Brief history of 'Buffalo In the Castle' and artists biographies Buffalo in the Castle’ is the result of a creative exploration of musical connections between the Irish traditional and American old-time repertoires. This album highlights the organic connection between these two traditions while putting both in a complementary light and preserving the aesthetic integrity of each. In 2007 with the music itself at the centre, Desi Wilkinson organized his friends Mairtín O'Connor, Frank Hall, and Lena Ullman to creatively explore the convergences and divergences of traditional dance music and song of Ireland and America. The group met time and again several times throughout the first year before beginning this recording project. In the winter of 2009-10, Buffalo in the Castle toured Ireland and launched their CD to enthusiastic public acclaim. THE REAL THING 'It’s difficult to define ‘the real thing’ or ‘the thing itself’ when it comes to traditional music, but every real traditional musician and aficionado of the music knows what it is when they hear it. It’s got something to do with honesty, with being true to the music without self-indulgence; and it’s often got a lot to do with humour and wit. Those qualities are immediately apparent on this brilliant CD. When I first heard it tears came to my eyes, the kind of tears that come when you hear something beautiful, true and joyful. You could feel and share the musicians’ joy at their immersion in the tunes. I’ve been playing it over and over since then, taking renewed pleasure in the strength of the playing and singing, from beautifully understated details to passages of glorious togetherness. It’s a commonplace observation that the music of Appalachia is descended from Irish and Scottish antecedents, and several attempts have been made to bring the two together in a contemporary fashion. None of them succeeds like this one. For one thing, the American music represented here is not bluegrass, but old-timey, which is indeed close in spirit and approach to old-time Irish music. The musicians here play both, not as outsiders, but from the inside out. They do it for fun, for the love of the music, and not as an ersatz exercise of Paddy meets hillbilly. It’s the real thing. Listen to it and be happy'. Ciaran Carson 2009 The artists: Desi Wilkinson is one of the leading exponents of the traditional Irish flute ("the timber flute")and a fine singer. Desi has recorded 5 albums with Cran, his primary musical group, and 2 solo albums as well. Originally from Belfast, Desi has worked and toured with most of the best-known musicians and groups on the traditional Irish music scene, like De Dannan, Donal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, Mairtin O'Connor and Andy Irvine. He has toured the U.S.A. as guest star with De Dannan and has arranged and performed music for the theatre. From 1992 - 1994 he lived in Brittany, learning, playing and studying Breton music and dance. Desi is also a published academic, he speaks French fluently and has worked full time as a lecturer at ICMuS, Newcastle University UK (2005-2015). He recently completed a one year post as Traditional musician in residence at University College Cork. Lena Ullman was introduced to the five-string banjo and American old-time music as a teenager in Sweden. Living in Ireland since the late-70's, she played clawhammer style with The Higglers, an old-time stringband which performed throughout Ireland and Europe. Later she applied the clawhammer banjo style to traditional Irish music and began to compose original music on the instrument. She now sings and plays in Moonshine, with Frank Hall and Johnny Moynihan. She is currently producing a CD of her original music. Mairtin O'Connor began playing the accordion at the age of nine, and his remarkable career has seen him as a member of many of traditional music's leading groups including, Midnight Well, De Dannan, The Boys of the Lough, and Skylark. Mairtin's infectious and irresistible style and constantly growing status has kept him very busy also as a session musician on recordings by many national and international musicians such as Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, Mark Knofler, Tanita Tikaram, Townes Van Zandt, Chieftains, the Dubliners, Davy Spillane, Maire Brennan, the Waterboys... in 1995 Mairtin became the first recipient of the Allied Irish Banks, Traditional Musician of the Year. Frank Hall, from Indiana learned to play old-time fiddle for square dancing in his home town, Bloomington. Branching out into performing bands, he has played with The Indiana Raincrows, Easy Street Stringband, Rhythm in Shoes, and The Monks. He has recorded five albums, including one with Moonshine, based in Ireland. Also a published academic his career has included American forms of step-dancing, square dance calling, as well as a study of competitive Irish dancing. He currently resides in Kinvara, Co. Galway. see www.buffalocastle.com for more detail