Josephine Marsh is an Irish traditional composer as well as playing the accordion, fiddle, concertina, whistle, mandolin, guitar and banjo.

Biography

Josephine Marsh was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1967 but has lived in

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

since she was four. Her family returned to the area in 1971. She works as a full-time musician and teacher. Marsh has recorded several albums herself and her compositions have been recorded by artists including Mick McGoldrick and John McSherry, Padraig Rynne, Liadain and The London Lassies. She began taking classes when she was 10 before playing with a local music group. From there Marsh began to compete in the Gael Linn youth festival Slogadh, the Fleadh Ceoil and the Oireachtas. Marsh moved to

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

in 1996 and worked as a music teacher and touring musician. She performed at the National Folk Festival in Canberra, Port Fairy Festival and Geelong Folk Festival. Later she toured the US, Europe, the UK and Ireland. Marsh has performed a wide number of Irish musicians including Tommy Keane, Lillis Ó Laoire,

Liz Doherty Liz Doherty is an Irish fiddler based in County Donegal who also recorded and toured with both '' Nomos'' and '' The Bumblebees'' as well as alone. Biography Liz Doherty was born in Buncrana, County Donegal, Ireland in 1970, the oldest daughte ...

Kitty Hayes Kitty Smith Hayes (1928 – 17 May 2008) was a well-known concertina-player in Shanaway, Milltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland. Hayes was born in the townland of Fahanlunaghta, close to Lahinch. She was the daughter of Peter Smith, a locally wel ...

, and Mick Kinsella. In 2003, Marsh composed all the music for ''The Music of Ghosts'', part of the Musician in Residence role in

Mountshannon Mountshannon (, historically anglicised as ''Ballybolan'') is a village in east County Clare, Ireland. It is part of the Catholic parish Mountshannon-Whitegate. The village is on the western shore of Lough Derg, north of Killaloe. Mountshannon ...

, County Clare. The production was recorded and aired on Lyric Fm. She has appeared on a number of Irish television programmes including

The Pat Kenny Show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' is a televised talk show broadcast on Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in the mid-1980s. Overview Created to fill the vacant Saturday night slot after the departure of Gay Byrne's '' The Late Late Show'' from Saturday ...

, Nationwide and

Geantraí ''Geantraí'' () is an Irish television programme, presenting Irish traditional music. The name derives from ''Geantraí'', one of the three types of Irish music enumerated in the "three noble strains"; ''geantraí'' (joy music), ''suantraí'' ...

. She regularly tours Ireland. Marsh has been a tutor at the Willie Clancy Summer School. She got Arts Council funding which allowed her to focus on her compositions. In 2020 she was awarded TG4 Composer of the year.

Albums

* To meet a friend with Cyril O’Donoghue (1987) * Josephine Marsh (1996) * I Can Hear you Smiling (2001) * Music in the Frame (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Josephine 1967 births Living people Musicians from County Clare Irish women folk musicians 20th-century Irish folk musicians 21st-century Irish folk musicians 20th-century Irish women musicians 21st-century Irish women musicians 20th-century Irish accordionists 20th-century Irish fiddlers 20th-century Irish guitarists 21st-century Irish accordionists 21st-century Irish fiddlers 21st-century Irish guitarists Irish expatriates in Australia Irish women guitarists