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Cran comprise some of the greatest names in Irish traditional music: Desi Wilkinson (flutes and vocals) is one of the leading exponents of the traditional Irish flute, both at home and abroad; Seán Corcoran (lead vocals and bouzouki) is known internationally as one of the leading singers in the Hiberno-English and Gaelic traditions and also as a researcher and teacher; Ronan Browne (uilleann pipes, flutes and vocals), the piper in the original recording of Riverdance, is widely regarded as one of the great virtuosos of the uilleann pipes and has carved out an international reputation both as a concert performer and session musician.
Cran's output since their first epoch-defining 1995 release The Crooked Stair has been a benchmark in Irish traditional song and music. A three-piece with a huge sound that has filled vast halls like the Circus Krone in Munich they can also create an atmosphere as intimate as an Irish fireside. The Rough Guide To Irish Music says of them: "Stunning vocal arrangements and immaculate musicianship generate sounds of astonishing depth and unstoppable force."
Cran's concert performances are a dazzling display of technical virtuosity combined with fun and humour, banter and stories. The core of their repertoire is their native Irish material - bubbling dance music or haunting slow airs on flute and pipes, and vocals ranging from the highly-ornamented sean-nós songs of Connemara to the rollicking port a' bhéil or mouthmusic of Donegal. Their Hiberno-English song repertoire (songs from Ireland in English) covers the entire gamut from the old story-telling "long ballads" to lively comic songs of "pure divilment and rascality". They also include material from the related Scots-Gaelic tradition and from the other Atlantic Celts, the Bretons. |
