MICHO RUSSELL

FIND CELTIC MUSIC




Please select your country:

Micho Russell

Biography

Micho Russell was born in 1915 in Doolin, Co. Clare. The area is rugged and windswept and looks straight across to the Aran Islands. Both his parents were native Irish speakers but spoke English to their children. The people of the area grew their own potatoes, kept a few animals and cut turf for winter warmth.

Practically every house had a cheap German concertina played usually by the woman of the house. The people gathered in designated houses for a ‘cuaird’ or ‘soiree’ - a night of storytelling, singing and dancing. The youngsters would be listening and gradually become absorbed in the culture. As they got older they were allowed to join and eventually provided the music. Micho heard a tin whistle being played, thought it sounded lovely and got his first Clarke at age 11 from his father. Patrick Flanagan, a concertina player in the neighbourhood, showed Micho the scale and he took it from there. Later he got a wooden flute and in time played for those house dances in the company of his brother Pakie (concertina) and Gus (flute). Up until the 1960’s Micho with his brothers worked the land and played music for pastime and enjoyment. Gradually the house dances waned and music moved into pubs like O’ Connors and McGanns.

Tony McMahon persuaded Micho to do a ‘spot’ in Slattery’s, Capel Street, Dublin in the mid 60’s - Pakie and Gus were just not interested in leaving the homestead. The uniqueness and simplicity of the man and his music astounded his audience and more and more engagements followed. Apart from his music, his listeners were enthralled by his folklore, intros to his pieces and singing of local songs. He did radio and TV broadcasts and became Ireland’s ambassador as he was invited all over Europe and USA. When he was back in Clare, Doolin became a major tourist attraction and a mecca for musicians all the year round. Sadly, he was killed in a motoring accident on the 19th of February 1994.



You can listen to short samples from some of the tracks from this artist using the player below.

Releases


ACCOUNT



SHOPPING CART

You have no items in your order.

MAILING LIST

Enter your email address below to get updates on new releases




TOP SELLERS


YOUTUBE

We have a YouTube channel where you can watch some of the celtic music related videos we've found.
www.youtube.com/allcelticmusic

Threads of Sound

The downloads on this site are provided by Threads of Sound. They also distribute music to iTunes, eMusic, Spotify and many others. If you want to sell your music on all celtic then you register it via Threads of Sound.
www.threadsofsound.net



MASTHEAD

Our current header image was taken by Nick Bramhall and you can find the original here.