Daoirí Farrell performs Pavilion Arts Centre Wednesday 22 March 7.30pm

Daoirí Farrell performs Pavilion Arts Centre    Wednesday 22 March 7.30pm

Daoirí Farrell performs Pavilion Arts Centre    Wednesday 22 March 7.30pm

Dublin singer and bouzouki player Daoirí Farrell receives three nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2017

Announced by Mark Radcliffe live on BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show (7.00pm GMT on Weds 8th Feb), Ireland’s Daoirí Farrell has secured three nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards to be held at The Royal Albert Hall in London on 5th April 2017.  Daoirí receives nominations for:

The Best Singer Award

The Horizon Award

The Best Traditional Track Award

(for ‘Van Diemen’s Land’ from his album ‘True Born Irishman’)

Described by Dónal Lunny as ‘One of the most important traditional singers to emerge in the last decade’, Daoirí Farrell is a former electrician, who decided to change profession after seeing Christy Moore perform on Irish TV’s Late Late Show. 

Daoirí had cut his teeth as a singer in Dublin’s famous Góilin Singers Club, where he was spotted early on by Christy Moore, and at other sessions across the city, many of which he still visits.  Following his studies he quickly found work accompanying artists including Christy Moore himself, as well as a list of names that sounds like a who’s who of folk music: Dónal Lunny, Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Alan Doherty, Danú, Dervish, Julie Fowlis, Arty McGlynn, The John Carty Big Band, Kíla, Sean Keane, Gerry O’Connor (Banjo), Gerry O’Connor (Fiddle), Lynched and more.  In 2013 he won the All Ireland Champion Singer award at the Fleadh in Co. Derry, and in 2015 won the prestigious Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections in Glasgow with the line-up FourWinds.

He launched his live solo career at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections in January 2016 and hasn’t looked back since.  Festival dates and two tours of the UK in 2016 will be followed in 2017 by more UK touring, including dates with Northern Ireland’s Damien O’Kane, plus festivals in the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Canada and Australia at Australia’s National Folk Festival.

Now in its 18th year the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate the stars of folk, roots and acoustic music and their achievements in the previous year.  Past winners have included Tom Paxton, Cat Stevens, Don McLean and The Dubliners and the awards have notably spotted young talents who have gone on to dominate the genre through the Horizon Award for the year’s best newcomer, for which Daoirí is nominated in 2017, with past winners including Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, Jim Moray, Spiers & Boden and Cara Dillon.

What the press have said about Daoirí Farrell’s album True Born Irishman (released Oct. 2016):

‘Put his ferocious and dramatic version of Van Diemen’s Land against the pitiful U2 Rattle And Hum rendition and the depth and intensity of Farrell’s art is clear.  Bold and Undeniable.’ **** Daily Mirror

‘The creamy forthrightness of Paul Brady, the occasional guile and nuance of Andy Irvine and the attitude and approach to material, perhaps, of Christy Moore.  Not a bad trio of names to throw into a barrel of comparisons but the signs are all there that this is a guy with the conviction and wherewithal to justify them and take the re-birth of authentic Irish song-making several leagues forward..’  fRoots

‘It’s not hard to understand why the mighty Donal Lunny has championed him…An album that could yet prove to be one of the most significant Irish releases of recent years.’ **** Songlines

‘Farrell has created quite a buzz in Ireland…it’s easy to hear why.  His powerfully unadorned vocals might be from any era, variously recalling Paul Brady and Andy Irvine…it’s a powerful statement.’ **** Mojo

For live performance video click here (currently at over 185,000 hits)

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