Tamalin is a family-based band from west

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Northern Ireland, who originally began playing

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

in the early 1980s under the name The McSherrys. Toward the end of the 1980s they were joined by long term friend Kevin Dorris on

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

and subsequently changed the name of the group to Tamalin. In the early 1990s the band became close friends with legendary drummer and percussionist

Dave Early Dave Early (5 April 1957 – 14 October 1996) was an English drummer and percussionist. He was best known as the original drummer for Sade. He also worked with Chris Rea, Van Morrison, The Chieftains, Mary Black, Ananta, and others. Later he mov ...

who had settled in Belfast and was playing with

Mary Black Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland. Background Mary Black was born into a m ...

. When not touring with Mary, Dave worked closely with Tamalin playing concerts and experimenting in the studio. An album was shaping and in July 1997 ''Rhythm and Rhyme'' was released on the Grapevine label. In October 1996 Dave Early died in a car accident outside

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and never saw the release of the band's debut album. John McSherry had a parallel career for many years, being a member of

Donal Lunny Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

's Coolfin as well as co-founding the band

Lúnasa Lughnasadh or Lughnasa ( , ) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In Modern Irish it is called , in gd, Lùnastal, and in gv, ...

along with

Michael McGoldrick Michael McGoldrick (born 26 November 1971, in Manchester, England) is a folk musician who plays Irish flute, uilleann pipes, low whistle and bodhran. He also plays other instruments such as acoustic guitar, cittern, and mandolin. Bands McGo ...

. In 2016 The McSherrys featured in Season 2 (episode 6) of the TG4 series ‘Ceol an Chlann’The Clare Herald (Feb. 2016)
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Members

* Tiona McSherry: flute, vocals *

John McSherry John Patrick McSherry (September 11, 1944April 1, 1996) was an American umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1971 until his death. McSherry wore uniform number 9 when he entered the National League, then wore num ...

Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from thei ...

, whistles * Joanne McSherry: fiddle * Paul McSherry: guitar * Kevin Dorris:

Discography

* 5th St Patricks day Celebration (1994) * Rhythm and Rhyme (1997)

Compilations

*Now and in time to be (1997) *The meeting of the waters:

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

(1997) *Intuition (1997) *Forever Celtic (1997) *Celtic Heartbeat (1999) *Celtic Waves (2002)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamalin (Band) Folk music groups from Northern Ireland Musical groups from Belfast