Na Dorsa

Traditional Irish folk band Na Dorsa is composed of a half dozen long-term friends who sometimes performed together in Galway before joining forces officially as a group in 2000. The name of the band is derived from a town in South Armagh called Dorsey or, as the locals call it in their native tongue, Dorsa, which translates as the gateway. The town acted as a gateway to a defensive stronghold of the region during the Bronze Age.



Members are vocalist Margaret Cunningham, flutist Desy Adams, bouzouki player and guitarist Paul Meehan, accordion player Martin Quinn, low whistle player and uilleann piper Tiarnan O Duinnchin, and fiddler Paul Bradley. The Wild Music of Gael, or O Ceol Caithreimeach na Gael, the group's debut recording, was released independently. Their playing is crisp, and the music, derived mainly from the north, can be described as virile, powerful, and energetic. Cunningham relays traditional material from the Donegal area in Gaelic, while she sings other numbers in English.

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