Zoé Basha is a musician, composer and carpenter, of French and American origins. Based between Ireland and the traveling life for over a decade, Zoé blends traditional singing with jazz and blues. Her original pieces and traditional songs explore the crossover between the sway of Appalachian mountain songs, the fervour and solemn ornamentation of Irish traditional songs, and the pulse of American ragtime through playful, syncopated guitar and a booming voice reminiscent of some old jazz record you can’t quite put your finger on.
After growing up between the U.S. and France, traveling by thumb, freight trains, and taking the scenic route with rust-bucket vans, she played music in the streets for years to sustain the journey. In a milieu blending feminism, radical politics, queer theory and traditional music, she made her home in Dublin.
In 2023, she was a featured singer at Féile Róise Rua, and a Music Network RESONATE Residency recipient. Following the release of an album with vocal harmony trio Rufous Nightjar in March 2024, Zoé recorded her debut solo album ‘Gamble’ – set for release on April 17th 2025. The album was recorded at Black Mountain Studios in Dundalk, with a band of esteemed musicians adding organ, upright bass, fiddle, dobro and drums, to voice and guitar. It was mixed and mastered by Grammy-award winning engineer Ben Rawlins.
“A deft new voice in folk”— The Guardian (Folk Album of The Month)
“soulfully authentic and fearlessly genre-blending”— Earmilk
“The most striking thing about Zoé Basha’s music might be the way it manipulates its own contradictions: this is both folk music and not folk music, it is jazz but not jazz, but at no point does it feel anything other than itself, gloriously and proudly so” — KLOF
Zoh Amba is a songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist from Tennessee residing in New York. She began her musical journey steeped in the musical traditions of the South and has taken it from coast to coast and is mainly known as a saxophonist who blends avant-garde, noise, and devotional hymns, though has not shied from incorporating folk melodies into that world. Over the past several years Amba has been also been focusing on writing songs on guitar with lyrics that come from the heart and her love of nature and experiences. She has been performing her folk songs primarily in NYC both solo and with her band consisting of Adam Brisben (Buck Meek) also on guitar and Jeremy Gustin (Joan is Police Woman) on drums but also performs solo. Throughout the years Zoh has collaborated with a variety of high profile musicians such Glen Hansard, Tyshawn Sorey, Bill Orcutt, Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Jim White (Dirty Three), etc. Amba has performed at well respected venues and festivals all over the world and has taught workshops and masterclasses at institutions such as New School (NY), Oberlin (OH), and various European festivals.
We are delighted to once again welcome the return of the Acoustic Forum to this the 21st edition of the Clonakilty International Guitar festival!
The Acoustic Forum, hosted by Scoil na mBuachailli in their custom built music auditorium, is an eclectic event which sees a selection of artists from the festival playing in an intimate and informal concert in the round, with each artist staying onstage for the duration.
Guided by guest host Bill Shanley, each performer gives an insight into their craft and performs a short selection to whet the appetite for the weekend ahead.
It’s off the cuff, it’s friendly and it provides the listener with a varied and spontaneous night that never fails to surprise!
This year’s event will include host Bill Shanley & guests Gerry O Beirne (IRL) Zoh Amba (US), Eoin ‘Stan’ O Sullivan, Zoé Bash (US)
In keeping with The Acoustic Forum tradition a portion of the tickets for this event will be available at a reduced rate for the unwaged.
This will be operated on an honour system so please be sound!
HOST:
BILL SHANLEY:
Bill Shanley is an internationally renowned guitarist and producer,
working with esteemed artists such as Ray Davies, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Mary Black and Sinead O’Connor.
Dublin based, Bill is one of Irelands top session and touring guitar players and producers. Bill has established himself internationally too, through touring and contributing to albums with Ray Davies, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Paul Brady, Mary Black, Roy Harper, Alexandra Burke, Sinead O’Connor, Judy Collins, Jackson Browne to name a few.
Being an accompanist has always been of key interest to Bill, enjoying the great scope and limitless backdrop you can create as a player for the artist you’re working with. This skill was commented on in the Financial Times review of a Ray Davies show a the Royal Albert Hall…
“Is there a finer sideman around?
It’s unlikely.” – Financial Times Review, Royal Albert Hall
GERRY O BEIRNE:
Born in Ennis, County Clare, along Ireland’s music-rich west coast, Gerry O’Beirne is a renowned singer, songwriter, record producer and guitarist (6 and 12 string guitar, tiple, and ukulele, slide guitar among others). He grew up in Ireland and in Ghana in West Africa, and has since lived in England, California, and Mexico. He lives now near Dingle in Co Kerry. His own compositions blend the passion found in traditional music with the freshness of contemporary song.
Gerry’s much loved first solo album Half Moon Bay features The Holy Ground, Half Moon Bay, Western Highway and The Shades Of Gloria which have been sung by Maura O’Connell, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Mary Black and many other great singers. His second album The Bog Bodies And Other Stories: Music For Guitar was named CD of the Month on the American radio show Echoes, and one of its essential albums of the year. “Yesterday I Saw The Earth Beautiful”, a duet album with fiddler Rosie Shipley featured his own songs, settings of poems by Paddy Kavanagh and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill along with traditional tunes from Ireland and Cape Breton. On his new album Swimming The Horses Gerry performs a new collection of songs and guitar pieces written in Dingle in West Kerry.
Gerry has toured the world as a solo artist and with the Sharon Shannon Band, Patrick Street, Midnight Well, Andy M. Stewart, Kevin Burke, Andy Irvine, and the Waterboys. He has performed at the White House, opened for the Grateful Dead, played electric guitar with Marianne Faithfull and thought nothing of playing with a Romanian orchestra and choir in a cemetery in Transylvania at night. He has written music for film and theatre and appeared on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Recently he has been working with New York composer Peter Gordon on a recording of the music of the legendary Arthur Russell, and recorded recently with Peter Gordon and Tim Burgess of the Charlatans.
His songs were celebrated in a special concert at Sligo’s Fleadh Cheoil in August 2015 and his song All Down The Day was nominated for song of the year at the Fok Awards 2019.
In 2022 He performed a concert of solo guitar improvisations at Féile na Bealtaine in Dingle.
He has produced albums including Promenade by Kevin Burke and Michael O’Dhomhnaill (winner of the Grand Prix Du Disque at Montreux), Irish Times by Patrick Street, Man in the Moon and Donegal Rain by Andy M. Stewart, The Connaughtman’s Rambles by Martin O’Conner, Up Close by Kevin Burke, Silver Hook Tango by Australian singer-songwriter Kavisha Mazella, albums by Sarah McQuaid, and Lumina by Irish piper, low whistle player, and composer Eoin Duignan. His latest production is So Ends This Day by the great West Kerry singer Éilís Kennedy.
QUOTES:
“Beautiful… Exuberant and lyrical sound… an album so full of melodic warmth that it can barely be contained… one of the most perfect acoustic albums I’ve heard in a while …. a career defining album” — John Diliberto of Echoes about “The Bog Bodies And Other Stories: Music For Guitar”
“ “O’Beirne’s 2000 LP Half Moon Bay is beloved for good reason, and i’d highly recommend giving a listen to his latest effort, Swimming The Horses, which was self-released in May 2019. Even for listeners largely uninterested in Irish folk music, “The Last King Of Feothanach” and the alluring title track are beautifully haunting ballads, and O’Beirne has managed to write perhaps the canonical musical setting of James Joyce in “Golden Hair”.” – Colorado Springs Independent. ” — Colorado Springs Independent
“An intimate amphitheatre where the gracefulness of O’Beirne’s composition finds full expression.” — Irish Times
“The instrumentals are out of this world. A self taught master of the 6 and 12 string guitar, the playing of O’Beirne is superlative and subtle beyond words.” — The Sunday Times
“His works are simple, elegiac and exquisitely worded pen pictures of life’s experiences.” — Rock ‘N’ Reel
“Material comes from Paul Brady, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin and Lennon & McCartney, but the highlight is Gerry O’Beirne’s beautiful ‘Half Moon Bay” — Q Magazine (of Maura O’Connell’s ‘Stories’)
“He should be compulsory listening for any aspiring ambitious guitarist. It’s not just his technical dexterity and brilliance that catches the imagination, it’s the inventive use of arrangements, lyrics and melody.” — The Word
“Intelligent, articulate, insightful musicianship from a real craftsman. Not a wasted word nor an untrue note”— Pay The Reckoning
“A sublime talent….opens new creative vistas for acoustic guitar music” – fRoots
ZOH AMBA:
Zoh Amba is a songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist from Tennessee residing in New York. She began her musical journey steeped in the musical traditions of the South and has taken it from coast to coast and is mainly known as a saxophonist who blends avant-garde, noise, and devotional hymns, though has not shied from incorporating folk melodies into that world. Over the past several years Amba has been also been focusing on writing songs on guitar with lyrics that come from the heart and her love of nature and experiences. She has been performing her folk songs primarily in NYC both solo and with her band consisting of Adam Brisben (Buck Meek) also on guitar and Jeremy Gustin (Joan is Police Woman) on drums but also performs solo. Throughout the years Zoh has collaborated with a variety of high profile musicians such Glen Hansard, Tyshawn Sorey, Bill Orcutt, Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Jim White (Dirty Three), etc. Amba has performed at well respected venues and festivals all over the world and has taught workshops and masterclasses at institutions such as New School (NY), Oberlin (OH), and various European festivals.
EOIN ‘STAN’ O SULLIVAN:
Eoin ‘Stan’ O’Sullivan (The Ceili Allstars, Stanley Super 800) explores the wild edges of Sliabh Luachra fiddle music—armed with an electric guitar.
Irish musicians have long worn their traditional roots with pride, even as they’ve pushed into contemporary sounds—but this is something else. This isn’t the polished innovation of Moving Hearts or the Celtic-glam of Horslips. Stan and Shane sound like they’ve come from a parallel timeline—one where the Public Dance Halls Act of 1935 was never passed, and traditional music naturally rode the same electric wave as rock ’n’ roll, psych, and punk.
The result is raw, rooted, and defiantly off-road—traditional music reimagined on dirty guitar and big drums. There’s a surprising likeness to the Desert Blues of artists like Tinariwen or Mdou Moctar—something the duo leans into proudly. As Stan puts it:
“If Ali Farka Touré played accordion, we might say he sounded like Joe Cooley. I think the resemblance shows the kinship of all folk music—and those parallels become obvious when the tunes are sung in the same language: electric guitar.”
ZOÉ BASHA:
Zoé Basha is a musician, composer and carpenter, of French and American origins. Based between Ireland and the traveling life for over a decade, Zoé blends traditional singing with jazz and blues. Her original pieces and traditional songs explore the crossover between the sway of Appalachian mountain songs, the fervour and solemn ornamentation of Irish traditional songs, and the pulse of American ragtime through playful, syncopated guitar and a booming voice reminiscent of some old jazz record you can’t quite put your finger on.
After growing up between the U.S. and France, traveling by thumb, freight trains, and taking the scenic route with rust-bucket vans, she played music in the streets for years to sustain the journey. In a milieu blending feminism, radical politics, queer theory and traditional music, she made her home in Dublin.
In 2023, she was a featured singer at Féile Róise Rua, and a Music Network RESONATE Residency recipient. Following the release of an album with vocal harmony trio Rufous Nightjar in March 2024, Zoé recorded her debut solo album ‘Gamble’ – set for release on April 17th 2025. The album was recorded at Black Mountain Studios in Dundalk, with a band of esteemed musicians adding organ, upright bass, fiddle, dobro and drums, to voice and guitar. It was mixed and mastered by Grammy-award winning engineer Ben Rawlins.
“A deft new voice in folk”— The Guardian (Folk Album of The Month)
“soulfully authentic and fearlessly genre-blending”— Earmilk
Áine Tyrrell is an inspiring and thought-provoking multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and unmissable live act, she graces stages globally – from Woodford Folk Festival, to Shrewsbury Folk Festival in the UK to Clonakilty International Guitar Festival in Ireland, International Folk Alliance in the USA, and the coveted Splendour in the Grass.
In 2021, the significance of Áine’s impact was underscored when she was chosen to join the Irish President, Michael D Higgins, and his wife Sabine in a tribute celebrating the valour and artistry of Irish women. Áine’s commitment to connecting with her audience is evident. Celebrating 310 Virtual Cuppa Teas (online performances) and fostering a thriving community in Patreon over the last 4 years.
She was rightfully acknowledged as one of the top 10 musical creators by The Australian Newspaper in 2021 and acclaim has followed her from both Australian and Irish radio circuits with notable features on ABC Radio, RTE Radio, Double J Radio, and BBC NI Music. Her chart-topping presence on Ireland’s RTE’s Independent Music Charts speaks volumes about her resonance in the musical landscape.
Beyond being an esteemed performer, Áine was recently listed as an International Best-Selling Author with her contribution towards “Rebel Ma: Rising In The Time Of The Feminine” and has been turning heads with her sold-out shows with the Country Witches Association.
Áine is currently collaborating with renowned producer DOBBY, creating her third album, which is set for release early 2025.
Her journey, as put by The Australian, is indeed one worth following, “Tyrrell’s incredible journey is one you’d be well advised to follow.” With an unmistakably voice and an energy that’s both electric and intimate, Áine Tyrrell continues to spellbind her audience, making them fall in love with her sound, time and time again.
QUOTES
“Áine Tyrell delivers anthems for humanity with her new album Return to the Sea” – Hhappy Mag
“Áine Tyrrell’s (Return To The Sea) a psych-folk force… she defiantly stakes a claim to ownership from start to finish” – Irish Times
“Áine Tyrrell’s new album, Return To The Sea, is music for people who give a shit”- Mandy Nolan, The Echo
“Her voice is unmistakably Irish, in a way few singers are any more.” Irish Echo
“Soul, intelligence, wit and wisdom, history and mystery and a voice that brings it all together. Don’t miss her, for fear that you might miss the very thing you need.” – Shane Howard
“Tyrrell’s irrepressible personality and indefatigable nature pervades Queen of Swords” – Rhythms Magazine
“Tyrrell’s songwriting talent is evident in the crafting of the lyrics in this vigorous, barely tamed LP (Queen of Swords).” – BMA Magazine
Critically acclaimed Irish artist Niamh Regan recently shared her second album ‘Come As You Are’ on vinyl, CD, and digital via Faction Records.
“Come As You Are has Niamh Regan in total control of her artistic faculties and at the top of her game; she will be one to watch in the coming years… this is an album that needs to be heard, a project teeming with quiet intensity and resonance…” 9/10 The Line of Best Fit
“A powerful second album…Come As You Are’ is a delightful album full of delicate vocals, subtle hooks and exquisite instrumentation.” CLASH Magazine
“A beautiful, breathtakingly candid indie folk record of self-acceptance, Niamh Regan’s ‘Come As You Are’ is an intimate, emotionally charged invitation to embrace ourselves for who we are and lean into our light – even when it’s dark outside.” Atwood Magazine
“There’s a touch of Laura Marling in her voice, something of John Martyn in her intonation and Nick Drake in her guitar picking, the influence of everyone from Jeff Tweedy to Josh Ritter in her crafted storytelling…”
8/10 UNCUT Magazine
“…one of the most formidable forces in the Irish indie-folk scene… a pristine record which deals with faltering relationships, self-doubt, and love with exactitude and fearless candour.”9/10 Hot Press
“There’s hypnotic late-night deep synths, plus a woozy, bespangled hidden track. In all, intelligent and beautifully idiosyncratic” 4/5 Mojo Magazine
“Come As You Are is a brutally authentic work from a songwriter of the highest order.”- KLOF Mag
Critically acclaimed Irish artist Niamh Regan recently shared her second album ‘Come As You Are’ on vinyl, CD, and digital via Faction Records.
NIAMH REGAN
Niamh Regan’s 2020 debut album ‘Hemet’ introduced her as an artist with a gift for crafting folk-tinged songs with a quiet, reflective intensity. The release started to make waves and achieved over 1 million streams on Spotify and led to nominations for both the RTÉ Folk Awards and the Choice Music Prize ‘Album of the Year’.
Since its release, Niamh has embarked on headline tours from Ireland, to UK, Australia, Spain + more. Pairing this with many festivals and a variety of support opportunities with artist such as CMAT, Villagers, John Grant, SOAK, Patrick Watson, Sam Amidon, Cormac Begley, and Sorcha Richardson.
In between her performances, Niamh began to write her second record in Attica Studios with producer Tommy McLaughlin. She says, ‘I arrived in Donegal to meet Tommy for the first time with a bunch of demos, half-baked ideas and feeling not ready, it was scary. But I’m so glad that I did it that way. Trusted the process and came into the studio with the intention of capturing exactly where I was with it all and Tommy helped me build from there.’
And here we are, with the release of that second album, titled ‘Come As You Are’. It’s an album full of acutely observed vulnerabilities and introspection. Its themes are the issues that many of us find loom large in the small hours: questions of self-doubt, uncertainty about your life’s direction, whether relationships are flourishing in the way you’d hoped and determining priorities.
“A lot of it is about being in your late twenties and kind of realising we’re all running out of time,” she ponders. “I’d have bouts of massive self-belief in the studio, and then in the next breath I would be like, ‘This is the worst piece of music I could have even imagined.’ It was a rollercoaster. But through that I found self-acceptance; this is where I’m at and making peace with that. That’s what the album essentially is, just making peace with where I’m at and being realistic with myself.”
Niamh’s goal for the record was to achieve a richer, full live band sound, inspired by her love of Julia Jacklin, Caroline Rose, and especially Wilco. While there are moments of intimacy, the songs on ‘Come As You Are’ are far grander in scale and ambition than those on ‘Hemet’: the rousing, string-assisted majesty of ‘Waves’, subtle electro-pop beats dancing at the base of the mix in ‘Nice’, the dreamy Petty-esque melancholic swirl of ‘Blame’, and standout track ‘Music’, which, if not for the expressive feminine elegance of her voice, could feel like a lost classic from Jeff Tweedy and co.
Niamh has a contagious passion for performing live, having recently completed tours of Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, the UK, and supporting CMAT in the EU. Niamh explains the joy of releasing new music for her is performing it to a live audience, “It’s the best feeling and I think I’ll be chasing it for the rest of my life.”
And that’s a feeling that ‘Come As You Are’ will help her tap into. It’s an album which is a confident step forward, full of songs with the spark to come alive on stage and with the immediacy to beckon newcomers into her world.
IE TOUR DATES 2024
16th July – Galway International Arts Festival (full band)
25th July – Song Room, Wexford (solo)
20th July – The Everyman, Cork| The Everyman after Dark: Ye Vagabonds, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Cormac McCarthy, Matthew Berrill and Niamh Regan
26th July – Donegals (solo)
2nd August – All Together Now
12th August – Kilkenny Arts Festival (solo)
17th August – Electric Picnic (full band)
20th + 21st September – Clonakilty International Guitar Festival (solo)
Internationally recognised as one of the world’s most influential guitarists and a ground-breaking innovator, Preston Reed revolutionised acoustic guitar playing in the 1980’s and 90’s. His invention of integrated percussive guitar playing – an approach that incorporates a live percussive groove on the guitar neck and body with other techniques – continues to captivate audiences and inspire new generations of musicians around the world.
Reed’s evocative compositions – from driving rhythmic grooves to intimate blues to melodic ballads – are as compelling in live performance as his eye-opening guitar techniques. Rock, folk, metal, jazz, funk, country, bluegrass, world music and classical styles all come into play in creating Reed’s signature sonic landscape that tells stories without words.
Since the launch of his first album Acoustic Guitar in 1979, Preston Reed has released seventeen critically-acclaimed albums of original music and performed on six continents.
He has taught a master class at Berkeley College of Music. Participants in his summer guitar workshops at his home in Scotland have included Ed Sheeran. His live performances, including his 2012 performance at TEDGlobal with Usman Riaz, have had millions of internet views, and his music has received numerous awards and accolades over a career spanning six decades.
“Widely thought of as the world’s most gifted acoustic guitarist”Total Guitar
“Spectacular…the best one-man show this reviewer has seen since Bruce Springsteen…”The Irish Independent
Steve Ryan is a songwriter, guitar player and educator.A founding member of Giveamanakick and currently of Windings, Steve has also collaborated with the Rusangano Family, Denise Chaila and Naive Ted among many others. Steve is currently Course Director of the MA Songwriting in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.
We are delighted to once again welcome the return of the Acoustic Forum to this the 20th edition of the Clonakilty International Guitar festival!
The Acoustic Forum, hosted by Scoil na mBuachailli in their custom built music auditorium, is an eclectic event which sees a selection of artists from the festival playing in an intimate and informal concert in the round, with each artist staying onstage for the duration.
Guided by guest host George Lowden, each performer gives an insight into their craft and performs a short selection to whet the appetite for the weekend ahead.
It’s off the cuff, it’s friendly and it provides the listener with a varied and spontaneous night that never fails to surprise!
This year’s event will include host George Lowden & guests Preston Reed (US), Niamh Regan (IRL), Steve ón ‘ dings (IRL) & a mystery guest TBA
In keeping with The Acoustic Forum tradition a portion of the tickets for this event will be available at a reduced rate for the unwaged.
This will be operated on an honour system so please be sound!
An idiosyncratic, challenging and richly lyrical singer/ songwriter, Junior Brother is the pseudonym of Co. Kerry, Ireland singer Ronan Kealy. Chosen as The Irish Times’ Best Irish Act of 2019 and nominated for the 2019 Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year, Junior Brother has built a rabid following thanks to unmissable live shows, and music both excitingly forward-looking and anciently evocative. His strange stories unfold with reckless abandon upon a distinctive guitar and foot tambourine accompaniment, influenced as much by the avant-garde as music from the Middle Ages and his home place in rural Ireland.
In addition to earning a Choice Music Prize nomination, Junior Brother’s trailblazing debut album “Pull The Right Rope”, also saw Kealy garner two nominations at the 2019 RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards, for Best Folk Album and Best Emerging Folk Act. Similarly, vigorous approval from modern-day Irish figureheads such as the Rubberbandits and Cillian Murphy has furthered Junior Brother’s stock, the latter playing Junior Brother several times on his BBC Radio 6 Music Show. Along-side further airplay, his television performances include appearances on RTÉ’s the Tommy Tiernan show, Other Voices and the Choice Music Prize Awards night in Vicar Street.
PRAISE FOR THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE
“Wry songs of anxiety and frustration”
The Guardian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
[An] unfiltered acoustic mix of neuroses, loss of innocence and religious oppression…Truly unforgettable”
Mojo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Junior Brother’s The Great Irish Famine captures the range of feelings we face when learning our place in an increasingly shaky world built on a foundation of tragedy.”
PopMatters
“More ambitious than his debut, an ambition met”
The Thin Air ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“The songs of ‘The Great Irish Famine’ are from a shaken world, songs that can be both cathartic and comic, personal and universal”
Songlines ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Magnificent…A strange but wonderful trip”
Hot Press ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
We are delighted to once again welcome the return of the Acoustic Forum to this years Guitar festival! This year’s AF will be composed of all the amazing musical experiences you have come to expect from this event however the one thing that may be unfamiliar is the venue. We’re delighted to team up with Scoil na mBuachailli to host this years event in their purpose built music room.
The Acoustic Forum is an eclectic event unlike anything else you’ve ever seen which sees a selection of artists from the festival playing in an intimate and informal concert in the round, with each artist staying onstage for the duration.
Guided by the guest host, each performer gives an insight into their craft and performs a short selection to whet the appetite for the weekend ahead.
It’s off the cuff, it’s friendly and it provides the listener with a varied and spontaneous night that never fails to surprise!
This year’s event will include host George Lowden & guests Gwenifer Raymond (WLS), Gemma Hayes (IRL), John Spillane (IRL) & Junior Brother (IRL)
In keeping with The Acoustic Forum tradition a portion of the tickets for this event will be available at a reduced rate for the unwaged.
This will be operated on an honour system so please be sound!