{"id":15,"date":"2014-12-17T06:48:54","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T06:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/descafferkey.com\/?page_id=15"},"modified":"2014-12-17T06:48:54","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T06:48:54","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/?page_id=15","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"des-about-2\"Des, a native of Achill Island, Co. Mayo, is widely regarded as one of the finest exponents of the tin whistle and flute in Ireland as well as an accomplished player of\u00c2\u00a0 the Scottish bagpipes.\u00c2\u00a0 Des has been successful at a competitive level achieving All Ireland awards for senior tin whistle and bagpipes.\u00c2\u00a0 He has performed with artists as diverse as Mundy, Damien Dempsey, Jack L, Pete Williams, Matt Molloy, Sister Sledge, Paul Brady, Mary Coughlan, Gerry O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Connor, James Kilbane, Steve Cooney, L\u00c3\u00banasa, Laoise Kelly and the St. Laurence O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Toole Pipe Band at Carnegie Hall.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As well as being a composer and performer Des is a much sought after session musician.\u00c2\u00a0 He has recently recorded and toured with\u00c2\u00a0Imelda May<\/strong><\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 Des performed with Imelda on her Irish tour 2014, playing at Vicar St. and also Live At The Marquee, Cork.\u00c2\u00a0 He accompanied Imelda on the song, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTears of Clew Bay\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Imelda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s harmonious attributes throughout the song, along with Des\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s haunting whistle melody captured the attention of the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 This was further enhanced by the surprise arrival of The Clew Bay Pipe Band to the stage during the ballad, who wowed the audience with the sway of their kilts and their melodic accompaniment to the song.\u00c2\u00a0 Des composed the pipe score and whistle melody to go with the song which was written by Al Gare (bassist in the band).<\/p>\n

Des along with co-founder Peter Carney established The Clew Bay Pipe Band (Banna P\u00c3\u00adob Chuan Modh).\u00c2\u00a0 Des Cafferkey is the Pipe Major of Banna P\u00c3\u00adob Chuan Modh, which makes him the musical director, and senior instrumentalist.\u00c2\u00a0 Peter Carney is the Pipe Sergeant who coordinates the behind the scenes work and logistics for the group.<\/p>\n

The official launch of the pipe band was on St Patrick\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Day 2012.\u00c2\u00a0 The band next performed for such dignitaries like An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Giovanni Trappattoni, Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s football manager, on their assent of Croagh Patrick.\u00c2\u00a0 Through a conversation Michael Ring, Minister for State had with John Delaney President of the FAI in front of the audience at Croagh Patrick that day, the band received an invitation, to perform both the German and Irish national anthems for a World Cup qualifier match at the Aviva, Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national football stadium in Dublin to a crowd of 52,000, and a worldwide audience of over 74,000,000.<\/p>\n

Shortly after that, an invite came from local Chieftain member\u00c2\u00a0Matt Molloy<\/strong><\/em>\u00c2\u00a0to perform alongside The Chieftains at the highly successful Westport Festival of Music and Performing Arts in June 2012.\u00c2\u00a0 The pipe band\u00c2\u00a0 performed at the Westport Festival of Music and Food 2013 where the extremely talented Irish singer\/song writers\u00c2\u00a0Mundy\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>and\u00c2\u00a0Damien Dempsey<\/em><\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0accompanied the band as guest singer. The band was also joined again by\u00c2\u00a0Matt Molloy<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\n\t

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2014 saw The Westport Festival of Music and Food feature The Clew Bay Pipe Band again, this time on the main stage. Mundy and Matt Molly returned as guest artists. Mundy gave an outstanding performance as he brought life back to old The Rolling Stones hit \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDead Flowers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Matt Molloy shared the stage with the band by playing one of Des\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent compositions \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMick Fadian\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s March\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, from his new album \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTrad with a Twist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. The band were also delighted to welcome Pete Williams from Dexy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Midnight Runners to sing the ballad \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcMull of Kintyre\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, written and made famous by Paul McCartney. The band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resident singer Matt Rowley, got the crowd up standing when he launched into the rock medley \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcStayin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Alive, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe Will Rock You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAnother Brick in the Wall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. The pipe band added an unexpected but yet innovative arrangement that complimented the rock medley.<\/p>\n

Des has two solo albums to his credit. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAchill Head\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 was released in 2009 which features 13 tin whistle tracks and is supported by some of Ireland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s top traditional musicians such as Tony Byrne on guitar, Tony \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcbodhr\u00c3\u00a1n\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Quinn and John Flatley on piano. In the second album \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAchill Air\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, released in 2012, Des displays his talents as a composer by including four original pieces which sit comfortably alongside his unique treatment of traditional tracks on the album. Musical contemporaries on the album include Laoise Kelly, Trevor Hutchinson, Tony Byrne, Tony Quinn, Paul McGrattan, Peter Browne and Gerry O Connor (banjo).<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTrad with a Twist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (release date July 17th, 2014) is a follow up to the two previously, highly successful albums \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAchill Head\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAchill Air\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Traditional Irish music enthusiasts who are familiar with Des\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unique and distinctive style, will be pleasantly surprised with the new direction this album has taken. He has introduced previously untasted flavours to traditional Irish music that has shaped and molded the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTwist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, this album has taken. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcTrad with a Twist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has featured as albam na seachtaine on Raidio na Gaeltachta\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programme \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcNead na Fuiseoige\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. Guest artists on this album include Matt Molloy, Trevor Hutchinson, Shane McGowan, Laoise Kelly, Raphael Dziubinski, Bart de Boar, Kyle Dunleavy, Peter Browne and The Clew Bay Pipe Band. The eight original tracks are grounded in both acoustic and electrical arrangements that deliver the engaging sounds of Cafferkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s album with precision and maximum effect. This album was recorded, engineered and mixed at the newly opened Clew Bay Recording Studio, Westport, Co. Mayo.<\/p>\n

Des, along with Banna P\u00c3\u00adob Chuan Modh have also recorded with Matt Molloy for his up and coming solo album under the guidance of music producer\/engineer Brian Masterson.<\/p>\n

Based in Westport, Co. Mayo, Des is currently working in the locality as a music teacher. Des\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s music regularly features on TG4, RT\u00c3\u2030 Radio 1, Raidi\u00c3\u00b3 na Gaeltachta and Lyric FM. He is actively involved in giving workshops at several summer schools both at home and abroad including the Tocane Festival, France, Westport Scoil Cheoil and Scoil Acla (Achill Island), the oldest and longest running summer school in the country which celebrated its centenary in 2010.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n\t\t<\/div> \n\t<\/div> \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Des, a native of Achill Island, Co. Mayo, is widely regarded as one of the finest exponents of the tin","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17,"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15\/revisions\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/descafferkey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}