Dervish’s founding members were childhood friends in County Sligo, the same creatively fertile region that spawned a group of legendary fiddle players who emigrated to the U.S. in the 1920s, then recorded the first known Irish-music albums of any genre. As young musicians in 1989, the band members were commissioned to record an album of music from the renowned Sligo tradition. Despite a feverish response from all around the world, Dervish turned down record-deal offers and launched their own label and career, releasing their sophomore effort Harmony Hill in 1993, immediately seeing the album climb the Irish mainstream charts. The band have since released 14 albums on their own labeland in recent years they have been working with Rounder Records and the Concord Music Group in Nashville.
Through the years, Dervish has appeared at some of the world’s biggest festivals, from Glastonbury in the UK to Paleo in Switzerland to Rock in Rio, with the “great and good” of the entertainment industry while steadily making their name as of the foremost purveyors of Irish folk music of their generation.
Along with Guinness, Jameson and Kerrygold butter, one of Ireland’s greatest exports may be Dervish, a dazzling Irish traditional band described by one reviewer as “the most compelling, most soulful Irish traditional folk band playing today.” Denise Foley Irish Philadelphia
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