Andy Irvine & Quilty

Andy Irvine & Quilty

Biography

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 25th 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.

Andy Irvine first made his mark with the seminal band – “Sweeney’s Men” in 1966 but after two years he left and travelled ‘way out yonder’ by ‘the sunburnt thumb’ to Bulgaria, Romania and Yugoslavia, earning his living as a street musician and absorbing the musical traditions of the Balkans.
Returning to Ireland in 1970, Andy united with Christy Moore, Dónal Lunny and Liam O’Flynn to form Planxty, fanning the flames of Irish traditional music well into the next and future generations. Planxty broke up – for the first time – in late 1975 and Andy performed and recorded with Paul Brady, making the classic album “Andy Irvine & Paul Brady” in 1976. He also worked and recorded brieefly with De Dannan before re-uniting with Planxty in 1979 until it’s second break up in 1983.

Andy received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards in 2018.

Ever the man for new pastures, Andy has played concerts all over Europe and has toured many times in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. He was also undertaken extensive tours of Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Japan, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Argentina and Chile.
Although an integral part of the finest Irish bands of our time, Andy Irvine continues along the path he set for himself so long ago – a vibrant career as a solo artist in the old style, a teller of tales and maker of music.

In 2023 Quilty invited Andy Irvine to join the band on a tour of Sweden celebrating Quilty’s 30th anniversary. The highly acclaimed mutual tour was a great success with 13 concerts at sold out venues and sparked the idea for future collaborations with Andy Irvine. Extending the musical palette Quilty and Andy Irvine now offer a mutual concert program consisting of both Irish and Swedish traditional music – adding a new facet to the world music influences that have been Andy Irvine’s trade mark since early 70th.

Musicians Quilty:

Dag Westling – guitar, vocal, 5-string banjo, tin whistle

Gideon Andersson – bouzouki, mandolin, bodhrán, vocal

Esbjörn Hazelius – fiddle, guitar, vocal

Staffan Lindfors – double bass

With

Andy Irvine – bouzouki, mandola, vocals

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Seantí, The Seantí, Kilmacow, Ireland