Dermot Byrne

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Dermot Byrne (www.dermotandflo.com) hails from Buncrana, the most northerly part of Co. Donegal, Ireland, where he had the good fortune to meet all the greats of Donegal music, including Johnny Doherty, Con Cassidy, Tommy Peoples, Danny Meehan and more. Dermot went on to develop a unique style of his own. His seemingly effortless playing, combined with great subtlety and a faultless ear, makes him one of the great accordion players of his generation. In addition to his mastery of the Donegal style and repertoire, Dermot can turn with ease to other styles and traditions such as French musette, or South American choro music. He guested on two Altan recordings ”The Red Crow” and ”Island Angel” before joining the band in 1994. Dermot has collaborated with many great musicians including Seamus and Manus McGuire, Sharon Shannon, Frankie Gavin, Pierre Schryer, Tim O’Brien and the late jazz violinist, Stephane  Grappelli. His eponymous solo recording has received great critical acclaim, as did “2 Worlds United” album which Dermot recorded with Canadian fiddler Pierre Schryer. In 2012 Dermot was selected as the recipient of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Traditional Musician of the year.

To quote Siobhan Long in the Irish Times, “Dermot Byrne is a musician who has long skirted the limelight: revered for his virtuosity on the accordion and melodeon, he has enjoyed two decades at the beating heart of Altan. In-between he has found time to collaborate with Parisian harpist Floriane Blancke with Brendan O’Regan, Brid Harper and Steve Cooney, Dezi Donnelly and Jim Murray. Clearly not a man to be tethered by musical boundaries, Byrne has had great fun learning some rock’n’roll and salsa while guesting on tours with two great bands, the Stunning and Salsa Celtica”.