Craobh Rua

Craobh Rua (pronounced Crave Roo-Ah) translates from Irish to ‘Red Branch’ and is a name that is well known in Celtic history from the stories of the Red Branch Knights of Ulster.

Hailing from Belfast they perform Irish traditional music with their distinctive northern style. Their music has delighted audiences and earned them wide acclaim and recognition. Craobh Rua are now regarded around the world as one of the finest ambassadors of Irish traditional music. The band’s musicians bring their own individual experience to the group and fuse their talents to bring life to a wide array of instruments including the banjo, mandolin, fiddle, uilleann pipes, tin whistle, guitar and vocals. They take a refreshing, unpretentious but uncommonly skilled run at some of the greatest music in the world.
They have given concerts and festival performances in the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Brittany, Asturias, Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, England, Scotland, Wales and of course their native home – Ireland.

Craobh Rua have released six albums to date and appeared on a number of compilation albums. Their latest release, I’d Understand You If I Knew What You Meant, has been critically acclaimed and spent most of 2015 near the tops of the traditional music album charts.

“Craobh Rua are free advertisement for everything that’s good about Irish Traditional Music – they play it from the heart and they play it superbly. Long may they continue to do so.” –Belfast Telegraph. Advance £15 (£13 concs); On door £16 (£14 concs)