Since the beginning of their existence in 1987 Carrantuohill has been playing traditional Celtic – Irish and Scottish – music. Their developing repertoire enriches the beauty of Celtic roots with the unique climate of Slavic spirit, using instruments like violin, accordion, bouzouki, bodhran, flutes, tin whistles, uilleann pipes, zither and acoustic guitar. In order to emphasise the group’s sound we often add drums, keyboard and bass.
They have given a few hundred concerts home and abroad: Moscow Tour 94, Rose of Tralee – Hannover 94 Halloween Tour 94, Picnic Country in Mragowo92 and94 and all of the Polish editions of Woodstock. Carrantuohill has been awarded with Złoty Baczek for “bringing the house down” during Polish Woodstock in 1998. In June’97, we played together with the Scottish group The Battlefield Band during their concert tour in Poland. Carrantuohill had also organized concerts for, and performed with Sounds Family, Deaf Shepherd, Midnight Court and Geraldine McGowan.
Carrantuohill also shared the stage with the master of uilleann pipes – Liam O’Flynn and a top guitarist Arty McGlynn during the prestigious Poet’s Meeting in Kraków. Also, as the only group representing Poland, CARRANTUOHILL played at the Euro Woodstock in Budapest in 1995. In the summer 1994, the band went to Ireland to take part in the South Sligo Summer School in Tubbercury. The music workshops as well as the hot pub-sessions with Irish musicians proved to be very beneficial.
Carrantuohill paid further visits to Ireland in May 1997 and September 1999, where we took some shots of the country for TVP2 in cooperation with Jurek Owsiak’s film crew. At that time the group performed at Cork Folk Festival – one of the most renowned Irish festivals where we shared the stage with the legend of the Irish accordion Jackie Daly. That’s where the first video clips for Carrantuohill were produced. In April 1998, we visited the US on a special invitation of Claremont McKenna College in California, providing musical background for the ‘Czesław Miłosz International Festival.’
The original sound and special atmosphere of Carrantuohill`s music draws in audience of all ages. Dance music from the “Green Island” is well received by the public of both the concert halls and the pubs. It is also warmly welcomed in the outdoor music scene. Seamus Heaney himself (Irish poet and a Nobel Prize winner in 1995) stated that the concert the group gave during his meeting with readers in “Znak” Publishing House in Cracow, allowed him to “move to the Green Island with no necessity of travelling…” So we offer you the opportunity to discover Celtic music and Irish traditions with “no necessity of travelling.”
