Cait Ni Riain & Noel Hill

Cait Ni Riain is a singer and multi-instrumentalist from Upperchurch in Co.Tipperary. She is deeply rooted in Irish traditional music and song, and has been influenced by the great depth and beauty of the songs and tunes of Ireland, and of folk music the world over; the music, songs, and rhythms that have grown from the ground up, from the human's relationship with land.She is particularly passionate about the traditional songs of Ireland, the keening tradition, the deep embodiment of voice, and voice as a potent healing and spiritual tool. She composes her own songs which are rooted in themes of wildness, love, and the need to decolonize our minds, hearts, and bodies.Cait plays piano and sings in The Weaving, alongside accordionist and singer, Meabh Begley and Leeds' fiddler, Owen Spafford. The Weaving are an exciting new group celebrating the deep taproots of both Irish and English traditional music and song.Instagram: Cait Ni RiainNoel Hill was born in Caherea in West County Clare, Ireland and has been a professional musician from a very early age. In County Clare the concertina tradition is so strong the instrument was nicknamed "the Clareman's Trumpet", and legend has it there was once a concertina in every second house. It was into one of these households that Noel Hill and his 7 siblings was born. His parents, grandparents and grandaunts were all concertina players. He was particularly influenced by his uncle, Padraig A Chnoic (Paddy Hill), who also played the concertina. Noel lived in a house which was the last in the area to hold the traditional House dances, where musicians were always welcomed; particularly towards the end of the year when farm work was done. It was at these events he learned his early music. He started playing at the age of 8. Noel was lucky to have heard endless hours of Willie Clancy, Paddy Canny, Peter O'Loughlin and Paddy Murphy and much of the music in his repertoire today comes from the music learned as a child from these great players. Noel always said he wanted to be a uilleann piper but pipes were not readily available.Noel has taken the humble concertina from the house dances of County Clare to the big stages throughout the world. He has single handedly elevated the instrument's popularity, which now has enjoyed tremendous development for the past four decades. This popularity is not only because of Noel's awe-inspiring performances, along with being a highly respected authority on Ireland's Traditional Music, but also because of his many years as a committed teacher.In 1975 Noel Hill formed the group Inchiquin. They recorded one album. Soon afterwards Inchiquin split up and 2 members went on to form the band Stockton's Wing while Noel took off in a different musical direction. He then recorded one of his most iconic and celebrated albums "Noel Hill and Tony Linnane" (1978) with Tony Linnane (fiddle), Matt Molloy (flute), Alec Finn (bouzouki and mando-cello) and Micheal O'Domhnaill (harmonium). Inchiquin continued for a time and toured Ireland and Europe with Noel, Tony and Barry Moore (now Luka Bloom)."He is to Irish traditional music what WB Yeats was to a generation of Irish poets, a one-in-a-generation player who casts a long shadow"
Brian O'Connell, The Irish Times
"Noel rises fully to his audience's expectations and gives them all that energy he is famous for, and more in terms of variety of tunes, variety of moods, subtlety of interpretation and drive of playing."
Journal of Music
"Through his dedication, talent, and artistry, Noel produces one of the most powerful and beautiful expressions of our culture I know."
Tony McMahon"Ireland is full of great musicians, but only a few set standards.
Noel Hill is one of those standard-setting voices in Irish music today. Few musicians in any field or in any generation achieve a position where both audiences and experts agree on their preeminence and mastery of an instrument; Noel Hill's virtuosity has firmly established him as the defining Irish concertina player of our time."
PJ Curtis, Notes from the Heart