Sunday 28th May 8pm
Makem & Clancy
Rory Makem and Dónal Clancy carry on the musical legacy, stories and songs of their legendary fathers, Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.
They are justifiably proud of their families’ storied place in Irish music. Both had the opportunity to perform with their famous fathers over the years, and have also forged their own musical paths.
Dónal Clancy is an acclaimed guitarist, singer and performer. He grew up in a household and community steeped in music. He spent his early childhood in Canada and the US before his family settled back in An Rinn, Co.Waterford in 1983.
His father gave him his first guitar at the age of eight and he was playing professionally by his early teens. After returning from a residency in Hong Kong in the mid-nineties, he co-founded the group Danú but left soon after to join a trio with his father, Liam, and cousin, Robbie O’Connell. Their debut tour in 1996 took them across the US, from the Santa Anita Race Track in Los Angeles to Lincoln Center in NY City. They continued to tour together for a couple of more years and recorded two albums before they disbanded in the late nineties.
In 1998, Dónal moved to New York where he became the go-to guitarist for many of the top Irish music acts. He contributed to albums and tours with Riverdance fiddler, Eileen Ivers, and was guest guitarist with The Chieftains on their Tears of Stone Tour in Japan and the US in 1999. From 2000 – 2002 he was a member of the Irish-American super-group Solas and in 2003 he re-joined the group Danú who would go on to become one of the most successful Irish bands today.
He also contributed to the soundtrack of Ric Burns award winning documentary film New York and in 2006 released his debut solo guitar album Close To Home which The Boston Globe dubbed “a sweet masterpiece of melodic grace and riveting groove”.
In 2009, Dónal returned to live in Ireland. After the death of his father (the last remaining member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem) he began to focus his attention on the family repertoire of songs that he grew up with, while keeping the Clancy tradition alive with his solo performances.
Rory Makem is a seasoned performer with over 25 years on the road, and he has toured extensively with The Makem and Spain Brothers. He toured and played guitar with his father, the legendary Tommy Makem for 17 years. He has entertained countless sold-out venues, festivals, and theatres throughout the United States, Canada, England, Scotland and Ireland. At his best on stage, Rory captivates audiences with his skilled musicianship, his charisma and passion for the songs, his extensive knowledge of poetry and history, and his humor.
The love of song runs deep in the family. Continuing a legacy handed down from his grandmother, the seminal folk singer Sarah Makem, Rory pulls the songs of the sailors, the labourers, the lovers, the fighters and the land from the pages of history and breathes life into them. An adept interpreter of folk songs, he masterfully accompanies himself on guitar, banjo, mandolin or bouzouki.
Not limiting himself to the stage, Rory has performed on movie soundtracks including A Fool and His Money, and The Lightkeeper. His compositions can be heard woven into the backdrop for PBS series as diverse as Tommy Tang’s Modern Thai Cuisine to It’s an Age Thing, to Simply Painting.
8pm Ticket: €18/15