The Kane Sisters with John Blake
From North Connemara, Liz and Yvonne Kane, known as The Kane Sisters, are much respected musicians. Born in Letterfrack, they were taught music by the great Sligo musician and music teacher, Mary Finn and by their grandfather, local fiddle player, Jimmy Mullen.
From a young age, they have been very influenced by the traditional music of Sligo and East Galway and in particular, the music of the great fiddle player from East Galway, Paddy Fahey. Paddy is regarded as one of the most important composers of Irish traditional music. He composed approximately 60 tunes, several of which have become standard in the repertoire of traditional musicians and many of which Liz & Yvonne have recorded on their albums.
The Kane Sisters have performed in prestigious venues all over the world, from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Royal Albert Hall in London and have recorded and collaborated with many well known artists from The Chieftains to Cherish the Ladies to Steve Earle. Following two years of extensive touring with Sharon Shannon as part of her band “The Woodchoppers”, they decided to embark musically on their own and recorded their first album in 2002 entitled ‘The Well Tempered Bow’ to critical acclaim. The Kane Sisters toured Ireland and the United States following the release of their first album and they followed up with a second album ‘Under the Diamond’ in 2004 and third album in 2010 called ‘Side by Side’. In 2022 they released their fourth album ‘In Memory of Paddy Fahey’ featuring 15 of his compositions as well as newly written tunes from both Liz and Yvonne. Based in Letterfrack they have a full teaching schedule and a large number of fiddle students both locally and virtually.
John Blake is a traditional Irish flute player, guitarist and pianist. An ex member of traditional group Teada, John has performed and recorded with the cream of Irish musicians including, John Carty, Paddy Glackin, Noel Hill, Liam O’Flynn, Jesse Smith, Harry Bradley, Colm Gannon, The Kane Sisters and James Kelly. Brought up in London, John was immersed in the vibrant Irish music scene at the time, and was tutored by famed teacher Brendan Mulkere. He moved to Ireland in 1998 and developed a reputation as an accompanist of note, racking up several album credits.
He joined traditional band ‘Teada‘ in 2001 and toured with them for 3 years recording 2 albums with them. John released his debut solo album ‘The Narrow Edge‘ in December 2013, and continues to record, produce and play on many albums of note including the recent release ‘The Truckley Howl’ along with his wife Mairead Hurley and Wisconsin native Nathan Gourley. John is also a former board member of the Irish Traditional Music Archive and former member of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil panel.
