Gerry O’Connor and Martin Matthews
Thu, 31 Jan
|Tyneside Irish Centre
Promoted by the Tyneside Irish Cultural Society
Time & Location
31 Jan 2019, 19:30
Tyneside Irish Centre, 43 Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4SG, UK
About the event
Doors open 7.30pm Show 8pm
Gerry O’Connor has long been marked out as one of the great fiddle players of his generation. A winner of numerous All Ireland and Fiddler of Oriel titles, he has been rightly noted for his rich, fluid, lyrical fiddle playing.
He formed Lá Lúgh (Sony Music) and Skylark, recording four CDs on the Claddagh label, and has toured and recorded with members of Planxty, Bothy Band, De Danann, Boys of the Lough and The Chieftains.
Winner of Album the Year in 1996 (Irish Music magazine) and album of the year 2004 (The Irish Times), Gerry has produced many critically acclaimed recordings. In 2010 he recorded CD’s with the trio Jig away the Donkey, The Irish Rovers and, a duo recording with Cathal McConnell charting the traditional songs of Ulster.
November 2018 saw the release of his long awaited second solo album
“Last Night’s Joy”, once again featuring himself plus a host of O’Connor’s, Máirtin, Dónal, Gerry (Banjo) and Feilim .
“With seemingly boundless musical depth and breadth, underscored by a sharp wit, this collection is a joy to behold, long beyond last night.“ Irish Times 4/5 Star Review , Nov 2018
“An absolute joy at any time” Irish Times
“Gerry O’Connor is a musician’s musician. He is virtuosic, but never showboats: brilliant on playing tunes of all kinds and equally outstanding on accompanying songs. A great colleague and a lovely man to boot. The full package.” Mick Moloney
www.gerryoconnor.net
In 2016 he guested on the final two CDs of the triple CD collection, Wall to Wall, featuring original and traditional music from the Northumberland /Scottish Borders and Louth, Monaghan and South Ulster by Martin Matthews.
Multi instrumentalist Martin again accompanies Gerry on this UK tour. The duo performed together earlier in 2018 at Hexham, Queens Hall and St Mary’s Gateshead.
Martin, like Gerry, has senior All Ireland Fleadh Ceoil credentials, (Tenor Banjo). During a long career he featured in the Champion String Band, The Rub, Cúig and Steamradio; performing at festivals, recording and touring the UK, Europe and North America. His CSB BBC1, TV series was highly regarded.
Martin has recorded four solo albums; Autumn, and the W2W trilogy, and has recorded with many top class performers including Vin Garbutt and Kathryn Tickell.
His “Legendary banjo playing” (Dirty Linnen Mag USA) , and “Chris Thile like mandolin and guitar playing” (Living Tradition Magazine) are much lauded and admired.