About Me
… I deal with musical instruments from when I was 4 years old! My mother is a piano player and initially learned me to play the piano. However suddenly I made my small personal revolution turned in studying the cello till I was 10, then tried classic guitar and so on… Some years later, I began to deal with traditional music, having the first stimuli from San Francisco where I was staying then. It was the ‘60s and musical tradition of the East, particularly of India , was on the rise. Thus I began to study sitar in England, I started traveling, one thing brings the other, as it always happens… - Ross Daly
Ross Daly's journey in the music of the world is inseparable from the course of his life. Of Irish descent, born in England, he traveled as a child with his family around the world and soon his deep interest in music emerged. His first instrument was the cello, which he studied in his childhood years in America. He later began studying the classical guitar in Japan at the age of eleven. The late sixties found him in San Francisco, where having experienced both the classical discipline and the air of freedom and experimentation of the time, he first encountered Eastern musical tradition which completely changed his life. Of particular interest to him was Indian Classical music which was destined to be the first non-western tradition that he actively studied. The ensueing years found him travelling extensively studying a variety of instruments and traditions. At that time his main emphasis was on Indian and Afghani music.
In 1975. he travelled to Crete which he had previously visitied for a short time in 1970. and 1972. where he had been greatly impressed by the lyra (a small pear-shaped upright fiddle which is the primary folk instrument of the island). After a six month period of wandering from village to village encountering local musicians, he settled in the town of Hania on the west of the island and began studying the Cretan Lyra with it's great master Kostas Mountakis . This apprenticeship was to last for many years. During this same time he frequently visited in Turkey where he studied Ottoman classical music as well as Turkish folk music. After many years of intensive training in a variety of musical traditions, Ross Daly turned his attention largely to composition drawing heavily on the various sources that he had studied. Today he has released more than twenty five records of his own compositions as well as of his own versions of traditional melodies that he collected during his travels. The island of Crete in Greece still provides a base for his personal and musical research as he travels around the world performing his music.
A master multi-instrumentalist himself, Ross Daly has repeatedly teamed with master musicians from all over the world working within the musical discipline of the Eastern traditions while at the same time freely exploring new forms and creative improvisation. A virtouoso of Eastern musical instruments, he plays the Cretan lyra, Afghan rabab, laouto, kemence, sarangi, oud, saz and tanbur. A unique composer, Ross Daly, builds his compositions around the subtle but powerful interaction between the sound textures of the various traditions which he has studied. His close personal relationship with the musicians he works with is of paramount interest to Ross Daly himself as he believes that it is this inner connection which brings music alive. The unique sound of his music reflects his personal philosophy, influenced by the Sufi tradition which stresses the sacred nature of music itself, the enormous power contained within it, and the necessity for those who concern themselves with it to unreservedly and selflessly give themselves to it. This process results in an experience of music of a transcendental and spiritual nature, equally shared by musicians and audience alike, which has nothing to do with the fashions of "World Music" or "Ethnic". Ross Daly's music provides something that is increasingly difficult to find in modern times: a sense of continuity and unity. Sharing in the essence of a music that really has no physical boundaries is a magical experience that stands outside of time and space, connecting the natural flow of ancient traditions with the most complex needs of today's audiences.
Ross Daly has performed in several countries and venues including : Theatre de la Ville, Paris (1992-93, 2002, 2003, 2005), The Athens Concert Hall, Athens,(1993), Festival of Jerusalem (1995), Luxembourg (1994), Passionskirche, Berlin (1994, 1995, 1996), Aarhus, Denmark (1997), Huset theatre, Ahlborg, Denmark (1995-97), Copanhagen, Denmark (1995-97), Archaeological Museum Madrid (1998/99, 2001), Festival of Murcia, Spain (1999), Cemal Resit Rey Conser Salonu, Istanbul (1997), Lycabettus Theatre, Athens (1987-91, 1993-98). Queen Elizabeth Hall, London (1998, 2000-2), WDR, Munich (1999), WDR Wuppertal (1992), Luxembourg (1992), Nuremberg (1992), Frankfurt (1992).
Today, Ross Daly continues travelling and performing in Greece and abroad whilst simultaneously directing the Musical Workshop Labyrinth in the village of Houdetsi on Crete.
[ Aleksandra, page designer ]
