Seán Smyth is an Irish musician from

Strade Straide (), or Strade, is a village in County Mayo, Ireland. It is located on the N58 national secondary road between Foxford and Castlebar. The name Strade is an anglicisation of the Irish words ''an tsráid'', meaning ''the street''. Str ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, where he is a national champion, having won senior titles on both

Irish fiddle The fiddle is one of the most important instruments in the traditional repertoire of Irish traditional music. The fiddle itself is identical to the violin, however it is played differently in widely varying regional styles. In the era of sound re ...

and

tin whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

. He is perhaps best-known, however, for his years spent recording and performing with the band

Lúnasa Lughnasadh, Lughnasa or Lúnasa ( , ) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Traditionally, it is held on 1 August, or about hal ...

, along with

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

/ whistler Kevin Crawford, uilleann piper/whistler

Cillian Vallely Cillian Vallely is an Irish musician, born in Armagh, Northern Ireland. He plays traditional Irish music on the uilleann pipes and low whistle, and studied at the Armagh Pipers Club with his mother and father, Brian and Eithne, and then with ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Donogh Hennessy and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Trevor Hutchinson.

Early life

Sean Smyth was born in Strade, Co. Mayo, not far from

Foxford Foxford () is a town 16 km south of Ballina, County Mayo, Ballina in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It stands on the N26 road, N26 roads in Ireland, national primary route from Swinford to Ballina and has Foxford railway station ...

, the hometown of Irish republican

Michael Davitt Michael Davitt (25 March 1846 – 30 May 1906) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican activist for a variety of causes, especially Home Rule (Ireland), Home Rule and land reform. Following an eviction when he was four years old, Davitt's ...

. His sisters, Cora and Breda Smyth, are also famed fiddle players, with the latter also playing the tin whistle, as well. His sister Cora is perhaps best-known for performing alongside Máiread Nesbitt in

Michael Flatley Michael Ryan Flatley (born July 16, 1958) is an American former professional performer and choreographer of Irish dance. Flatley is credited with reinventing traditional Irish dance by incorporating new rhythms, syncopation, and upper body movem ...

's original '' Lord of the Dance'' and '' Feet of Flames'' stage shows during the late 1990s-early 2000s. Prior to Lúnasa fame, Smyth was awarded as an All-Ireland senior champion on both whistle and fiddle, at a young age. His first solo album, ''The Blue Fiddle'', was released in 1993, and was subsequently named one of the "ten best albums of the year" by the ''

Irish Echo ''The Irish Echo'' is a weekly Irish-American newspaper based in Manhattan in the United States. In 2007, Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, Irish businessman and publisher of the '' Andersonstown News'', purchased the paper. Founded in 1928, it bills i ...

''.

Career

After the release of his solo debut,"Lúnasa makes U.S. debut"
''Irish Echo'' Online - Arts Smyth toured in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

and Europe in support of the album, accompanied by Donogh Hennessey, Trevor Hutchinson, flute player

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 McG ...

, and uilleann piper John McSherry. The group also toured in Australia in early 1997."Lúnasa The Merry Sisters of Fate"
''The Irish Music Review'', by Geoff Wallis, reprinted from FRoots Magazine. The five musicians eventually formed the Irish traditional music group Lúnasa in 1997, prior to Kevin Crawford replacing McGoldrick on woodwinds and McSherry being replaced by Cillian Vallely on pipes. Lúnasa spent two decades touring internationally and recording a number of albums."Lúnasa brings traditional Irish tunes to Cumberland"
Susan McDonald / ''Providence Journal'', Feb 23, 2017 Other recordings on which Smyth appears include the compilation album ''Ceol Tigh Neachtain'' (1989), ''Music at

Matt Molloy Matt Molloy (born 12 January 1947) is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at nineteen. Considered one of the most brilliant ...

's'' (1992),

Brendan O'Regan Brendan O'Regan CBE (1917–2008) was an Irish businessman responsible for developing Shannon Airport, inventing the concept of the duty-free shop and transforming the Shannon Region of Ireland. He was involved in promoting peace in Northern Ir ...

's ''A Wind of Change'' (1992), Alan Kelly's ''Out of the Blue'' (1997) and ''Mosaic'' (1999), and

Dónal Lunny Dónal Lunny (born 10 March 1947) is an Irish folk musician and producer. He plays guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozaik, LAPD ...

's ''Coolfin'' (1998).

References

External links

Lúnasa Homepage
Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Irish male fiddlers Lúnasa (band) members 21st-century Irish fiddlers People from Strade Musicians from County Mayo 21st-century Irish male musicians 20th-century Irish male musicians 20th-century Irish fiddlers {{Ireland-musician-stub