Kieran Wade is a Dublin-born singer/ songwriter and musician who has spent most of his life immersed in the world of Irish traditional music. He first started playing Irish music in a group while at college in Manchester and played mainly in folk clubs around the Lancashire area. His musical development continued when he moved to Canada, at the beginning playing the banjo in traditional sessions and moving on to play at many of the folk festivals that are a big feature of summer life in Canada and the U.S. He was a founder member of the Inishowen céilí band and the band’s many appearances over the years at céilís, clubs, sessions and festivals helped hone his skills on the tenor banjo. In the mid ‘80’s Kieran also joined Tip Splinter, at the time one of Canada’s foremost Irish/ Canadian traditional bands. Tip were initially started out as an off-shoot of the Toronto Irish Players theatre group, and played a mix of both Irish and Canadian folk material, along with some original stuff from members of the band. It was after joining Tip Splinter that Kieran’s singing and song writing skills started to develop and over the course of 4 albums recorded with Tip, some of his songs became an established part of the band’s repertoire. Since returning to Ireland in the early 90’s, family commitments have kept gigging to a minimum but he still plays at traditional music sessions in Dublin and has had musical tours to China and the Czech Republic with Brú Ború. Some of his songs have been recorded by various artists in Ireland and Canada, most recently by Sean Keane on his latest CD “The Irish Scattering” In the meantime, Kieran’s album of original material titled “Across the Western Ocean” is now available on CD and includes 3 tracks which were first recorded with Tip Splinter.