Trí60 No.3 - Artists in Concert

Ross Daly (lyra)

Jonas Knutsson (saxophone)

Eoin Dillin (Uilleann Pipes)

Robbie Harris (percussion)

As the name implies, Ross Daly has Irish roots, but his base for the last three decades has been the island of Crete, an important locus for Hellenic culture and home of the lyra, the three stringed fiddle on which he is without peers. He’s mastered many other stringed instruments of the Eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia, and his celebrated Labyrinth summer school attracts devotees of modal music in all its persuasions.

A founder of the globetrotting co-op that is Kila, Eoin Dillon is no stranger to the collaborative spirit of Trí60, be it with African stars like Baaba Maal or the Ainu musicians of Japan. Supplemental to his indispensable role in Kila’s aural signature, a brace of solo albums have revealed an uileann piper with a vibrant style and an ear for witty original tunes, drawing on his deep connection to traditional music which started with a pipe making apprenticeship on Tory Island.

Swedish saxophonist Jonas Knutsson started early too, in a house where music was never far away, his parents being organisers of the jazz festival in his hometown of Umea. He’s very at home in improvisation, and as with many of today’s finest Nordic musicians, he moves without inhibition between different idioms. Hearing Sweden’s gently undulating polskas played with such delicacy on big instruments like the baritone sax is a revelation.

Percussionist doesn’t describe the half of what the irrepressible Robbie Harris does, whom you’re just as likely to see in on a theatre stage or at the helm of a parade, as well as providing grooves for artists like Clannad and breaking new ground in bands like Tarab. He’s intimate with every conceivable frame drum, but on the bodhrán he takes flight.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear this diverse quartet in conversation at 11am on Saturday 10 December at The National Concert Hall!

Presented by The National Concert Hall in association with Improvised Music Company & Conor Byrne.