Munnelly at Legion Arts

Munnelly

Noted for their award-winning precision and for "bringing new energy to Irish traditional music," the David Munnelly Band has been making waves on both sides of the Atlantic with their exuberant style of playing, said to evoke the Golden Age of Irish music of the 1920's & '30's.

Led by multi-award winning button accordion virtuoso and composer David Munnelly, who toured with The Chieftains from the ages of 21 to 25, Munnelly has been delighting audiences across America & Europe, performing at festivals & concert halls, including The Kennedy Center, where families danced in the aisles to the band’s exhilarating music.

The band’s unique West Mayo style of playing — a wilder, freer style of traditional Irish music — evokes the rugged natural beauty of that country's West Coast.

The band's namesake is joined by musicians from Mayo, Dublin, Donegal, and Tyrone Counties, combining fiddle, guitar, mandolin, banjo, piano, bodhrán and flute for a high-spirited instrumental sound colored with a bit of jazz and ragtime. The singing of All-Ireland champion Shauna Mullin and the percussive dancing of American Nic Gareiss only add to the celebration.

Munnelly's first album, Swing, was released in 2002 and is based in part on the music and feel of the American Irish Dance Halls of the Roaring '20s, when Ireland's best musicians immigrated to America and were influenced by the cross-cultural musical melting pot that reigned at the time, including such elements as early jazz, swing, klezmer and Acadian.

David's second CD, By Heck, was released in 2004 to critical and popular acclaim in Ireland, Europe and Japan. North American release followed in 2005.

Munnelly was named Irish Composer of the Year in both 2004 and 2005. In 2006 and 2007, the Munnelly band was awarded Concert of the Year honors by Live Ireland.

Mon Sept 22 | 7 pm
Greene Square Park | Cedar Rapids
Free admission | Donations welcome

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