birmingham, England, KEVIN CRAWFORD's early life was one long journey into Irish music and Co. Clare, to which he eventually moved while in his 20’s. He was a member of Moving Cloud, a wonderful Clare-based band who recorded two critically-acclaimed albums and he also recorded with Raise the Rafters, Joe Derrane and Sean Tyrrell. For more than a decade now Kevin has been touring the world with Ireland’s cutting edge traditional band, Lúnasa, with seven ground breaking albums to their credit. A virtuoso flute player, Kevin has also recorded two solo albums, The 'D’ Flute Album and the more recent In Good Company. His latest endeavor is the highly-praised duet album he recorded with his Lúnasa band-mate Cillian Vallely, On Common Ground.

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Uilleann pipes and low whistle player CILLIAN VALLELY comes from the same talented musical family as his brother Niall Vallely, concertina player in the group Nomos. (Cillian and his sibling have recorded a fine CD together, Callan Bridge). He has spent most of the recent past touring in the US, performing with bands such as New York-based Whirligig, Paddy O’Brien’s Chulrua and with Clare fiddler Seamus Connolly. He was featured as uilleann pipes soloist in the Broadway production of Riverdance and toured with bluegrass music star Tim O’Brien. The above noted duet CD with Kevin, On Common Ground, will be available for purchase at this concert. A review can be read further down the page.

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Cillian Vallely and Kevin Crawford may not need much of an introduction. They are two thirds of the lead in the very successful band Lunasa, and they are among the best players of their generation on their respective instrument. Along with Paul Meehan, who is the current guitarist with Lunasa, and Donal Clancy, another talented guitar accompanist who performs with the group Danu, they have produced an exciting new album which, not surprisingly, will probably remind most listeners of the trademark Lunasa sound--minus fiddle and bass. The rich interplay of flute and pipes (all the richer when the two perform on C-pitched instruments), moving freely from strict unison to dinstinct harmonic and rhythmic variations, the beautiful sound of combined low whistles, the extraordinary technical precision of the lead players, the creative chord progressions behind the tunes, are all here. Even the playlist is quite Lunasa-esque, a typically imaginative, always tasteful, and expertly balanced combination of old gems, current session favorites, and a sprinkling of the "latest tunes"--including two lovely new compositions by Crawford. Common ground indeed, but hardly routine or boring, even if the technical perfection of the playing may at times make one wish for a little less control and more spontaneity--this is lovely music played at the highest level. – Philippe Varlet

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The old steel mill town of Coatesville seems an unlikely place for traditional Irish music, but here's how it happened. As a volunteer at the Coatesville Cultural Society, I approached the artistic director there with a plan to present an evening of jigs, reels and hornpipes by a group of area musicians from Narberth, PA.

And so local band ‘The Morrigan’ played driving Irish dance music on fiddle, flute, accordion and guitar for about 50 appreciative community members in June of 2004. Encouraged by the turnout, I contacted an elder statesman of Irish music in America, Mike Rafferty in New Jersey, and arranged a second event featuring himself on flute and uilleann pipes. Mike's daughter Mary accompanied him on accordion and tin whistle, along with Donal Clancy on guitar. The result was a very special evening of traditional music along with Rafferty's recollections of growing up and learning to play in Galway. With the level of enthusiasm rising, plans were laid for future events and the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series, was born!

• Mike & Mary Rafferty, w. Dónal Clancy - Oct. 2
• Billy McComiskey & Friends - Dec. 11

• Brian Conway & Darin Kelly - Jan. 9
• Paddy O’Brien & Chulrua - Mar. 12
• John Carty & Ged Foley - Apr. 2
• Gráinne Hambley & William Jackson - Apr. 9
• John Flanagan (sean nós singer) - May 20
• Kane Sisters - Aug. 19
• Téada - Sept. 18
• Randal Bays & Roger Landes - Oct. 8
• Paddy O’Brien & Chulrua - Oct. 30
• Colm Gannon & John Blake - Nov. 21
• Brian Conway & Brendan Dolan - Dec. 3

• Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill - Mar. 8
• Joanie Madden & Mary Coogan - Apr. 22
• Brian McNamara - June 17
• Fanai - Sept. 16
• James Keane - Oct. 14
• Claire Keville & Pat O’Connor - Oct. 28

• Maeve Donnelly & Tony McManus - Mar. 31
• Jerry O’Sullivan - May 12
• Rosie Shipley & Gerry O’Beirne - June 16
• Angelina Carberry & Martin Quinn - July 7
• Mike Rafferty, Felix Dolan & Willie Kelly - Oct. 13
• Hedge Band, from Baltimore - Dec. 14

• Dana Lyn, Tina Lech & Donna Long - Apr. 19
• Micheal O Raghallaigh & Ivan Goff - June 7
• Angelina Carberry & Martin Quinn - July 26
• Kevin Crawford & Cillian Vallely - Sept. 5
• John Carty & Donal Clancy - Oct. 26
• Brian Conway & Brendan Dolan - Nov. 22

• Michael Cooney & Pat Egan - Feb. 22

• Pat O'Connor & Eoghan O'Sullivan - Apr. 5

• Sligo Style Fiddle Master Tony DeMarco - Sept. 26

• Byrne, McComiskey & Egan - Jan. 17
• KEVIN CRAWFORD & CILLIAN VALLELY - Mar. 7

At The COATESVILLE CULTURAL SOCIETY
143 East Lincoln Highway /Coatesville, PA, 19320
Admission, $15 / (610) 486-2220

ALL SHOWS START AT 8:00pm