Dezi Donnelly and Jim Murray

Recorded on the 8th September 2008 at The Boogaloo Archway Road,London.Part of Sharon Shannon and guests. http://www.myspace.com/dezidonnelly Dezi Donnelly the sibling of a Manchester fiddler dynasty is both All Britain and All Ireland Champion, a title truely deserved for his brilliant jigs and reels. Having played the fiddle since the age of 7, Dezi was North West and All Britain fiddle champion by the age of 9, and by the age of 15, he had won the All Ireland championship an astounding 5 times! Dezi joined legendary Manchester-Irish band, Toss The Feathers, whilst still in his teens. Between 1988-91 and 1994-95 he appeared on the brilliant "Columbus Eclipse" and "Awakenings" albums. In 1989,Dezi recorded some tracks with Mancunian flutist Michael McGoldrick. Mike's flute and Dezi's fiddle gently spar on most of the tracks, however each take the lead when required and the arrangements allow them to swap leads within sets to great effect. The tracks were later released on the album, "Champions Of The North", and Dezi also featured on Mike's amazing "Fused" album. On the critically-acclaimed 1995 album, "Welcome", Dezi duos with guitarist Skirm and they compliment each others' playing superbly. 1997 saw Dezi become runner-up in the BBC award "Young Traditional Musician Of The Year", a title previously held by Michael McGoldrick. He is no pure traditionalist however. He is the unpredictable wonderboy of fiddle improvisation. In 1998, he won the "All Ireland Young Traditional Musician Of The Year". The "All Ireland" award created a very productive period for Dezi. He was invited to join Irish traditionalists, Stockton's Wing in May '99 and by July he had released his debut solo album. "Familiar Footsteps" which has been recognised as one of the greatest traditional fiddle albums of all time and has won rave reviews. Jim Murray from Macroom in West Cork, is a former pupil of Steve Cooney. He has performed with Seamus Begley and like his partner, Jim plays with a passion and rhythmic intensity that has to be heard to be believed. His use of nylon strings, fairly unusual in Irish music, gives a very percussive sound to his guitar. Using nylon as opposed to steel also allows him to create a more mellow sound on the slower, lyrical tunes.Jim is versatile both as a fingerstyle and hard-strumming accompanist.In 2001, their album, Ragairne (Revelling at Night), won the Hot Press Magazine award for Folk and Traditional Album of the Year. Jim has recoded with Sharon Shannon, accordion; Frankie Gavin, fiddle; Michael McGoldrick, flute, and appears on Sharon Shannon's ' renegade ' , her first studio album since 2003