Ímar

BBC Radio 2 Folk Award winners, Irish/Manx/Scottish quintet Ímar are amongst Glasgow’s hottest folk property. With a wide-reaching fanbase throughout the UK, Europe, USA and Canada, the quintet have fast become one of the trad scene’s most talked about group – thanks in no small part to their debut video, L’Air Mignonne, becoming a viral smash in 2016, catapulting the group to the attention of audiences and media worldwide. Their two albums – Afterlight and Avalanche – have since amassed a devoted listenership, whilst live audiences are transfixed by Ímar’s collective and individual technical prowess. With a line-up boasting a heavyweight haul of top solo prizes – including nine All-Ireland and eight All-Britain titles – the group’s collective synergy and live energy is positively electric. Adam Brown (bodhrán), Adam Rhodes (bouzouki), Mohsen Amini (concertina), Ryan Murphy (uilleann pipes) and Tomás Callister (fiddle) share a strong background in Irish music; a grounding that underpins many of Ímar’s distinctive qualities, in both instrumentation and material. Indeed, the group’s very being embodies a personal reconnection with its members’ formative years, dating back long before their recent camaraderie around Glasgow’s celebrated session scene. The shared cultural heritages between Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man are well documented: all three once shared the same Gaelic language, and a similar, clearly potent, kinship endures between their musical traditions.