Water’s Edge

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We are happy to introduce the folk part of our lineup. This year the Italian Fusion Festival presents one of the most talented band in Dublin: The Water’s Edge.

Water’s Edge (Ireland) is a group of 3 friends who come from 3 corners of the world very far from each other: Ciaran is the leader who with his beautiful voice and his ease in playing guitar, saxophone and drums created Water’s Edge in the ’80s. Three years ago Onofrio, the Italian of the group began his adventure as a solo guitarist of the group bringing some interesting rhythmic changes and sounds to Water’s Edge. As a duo they have performed at various concerts and radio programs including Radio Dublino and Spirit Radio where they are regular guests. This year they opened the doors to a new friend, Ashih. Ashish is from New Delhi, India. With his unique and professional music knowledge he has brought more changes to what was already an experimental hectic ensemble.

The Water’s Edge are Ciaran Smithfield: Vocals/Guitar/Flaute, Onofrio ‘Chiko’ America: Guitars, Ashish: Drum

The style of Water’s Edge is unique for the simple reason that they are writing original pieces in which they use Italian, Irish and Indian instruments, creating very interesting compositions or renovating some covers adding special sounds and rhythms.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WatersEdgeIRL/

Donnacha Dwyer

Workshop Uilleann Pipe

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The Italian Fusion Festival is happy to introduce the Uilleann PipeWorkshop lead by Donnacha Dwyer.

Donnacha Dwyer began playing the pipes in Na Píobairí Uilleann in the late 1980s where he was thought by Martin Nolan and John Murphy. By the mid ’90s he began to be influenced by recordings of Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Leo Rowsome and Liam O’Flynn.

It was also in the mid ’90s where he began performing on the pipes and took a keen interest in reed and pipe making and began to study pipe-making, part-time initially with pipe maker Des Seery. Later he received an Arts Council grant to study pipe-making full time and has been a full time pipe-maker since 2008.

He has been a teacher in Henrietta Street for a number of years on Tueaday nights and has also thought a number of courses through NPU’s PipeCraft initiative.

In 2006 he released an album with fiddle player Malachy Bourke entitled “Bourke and Dwyer”.

He plays a D and a C set, both made by himself.

Website: http://www.donnachadwyer.com/

The Stoles

The Stoles

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We are happy to introduce the rock part of our lineup. This year the Italian Fusion Festival presents one of the most talented band in Dublin: The Stoles.

The Stoles are Antonio (Vocals/Bass),  Andrea (Guitar/Vocals), Ciaran (Drums/Vocals).

Since forming in 2015, the preceding years have proven very eventful for the band. 2016 started with the band writing and recording their debut album and ended with them signing a record deal with the largest independent record label in North America – Spectra Music Group. Following on from signing with Spectra The Stoles released their first single from their forthcoming debut album ‘Age Of Deception’ in February 2017. The single (titled ‘Getaway’) was released throughout Europe and America and received great reviews and mainstream radio play.

In support of ‘Getaway’ The Stoles launched an Irish tour which seen them play in some of Ireland’s most renowned venues for upcoming bands. Following on from that successful tour, and to coincide with the July 2017 release of their second single ‘Evelyn’, the band announced a further series of summer gigs in a select few venues throughout Ireland. This run of gigs also seen the band play at the Galway Fringe Festival.

In December 2017 The Stoles released ‘Age Of Deception’ – the third single and title track from their forthcoming debut album ‘Age Of Deception’.

The Stoles debut album was released on February 9th, 2018, with Irish and European tour dates expected to be announced.

Website: http://www.thestoles.com/

Seán Whelan

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We are happy to introduce the Irish contribution of our music session. This year the Italian Fusion Festival presents one of the best guitar player in Dublin: Seán Whelan.

Seán Whelan is a guitarist/mandolin player and producer working in the Jazz, Celtic and World music arena and is much in demand as both a studio and live musician.

Seán has established himself as a forerunner in Acoustic music by the passion, creativity and versatility of his playing.

He performs solo and also in a group setting. A former member of Swing Jazz group”Hotfoot”and “The Café Orchestra”Seán Whelan has performed and recorded in a wide range of styles including Folk, Jazz, Blues, Irish Traditional and World music. He has released two solo albums and his latest “From Gray to Blue”cd features many of his own compositions as solo pieces and also with a talented group of international and Irish players.

His music has been used for TV and Film productions. As a member of “Puck Fair”he has played with Flautist Brian Dunning for many years and has toured and recorded with singers and instrumentalists worldwide in an exciting and varied career.

Website: www.seanwhelan.com

Order of the mess

Order of the Mess

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We are happy to introduce the alternative rock part of our lineup. This year the Italian Fusion Festival presents a talented Italian band from Cork: the Order of the Mess.

Order of the Mess are an alternative/stoner-rock power duo formed in 2013 by Alessandro “TheLast” Vinci (guitar/voice) and Massimo “Maxeggio” Calò (drums) and hailing from Cork, Ireland.

With Alex also taking care of punishing low frequencies through a three amps set-up and Max providing thunderous skins work, the duo early on hit on a distinctive sound and set on to write. They soon started making the rounds playing live everywhere they could. Every performance saw them winning over more and more appreciation as their mix of melody, groove and enormous riffs truly comes to life on stage through the duo earnest, give-all-you-have energetic attitude and Alex passionate, larger-then-life stage presence.

In 2016 they locked themselves for a week in the historic Dublin’s Westland Studios to record their debut album, set to be released in early 2018.

“Life is to Love. Life is to Rock. Rock is to Love”

Website: http://orderofthemess.com/