JOE GILTRAP ‘thinking man’s celtic music’
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Irish Mist |
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In the early 70's, two musicians arrived in London from different parts of Ireland. Singer Joe Giltrap, from Co. Kildare and fiddler Malcolm Rogers from Co. Down met by chance and Irish Mist was born. These were troubled times in Ireland but the fact that one was a Catholic from the South and the other a Protestant from the North was never an issue. Irish Mist went on to dominate the London Irish folk scene playing for audiences made up of Irish, English, French and Germans as well as Australians, South Africans and other nationals all living in London at the time. Continuing to record and tour Britain and Europe extensively, they were seen by and influenced many of the Irish bands to follow, such as Shane MacGowan and the Pogues.
In the early 80’s Irish Mist performed the classic emigration song, Percy French’s The Mountains of Mourne on the chart-topping Green Velvet album produced by Michael McDonagh. A video of this song produced by Windmill Lane was later released on the highly successful Song for Ireland TV special and video. Irish Mist shared the concert stages with The Fureys, The Dubliners, Christy Moore, De Dannan and all the top names from the Irish Folk world. They recorded five albums plus various singles and a video before the band eventually split. Joe and Malcolm remained firm friends and joined forces over the years for selective recordings and live shows. Joe and Malcolm play a variety of instruments between them. Joe plays guitar, 5-string banjo, bodhran, mandolin and harmonica while Malcolm plays fiddle, mandolin, uilleann pipes, guitar and on special occasions - the harp. Malcolm is now an award winning travel journalist crossing the world and writing for London's Irish Post, amongst other publications. By coincidence Joe now also writes for the Irish Post. A poem by Cork poet Mary Buckley Clark about horse racing at the famous Curragh racecourse in County Kildare was the catalyst for an Irish Mist re-union. Joe was asked to compose music to the poem and Irish Mist recorded the resulting song. A stunning Celtic treatment of In The Ghetto followed and both songs are included on a new 16 tracks album entitled Irish Mist Perform Their Classic Collection featuring recordings spanning 30 years. A moving promo DVD of In The Ghetto, produced by Michael McDonagh, is also available. Irish Mist Enquiries:
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