Eileen Ivers
Encyclopedia
Eileen Ivers was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
of Irish-born parents and grew up in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
. She spent summers in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and took up the fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
at the age of nine. Her teacher was the Irish fiddler Martin Mulvihill
Martin Mulvihill
Martin Mulvihill was an Irish traditional musician, composer, teacher, and author. He composed roughly 25 tunes in the Irish traditional style....
. She toured with Mick Moloney
Mick Moloney
Michael "Mick" Moloney is a traditional Irish musician and scholar. Born in Limerick, County Limerick, he was an important figure on the Dublin folk-song revival in the 1960s. In 1973, he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
's band The Green Fields of America
Green Fields of America
The Green Fields of America is an ensemble which performs and promotes Irish traditional music in the United States."The Green Fields of America" was formed in 1978 in Philadelphia and still led by musician and folklorist Mick Moloney. The band was created to present and tour some of Irish...
, founded in 1977. She graduated magna cum laude from Iona College
Iona College (New York)
Iona College is located in New Rochelle, New York, 20 miles north of Manhattan in suburban Westchester County. The college occupies 35 acres on North Ave. The college also operates a Graduate Center in Pearl River, Rockland County, New York....
in New York and has done post-graduate work in mathematics.
History
Eileen was a founding member of Cherish the LadiesCherish the Ladies
Cherish the Ladies is an American all-female Irish-American super group. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985, the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene...
. She recorded and toured with them for several years.
in 1995, she replaced the original fiddler in the Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
Irish dance troupe and toured with them.
Her original blue Barcus-Berry electric fiddle was certainly eye-catching and inspired the name of her album Wild Blue. She later replaced it with a blue ZETA Strados acoustic-electric fiddle, which up until now was a one-of-a-kind instrument with unique sound and ambience. It was custom-made for her by ZETA Music Systems (who will be producing an "Eileen Ivers Signature Series" Blue electric violin
Electric violin
An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body...
exactly like hers).
Micheál Ó Súilleabháin is an Irish composer who uses folk, classical and jazz influences. Eileen has recorded with him on the television series River of Sound and on his album Becoming (1998).
She also recorded a traditional air for the soundtrack to the film Gangs of New York
Gangs of New York
Gangs of New York is a 2002 historical film set in the mid-19th century in the Five Points district of New York City. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan. The film was inspired by Herbert Asbury's 1928 nonfiction book, The Gangs of New...
, entitled "Lament for Stalker Wallace". She also appears on the soundtrack for the film Some Mother's Son
Some Mother's Son
Some Mother's Son is a 1996 film written and directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, co-written by Jim Sheridan, and based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in the Maze Prison, in Northern Ireland...
.
Ivers was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards'
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
judging panel to support independent artists.
Solo
- Eileen Ivers - Traditional Irish Music (1994)
- Wild Blue (1996)
- So Far (1979 - 1995) (1995)
- Crossing the Bridge (1999)
- Gangs of New York "Lament for Stalker Wallace" (2002)
- Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul (2003)
- An Nollaig: An Irish Christmas (2007)
As a session or guest musician
- Seed (2003) by Afro Celt Sound SystemAfro Celt Sound SystemThe Afro Celt Sound System is a musical group which fuses modern electronic dance rhythms with traditional Irish and West African music...
- "The Fiddling Ladies" by The ChieftainsThe ChieftainsThe Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
on the album Tears of StoneTears of Stone (album)Tears of Stone is an album by The Chieftains, released in 1999. Each track features a different female guest artist or group, with the exception of Jim Corr of the Corrs and Jimmy and John of The Rankins...
(1999) - "Becoming" by Micheál Ó Súilleabháin (1998)
- "Celtic Solstice" by Paul Winter
- "New York Town" by Black 47Black 47Black 47 are a New York City based celtic rock band with Irish Republican sympathies, whose music also shows influence from reggae, hip hop, folk and jazz...
on the album New York Town (2004) - Voice of Hope by Tommy FlemingTommy FlemingTommy Fleming is an Irish singer and philanthropist. He rose to fame in the early 1990s after he was asked to tour the US with Phil Coulter. He soon established himself as a solo artist, he found his greatest success singing traditional Irish music with his forceful and dynamic bel canto tenor...
- Absolutely Irish, a multi-artist session recording (2008)
As a guest artist
- "The Violin" composed by David YazbekDavid YazbekDavid Yazbek is an American writer, musician, composer, and lyricist. He wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals The Full Monty , Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown ....
, vocalist Brian DewanBrian DewanBrian Dewan is an artist who works in many media, including art, music, audio-visual performances, decorative painting, furniture design, poetry and musical instrument design. He has produced three albums of songs and concertized extensively as a solo artist, as well as having performed in various...
on the compilation album Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? (album)Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? is the soundtrack to the popular educational children's TV game show of the same name that ran from 1991 to 1996...
by RockapellaRockapellaRockapella is an American a cappella musical group formed in 1986 in New York City. Their name is derived from the words "rock" and "a cappella". They sing original vocal music and a cappella covers of pop and rock songs; over time, their sound has evolved from high-energy pop and world music...
(1992)
External links
- EileenIvers.com, official website