Concert from Lúnasa set to be a highlight of Galway Sessions

The fantastic Lúnasa return to the Róisín Dubh this Saturday, June 18, as part of the Galway Sessions Festival.

Lúnasa formed in 1997 and, from the outset, aimed to stand apart from other traditional bands by having no vocalist. Instead, they focused on the purity and energy of the tunes.

“We had to work very hard to make the whole concept interesting,” says Seán Smyth, who plays the fiddle and low whistle.

“I grew up playing those tunes, from my father and grandfather. I wanted to play the music I was in love with. That was tunes that were played at the sessions in Galway and up with my father in Mayo.”

Seán is joined in Lúnasa by Kevin Crawford (flutes, low and tin whistles), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass), Ed Boyd (guitar) and Cillian Vallely (uilleann pipes and low whistles).

Lúnasa released a collaboration with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in 2013. Was it difficult to adapt freewheeling trad to an orchestral arrangement?

“I think that was a natural evolution,” Seán says.

“One of the guys who arranged traditional music happened a long time before us – Seán Ó Riada. He was the one who really started that. Then you had the likes of the Chieftains who came along after, an arranged set-up and a concert format.”

Lúnasa are all about making make dynamic and exciting music and intend to continue doing that as they mark their 20th year together in 2017.