Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham
- Genre
- Celtic | Traditional
- Country
- Scotland
biography
Aly Bain is the best known and most significant fiddle player in the celtic tradition. He is rightly regarded as Scotland's supreme fiddler- arguably the finest of all time. As a founder member of Boys of the Lough, Aly has toured extensively in America, Europe and the UK. In 1994 Aly was awarded an M.B.E. in recognition of his services to music and was further honoured in 1999, receiving the degree of Doctor of Music from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
Phil Cunningham is a world famous accordion player and composer. At sixteen he joined his brother John in the highly acclaimed band Silly Wizard. He was nominated in June 1996 in The Scotsman as one of Scotland's most influential people. In recent years Phil's work load has included numerous commissions for TV and film and an increasing amount of work as musical director for television and large theatrical events. His Highlands and Islands Suite and other collaborations have been a highlight of Celtic Connections in Glasgow. In 2002 Phil received an M.B.E. for his contribution to Scottish music. Aly and Phil have been touring together since 1988 to packed concert halls. They recorded their first album The Pearl in 1994. In January 1999 they left for the United States where they spent a year touring coast to coast. This was their second tour as a duo and it proved an outstanding success. They were guests on Prairie Home Companion the internationally acclaimed radio show hosted byGarrison Keiller, which has over 2 million listeners. Since then they have toured extensively in Spain, Scotland and a host of festivals in Europe.
Watch out for Aly Bain in the Trans Atlantic Series on BBC4 at the end of September and Phil Cunningham in the 8 hour series on Scottish Music on BBC4 in October.
In February 2005 they won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 'BEST DUO' Award.
"We started playing music together after having great fun recording one of Aly's early TV shows. Public response to these sessions was such that we decided to tour together and so our partnership was born. The annual tour has grown and has become something of an institution with the concerts selling out faster each year.
forthcoming dates
| date | venue/website link | venue phone no |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Apr '11 | LICHFIELD Guildhall, Bore Street, WS13 6LU | 01543 262223 |
| 13 Apr '11 | STAMFORD Arts Centre, 27 St Mary's Street, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 2DL | 01780 763203 |
| 17 Apr '11 | HITCHIN Folk Club, The Sun Inn, Sun Street, | 01462 436411 |
| 18 Apr '11 | NETTLEBED Folk Song Club, The Village Club, High Street, Nettlebed, Oxon, RG9 5DD | 01628 636620 |