Neil Ó Lochlainn is a musician and composer from Clare. His work is dedicated to exploring the contemporary and the universal in the local. He has been described as "a musical seeker" (The Irish Times) and his work as "redefining the possibilities of Irish traditional music" (All about Jazz).
He began learning Irish traditional music on the flute and tin whistle in his locality at a young age and studied double bass with David Whitla at the Cork School of Music.
He is the co-founder and artistic director of Ensemble Ériu who, In 2015, received the TG4 Comharcheol Gradam. Their third album Stargazer was listed in Songlines’ 10 essential Irish albums of recent times. His chamber ensemble Cuar, which explores composition and improvisation within the framework of Irish traditional music, will release their second album ‘Umahill’ on Diatribe Records in November 2022.
As a jazz musician he has been bassist of choice for many of Ireland's leading musicians and was a member of the Louis Stewart quartet from 2012. He has received numerous bursaries and scholarships to attend workshops and residencies. He travelled to Chennai, India to study Karnatak music with Dr. K.S.Subramanian and has travelled throughout Ghana to study the traditional music of the Ewe and Dagara people. In 2019 he received the Next Generation bursary from the Arts Council.
Martin Hayes“Neil Ó Lochlainn has an instinct and a feel for different strands of music that allows him to create un-compromised musical worlds that speak with real depth and authenticity ”