DESCRIPTION:
2013 Richmond Folk Festival
The Dardanelles from Newfoundland play Celtic music
From the far corner of eastern Canada comes this exciting young group, the first ensemble from Newfoundland to appear at the Richmond Folk Festival. Newfoundland's musical traditions are anchored in the tunes and ballads brought by settlers from England, Ireland and Scotland. Passed on and evolving through the generations, the music has acquired over the centuries a distinctive Newfoundland flavor, shaped especially by the strong seafaring traditions of the region. The members of the Dardanelles, all twenty-somethings, are out to show that Newfoundland traditional music is alive, vibrant, and powerful. Not only are they keepers of the beloved classics of the repertoire, but seek out and give new life to rare tunes and moving ballads about life and love on Newfoundland's windswept seas that might otherwise have been lost to the culture forever. Armed with a love of the jigs, reels and ballads honored in Newfoundland and an abundance of talent, both instrumental and vocal, the group comes on with the energy of a punk band.

MATTHEW BYRNE ...vocals / bouzouki / guitar
RICH KLAAS ...bodhran / percussion
TOM POWER ...vocals / guitar
AARON COLLIS ...button accordion
EMILIA BARTELLAS ...fiddle