Irish Origins Series: This is How we Fly

Petter Berndalen is a groundbreaking percussionist. Deeply rooted in the Swedish folkmusic tradition he is the first percussionist in the world with a degree in Swedish folkmsuic. After 10 years of studies he 2008 achieved the title Master of Fine Arts at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He frequently appear both as a solo artist as well as with different bands and projects, both in his home country Sweden and worldwide. 

Petter Berndalen has turned the accepted conditions and past norms of drum playing up-side-down. He is fascinated by the melodic function of solo fiddle performers of Swedish folk music, and this forms the basis for his playing. His goal is not to play something that fits in with folk music, but rather to play something that undoubtedly IS folk music. He achieves this by studying solo fiddle players and applying every minute detail to his percussion playing.

Photo credit: Fumbally

Nic Gareiss is a performer, educator, and researcher examining the employment of aesthetic movement as a medium of cultural meaning-making. Informed by 20 years of ethnographic study and performance of many world percussive dance traditions, Gareiss' choreographic work draws from many percussive dance traditions to weave together a dance technique facilitating his love of improvisation, traditional dance footwork vocabulary, and musical collaboration. He has concertized internationally for over ten years with many of the luminaries of traditional Irish and American folk music and presented his research at academic conferences internationally. Gareiss' MA thesis based upon ethnographic work with Irish LGBT competitive step dancers was the first piece of scholarship to query the experience of sexual minorities within Irish dance. His present research seeks to illuminate discursive formations of national identity, gender and sexual orientation via ethnography and embodied practice.

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"Consistently one of the most interesting and adventurous musicians of his generation." – The Irish Times

Seán Mac Erlaine is a Dublin based multi-instrumentalist and composer working in a variety of settings including free improvisation, jazz, folk music, theatre and radio. An accomplished saxophonist and clarinettist, Seán holds a PhD in music (practice-led research around live electronics in solo woodwind performance), a first degree honours Masters of Music (Jazz Performance) and a Diploma in Jazz Performance awarded by The Guildhall School of Music, London. He was awarded the Cork Jazz Festival Best Young Irish Artist Award in 2008, nominated for Irish Times Theatre Awards Best Sound Designer in 2010 and winner of Silver Medal for best editing at New York Festivals World's Best Radio Programs 2015.

Seán maintains a busy performance schedule in Ireland and internationally working with a hugely diverse range of musicians and artists reflecting his own versatility and interest in cross-platform work. He has performed with leading musical figures including Jan Bang, Bill Frisell, David Toop, Ernst Reijseger, Eivind Aarset, The Smith Quartet, Hayden Chisholm, Lisa Hannigan, Frank Gratkowski, Ronan Guilfoyle, Iarla O'Lionaird, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Damo Suzuki and many more. He has also performed as a special guest with Detroit techno legends Underground Resistance and The Gloaming. He has composed for and performed with poets Gabriel Rosenstock, Paula Meehan, Dermot Bolger, Ciaran Carson and Louis de Paor and has premiered
new works by composers Alvin Lucier, John Godfrey, Linda Buckley, Christopher Fox and Pauline Oliveros.

Although involved in a myriad of collaborative projects, solo performance remains at the core of Seán's practice. Seán started to play as a solo artist in 2006. His solo work since then has seen him take this research to PhD level combining custom designed software built in Max/MSP with woodwinds. He has released two critically acclaimed solo albums Long After The Music Is Gone (2012) and A Slender Song (2014). Seán’s primary group output is with This is How we Fly a contemporary folk band whose music sees Swedish folk rhythms meet the texture of traditional Irish fiddle, percussive dance from America, and improvised jazz and electronics. Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh – fiddle, hardanger fiddle. Seán Mac Erlaine – clarinets, live electronics. Nic Gareiss – percussive dance. Petter Berndalen – drums, percussion. TIHWF have performed throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, France and Scotland. Seán has recorded for radio (Nova, Documentary on One, The JK Ensemble, Arena, BBC Radio 3), television (RTÉ 1, BBC Alba) and can be heard on over 30 releases. He has performed his own music at festivals all across Ireland and Europe including flagship festivals such as Celtic Connections Glasgow, The Dublin Theatre Festival and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

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Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh performs on his 10-string Hardanger d'Amore fiddle and likes to explore that region where traditional music begins to disintegrate. He has made twelve albums to date, and has performed at the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall and the Lincoln Center, as well as many other beautiful venues around the world, both big and small. He writes much of his own music, as well as drawing on traditional material. He performs solo, and in duos with Dan Trueman, Cleek Schrey, Mick O'Brien & Brendan Begley. He is also a founder member of the groups This is How we Fly and The Gloaming.

Photo credit: Fumbally