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Cormac Breatnach
Cormac has been playing whistles and the timber flute for over 20 years now. He was born in Dublin 35 years ago and was brought up in an Irish and Spanish speaking household. He now concentrates on playing plastic and low (aluminum) whistles. He has recorded extensively with musicians such as Donal Lunny, Maire Breatnach, Steve Cooney and songwriters such as Tom Moore, Sonny Condell, Pierce Turner, Elvis Costello and Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill to name but a few.
He has also featured on the award winning TV Programmes such as Bringing it all back Home and The River of Sound. Cormac. s playing also featured on the original Riverdance track and he has also recorded for this summer. s special production of Lord of the Dance in London, England. His playing can also be heard in such movies, such as The Secret of Inish Roan, Moondance and The War of the Buttons Described as The Fresh Prince of Jazzy Jigs (The Irish Voice, October 94) Cormac was described as & . "not the first musician to add modern rhythms and jazzstyle improvisations to Irish traditional music but he has taken the concept further than anybody else."
Drawing on his native Irish and Spanish speaking background, Cormac recorded his own album last year with producer Garvan Gallagher (formerly of the Mary Black Band) in which he sings for the first time two songs, one in Irish and one in Spanish. Featuring 11 tracks with 20 contributors, combining traditional with modern jazz inflections, he has recorded some of his new compositions with others from Donal Lunny and Niall O Callanain. This new album totally financed is the first to be released on Mandala Records by Cormac and is available for licensing or leasing.
Maire Breatnach, (no relation) the well known musician/composer/arranger/producer on hearing the album for the first time says: "To him it has been given to bridge and thus unite, many realms, most clearly observed here in the ease with which head and heart effortlessly co-operate, achieving a breathtaking balance between technical brilliance and emotional honesty. This is indeed a unique album."
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