The Rapparees

The Rapparees are Gerry McNeill, Joe McKeague, Damien McErlean, Conor McCaffrey and Kevin Mawdsley! All five are Belfast based graduates who have been performing in Ireland, Scotland, England, Norway and France. The music of The Rapparees is essentially Irish folk and traditional; however the band has a very individual style with influences from the folk and traditional music of Ireland and Scotland. The Rapparees have also been writing and performing their own music for a number of years and have developed a growing portfolio of performances including playing Celtic festivals in Newcastle Upon Tyne and Birmingham, the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival,the Grandvilliers, France Festival, Ballyshannon Folk Festival, Celtic Fusion Festival, Skudeneshavn, Norway Festival and St Loup, Guingamp Festival in Brittany. The Band played with the hugely popular Irish singer Cara Dillon at the Waterfront Hall and also earned praise from the legendary Shane MacGowan. The Rapparees new album Clarity was album of the week on BBC Radio Scotland and has had very encouraging reviews from the folk music press. The launch of the "Clarity" album took place in The Black Box on Wednesday 1st October and was a major success. The band's recording for BBC TV's Blas Ceoil will be shown on Thursday 23rd October at 10pm.