★★★★★ THE IRISH TIMES

Laghdú
Buy Now

About

  • about the record

    Laghdú, the title of this album by Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Dan Trueman, translates as a lessening, a decrease, a reduction.

    The music they have written stretches and abstracts the DNA of Norwegian and Irish fiddling; the result is something new, sparse and stunning. It ranges from the near-silent to the nigh-on orchestral, at times exploding joyously from their two beautiful hybrid 10-string fiddles, at times barely there, holding time still.

    Utterly unique, this is music of an exceptional and unusual beauty.

    In 2020, Dan and Caoimhín will release a new album entitled the Fate of Bones

  • about the design

    The album comes in a stunning triptych cover designed by Rossi McAuley of Distinctive Repetition.

    Printed in soy-based ink on sustainable board at Generation Press in Brighton, a printing plant where they generate their own electricity, and the water leaving the plant is cleaner than it is on entering.

    The paper has been embossed with lines that give it a three dimensional feel and has a beautiful texture.

    It is held together with two rubber bands which echo the strings of the instruments.

  • a word from the designer


    Two specific fiddles, two specific players, one specific outcome.

    The primary request when creating the design for Laghdú's album cover was to produce something that could stand alone as a piece of art, where information takes second place to overall composition.

    The materials and methods used in the production of this piece juxtapose both a distinctive tactility and importantly a responsibility toward the environment in the way it was printed by our colleagues at Generation Press England.

    The integral and unique relationship between Dan Trueman and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh that makes the album what it is ultimately provides the focus for its design.

    They talk using the 10 strings of their Hardanger d'Amore fiddles and the sounds created by the players seem to endlessly cross, expand, re-direct, contract and ultimately lessen.

    Laghdú is a conversation between friends, the cover is our attempt to visualise that conversation.


    --Rossi McAuley of Distinctive Repetition


  • about Dan

    Dan Trueman is a composer, fiddler, and electronic musician.

    He began studying violin at the age of 4, and decades later, after a chance encounter, fell in love with the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, an instrument and tradition that has deeply affected all of his work, whether as a fiddler, a composer, or musical explorer.

    Dan has worked with many groups and musicians, including Trollstilt and QQQ, the American Composers Orchestra, So Percussion, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Brentano and Daedelus string quartets, the Crash Ensemble, many wonderful fiddlers, and has performed across America, Ireland, and Norway.

    Dan's work has been recognized by fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, among others.

    He is Professor of Music at Princeton University, where he teaches counterpoint, electronic music, and composition.

    www.manyarrowsmusic.com

  • about Caoimhín

    Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh plays traditional and contemporary folk music on Hardanger d'Amore.

    Caoimhín's distinctive sound can be traced back to an early interest in both the sound of the flat-pitch uilleann pipes and a love for the traditional music of Kerry and Clare.

    A proclivity for tuning the fiddle below concert pitch and a tendency to play on two strings simultaneously had already given him a unique and distinctive sound when he first encountered the Norwegian hardanger fiddle, which has since become his chosen instrument.

    He has performed on some of the most beautiful stages in the world, including the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall and the Lincoln Center.

    He has made twelve albums to date, performs solo, in duos, and with the bands This is How we Fly and The Gloaming. He lives in Dublin.

    www.caoimhinoraghallaigh.com

  • about the instruments

    Caoimhín & Dan play a stunning 10-string instrument made by Norwegian luthier Salve Håkedal. The top five bowed gut strings plus the five sympathetic strings below give the fiddle a wonderful resonant sound. It is somewhere between a hardanger fiddle and a viola d'amore , so it has been christened the Hardanger d'Amore.


    They use baroque and transitional bows made by a wonderful French bowmaker named Michel Jamonneau. His bows are things of great beauty, like paintbrushes for sound.

  • what they say

    "a seamless and unfettered soundscape ::: there's enough space and light here for influences as diverse as baroque to minimalism to breathe free ::: the work of musicians revelling in the moment: a rare find"
        ★★★★★ THE IRISH TIMES

    "this music defies genre, it's just a beautiful, spacious and luscious soundscape. Everyone should hear this."
        --Martin Hayes

    "Wide of spectrum, loose of limb and oh so downright magnificent [Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh & Dan Trueman] have let sparks fly on their debut collaboration Laghdú."
        --Siobhán Long in The Irish Times

    "possibly one of the most fulsome and beautiful recordings I have ever heard. Great music has this magnificent power over us, a power to which the heart must yield always and without regret."
        --Iarla Ó Lionáird

    "ASTOUNDING ::: Replete with unexpected melodic twists and turns, the tunes are highly cinematic, painting richly impressionistic images."
        --Colm O'Hare, Hot Press

    "a lovely warm bath of silky string sounds from this innovative duo, treading the line between tradition and invention"
        --Garth Knox

    "a gorgeous album"
        --Jim Carroll, The Irish Times

    "austerely elegant, spare, and evocative, there's not a note out of place. Yet nothing is predictable: looping phrases suddenly unfurl to produce incredibly beautiful melodies, meeting together in unusual harmonies between the two fiddlers."
        --Donnacha Dennehy

    "a truly refreshing and inspiring musical encounter"
        --Anne Hytta

Videos

Laghdú

on Vimeo

Fead an Iolair

on Vimeo

Caol le Caol

on Vimeo

RTÉ's The Works

on YouTube

No Upcoming Shows


Past Shows

28 Apr

2020

Centre Culturel Irlandais

Paris

27 Apr

2020

Cafe Oto

London

25 Apr

2020

Liberty Hall

Dublin

23 Apr

2020

Kino

Cork

29 Mar

2020

Taplin Auditorium

Princeton NJ

27 Mar

2020

National Sawdust

New York

11 Aug

2019

Telemarkfestivalen

Norway

10 Aug

2019

Telemarkfestivalen

Norway

09 Aug

2019

Telemarkfestivalen

Norway

08 Aug

2019

Telemarkfestivalen

Norway

29 Apr

2017

Irish Arts Center

New York

26 May

2016

Kevin Barry Recital Room, NCH

Dublin, Ireland

10 Apr

2016

Carleton College Concert Hall

Northfield, MN

17 Apr

2015

Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar

Charlottesville VA

07 Feb

2015

Jenkins House Concert

New York

04 Feb

2015

House Concert

Middletown CT

03 Feb

2015

Taplin Auditorium

Princeton University

01 Feb

2015

Club Passim

Cambridge MA

31 Jan

2015

Grace Church

Amherst MA

22 Jan

2015

Centre Culturel Irlandais

Paris, France

21 Jan

2015

National Concert Hall

Dublin

04 Oct

2014

the Duncairn Centre

Belfast

03 Oct

2014

Chapel Royal

Dublin Castle

28 Sep

2014

Station House Theatre

Clifden Arts Week

27 Sep

2014

Seamus Ennis Centre

The Naul, Co. Dublin

26 Sep

2014

Bottlenote Festival

Dublin

14 Aug

2014

Kilkenny Arts Festival

Kilkenny

Presskit

Useful stuff for the wonderful people who put on concerts for us

Download our EPK / Onesheet PDF



 

 

 

Click each photo for a medium resolution version, or
download a zip file of full resolution versions of all seven.

Where to Buy

Order CD now directly from the artists
Price €20 ::: incl free p&p worldwide



You can also purchase Laghdú on Bandcamp,
where you can listen to the whole thing for free,
purchase a digital download of the music
or buy the beautiful object itself.



It is also available on iTunes, if you prefer.

Contact Caoimhín & Dan