Mary "Shenanigans" Flanagan
Button Accordion

MARY hails from the Galway parish of Bohermore. She is an avid hill-walker and has been known to break out the Accordion on the peaks of Annapurna or the ridges of Macchu Picchu during one of her charity walks.

At one time, Mary was a pub owner herself, and "Flanagan's" was indeed the place where everyone knew your name. These days however she prefers to spend her time in front of rather than behind the bar where she applies her Accordion skills with great verve.

Mary has an innate knowledge of traditional music and has assembled an extensive repertoire of lively jigs, reels, and Kerry polkas, as well as Americana tunes.

ps: Contrary to previous postings Mary has never been from, nor ever has any intention of being from, the Kingdom of Kerry.

Michael "Changers" Chang
Fiddle & Viola

MICHAEL grew up as a classically-trained violinist in the grunge world of Seattle, where he performed in several bands and shared stages with the likes of Soundgarden, Warren Zevon, and They Might Be Giants. He has always been an avid listener of acoustic-based roots music, and in a strange but fortunate turn of events, he one day found himself hired to play his violin in a local Irish pub. Collecting a paycheck to bluff his way through Irish fiddle tunes piqued a genuine interest in traditional music, and in 1999, he moved to Galway City to learn from the real masters.

Michael immersed himself in the city's vibrant traditional session scene, and quickly began playing on a regular basis with many of the local musicians. He has played with several bands in Ireland over the years and has toured extensively around the country and continental Europe.

Freda "Bridie" Hatton
Irish Harp, Concertina & Tin Whistle

FREDA comes from Athlone, Co. Westmeath but has been living in Galway for the last few years. She is a graduate of Music and Irish from University College Cork and Arts Administration from NUI Galway. She has toured extensively all over the world, representing Ireland on several occasions in countries such as England, Scotland, Portugal, France, Spain, Czech Republic, North America, Canada and Brazil. She was selected as the harpist on the Comhaltas tours of Britain and North America in 1999.

Freda is accomplished on several instruments including Harp, Concertina and Tin-Whistle. She also makes lovely brown bread and apple tarts.

Colm "Fish Fingers" Naughton
Banjo & Mandolin

COLM hails form the wonderful, albeit small, area of Creggs in Co. Galway. He had the luck to be born into a musical family where he grew up listening to and playing Irish Traditional Music. He didn't feel quite as lucky when he was handed a banjo and told, "here, learn this", but in fact it has turned out fairly well for him.

Colm moved to Galway City in 1994 where he was influenced by a multitude of contemporaries and developed as a musician. Currently he is an established session player on the Galway scene and has toured all over Europe and in America as well as having spent a year playing on the Canary Islands.

Colm has ambitions to be the session banjo player for Beyonce but as of yet the phone calls go unanswered. (Sob...)