ANDY IRVINE & QUILTY

The Swedish band Quilty is a highly renowned interpreter of traditional Irish music and considered being the foremost band of the Irish folkmusic scene in Scandinavia. The band was formed in 1993 and has over the last three decades performed a huge number of concerts in Sweden, Germany and Norway and created a wide range of collaboration projects with choirs and symphony orchestras. They have joined together with the legendary Irish musician Andy Irvine , formerly of Planxty, Patrick Street, and more, to form an Irish – Swedish collaboration, playing top Irish music and song with a hint of Swedish traditional music. A winning combination. In 2018 Quilty celebrated their 25 th anniversary with an extensive tour of Sweden and Germany inviting the audience to a nostalgic journey along their musical memory lane – "The Best of Quilty." The set list for the anniversary was formed after an enthusiastic response to a Facebook campaign where the audience had voted on their favourite songs. In 2020 Quilty was nominated Band of the Year at the national Folk & World Music Gala event. Since 2020 Quilty has been touring with the program Out on the Ocean – sea shanties, emigration songs, love ballads and songs about epic adventures at sea in a salty and tar scented concert program combining Irish and Scottish songs with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop. Andy Irvine is one of the great Irish singers, his voice one of a handful of truly great ones that gets to the very soul of Ireland. He has been hailed as "a tradition in himself." Musician, singer and songwriter, Andy has maintained his highly individual performing skills throughout his over 55-year career. From Sweeney's Men in the mid 60s, to the enormous success of Planxty in the 70s, his duo with Paul Brady in the later 70s and then from Patrick Street to Mozaik , LAPD and Usher's Island , Andy has been a world music pioneer and an icon for traditional music and musicians. As a soloist, Andy fills the role of the archetypal troubadour with a show and a travelling lifestyle that reflect his lifelong influence, Woody Guthrie . To quote The Irish Times, "Often copied, never equalled", his repertoire consists of Irish traditional songs, dexterous Balkan dances and a compelling canon of his own self-penned songs.