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ROBIN BULLOCK MICHEL SIKIOTAKIS |
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Dorian recording artists Robin Bullock and Michel Sikiotakis are a Franco-American duo based in Paris, who play the traditional airs, jigs and reels of Ireland on wooden flute, pennywhistle, guitar and bouzouki like the champions that they are. American "string wizard" Robin Bullock is a founding member of the INDIE Award-winning world-folk trio Helicon and an alumnus of trailblazing Celtic groups The John Whelan Band and Greenfire. He has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe and released four critically acclaimed solo CDs. Robin's further credits include three Washington Area Music Association WAMMIE Awards, a Governor's Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, and a feature broadcast on National Public Radio's hugely popular Celtic music program "The Thistle and Shamrock." French flute and whistle player Michel Sikiotakis is acknowledged as a leading traditional musician in Ireland, where he won the 1985 All-Ireland whistle championship... He is also a founding member of Paris's premier traditional Irish group, Taxi Mauve, and the innovative Celtic-Berber fusion group Mugar. Robin and Michel met in an Irish pub session in Paris, the chemistry was immediate, and they now have to their credit the release of their first duo CD, The Irish Girl and a successful US East Coast tour. Whether flying solo or soaring with others, Bullock has an extraordinary command of timbre and dynamics...It's easy to overlook his brilliant technique, since it's always in service of the music. - Guitar Player When you know how to spin a reel or a jig like Michel Sikiotakis...it's not only an affair of technique but of spirit. - Trad Magazine (France) ROBIN BULLOCK Celtic/American "string wizard" Robin Bullock is a prolific composer, respected instructor and workshop leader, and virtuoso multi-instrumentalist, specializing in 6- and 12-string guitars, Irish bouzouki, mandolin, piano and bass guitar. A founding member of the innovative acoustic world-music trio Helicon (winners of the Association for Independent Music's prestigious INDIE Award for their Dorian CD A Winter Solstice With Helicon) and an alumnus of trailblazing Celtic groups The John Whelan Band and Greenfire, Robin has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe and appeared on over two dozen CDs. His own critically acclaimed recorded work includes three CDs on Dorian, Green Fields, the holiday CD A Midnight Clear (on which he alternates tracks with fellow INDIE winners Al Petteway and Amy White), and the soon to be released The Lightning Field, as well as Midnight Howl and Between Earth and Sky on the Maggie's Music label, Travellers with legendary bluegrass mandolinists Butch Baldassari and John Reischman on SoundArt Recordings, and Celtic Guitar Summit with California fingerstylist Steve Baughman on Solid Air Records. Robin's further credits include three Washington Area Music Association WAMMIE Awards, a Governor's Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, and a feature broadcast on National Public Radio's hugely popular Celtic music program The Thistle and Shamrock. Born in 1964 in Washington DC, a major focal point for both bluegrass and Irish music, Robin began playing guitar at age seven, initially inspired by Doc and Merle Watson, Norman Blake and John Fahey. Robin's apprenticeship years were spent at fiddlers' conventions, bluegrass festivals and Irish sessions, mastering the subtleties of a half-dozen instruments in both American and Celtic styles. Today, Robin is recognized as one of the few musicians who can so successfully blend the ancient airs and dance tunes of the Celtic lands with the roots music traditions of the "New World." In 2000, Robin relocated to France, and now lives in the tiny village of Tripleval, on the Seine river northwest of Paris. He continues to tour and record on both sides of the Atlantic, in a number of contexts: solo, in duos with flutist Michel Sikiotakis and guitarist Steve Baughman, and the annual "Winter Celebration" concert tour with Al Petteway and Amy White. Whether flying solo or soaring with others, Bullock has an extraordinary command of timbre and dynamics...It's easy to overlook his brilliant technique, since it's always in service of the music. - Guitar Player A musician whose technical skill and stylistic expertise are second to none...a time-served folkie of the highest calibre. - Classical Guitar (U.K.) Celtic guitar god. - Baltimore City Paper MICHEL SIKIOTAKIS Flute player Michel Sikiotakis is well known in Irish music circles as a multi-talented musician, bandleader and workshop instructor. He plays in a style learned directly from great traditional Irish musicians. Michel began visiting Ireland regularly in 1980. He was a founding member of Paris-based Irish band Shamrock with whom he received the famed All Ireland Champion title in 1984, and his tin whistle playing earned him another All Ireland Champion title the following year. Shamrock recorded an album for Polydor Ireland called Mo Cheol Thú. Michel's collaboration with Breton harp player Anne-Marie Jan resulted in the release of a duo cassette in 1988, and in the same year he founded the Irish band Taxi Mauve with fiddler Jean-Claude Philippe. Taxi Mauve has toured extensively throughout France, and released the album Far Off Fields for Breton record company Keltia Musique. Taxi Mauve was the only France based band to be chosen for the Franco-Irish partnership L'Imaginaire Irlandais. The band is still active, with a new line-up including singer Ann Boyce from Co. Donegal. In 1996, on commission from state-owned cultural complex "La Villette," Michel founded the world music band Mugar with co-bandleaders Youenn Le Berre and Nasredine Dalil. Mugar is a ten-piece extravaganza performing original music based on Berber (North African) and Celtic Isles traditions. Mugar has recorded the album Kabily-touseg for Tempo Maker/Melodie, licensed in North America to Canadian record company Mosaique. Michel has been teaching Irish music in Paris since 1982, and now conducts workshops in both France and Ireland, including the Fleadh Nua Festival in Ennis. In 1995, the Silex record company commissioned him to produce a CD of field recordings in Ireland. This CD was very well received by the French and international press alike. Born in Paris in 1961 of a French mother and a second-generation Greek father, Michel has been playing music since childhood. His first instrument was a Moroccan wooden whistle, which was followed by tin whistle, guitar, Breton bombarde, banjo, low whistle, and of course the 19th century eight-keyed wooden concert flute, known in the West of Ireland as... "the flute." His next venture is to learn the uilleann pipes, so watch out! When you know how to spin a reel or a jig like Michel Sikiotakis...it's
not only an affair of technique but of spirit. - Trad Magazine (France)
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