Ballycotton (band)
| Ballycotton | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Folk , world music |
| founding | 1996 |
| Website | http://www.ballycotton.at |
| Current occupation | |
| Alex King | |
| Christina Gaismeier | |
| Harald G. Binder | |
| Robert Upholsterer | |
| Peter Beinhofer | |
Ballycotton is a folk group from Austria that has made a name for itself since April 1996 with performances in Austria, Germany , Holland , Luxembourg and Taiwan . It all started with an experimental group called Glakijamus who played mostly Irish, Spanish and Russian folk standards. The band was later renamed Ballycotton after a small fishing village in the south of Ireland. Of the members of Glakijamus, only Alex König and Harald G. Binder remain to this day .
In February 1997 the first (maxi) CD "Joanna's Wedding" was released and two months later the first tour took Ballycotton to Germany and Holland. In September 1997, whether the great success of "Joanna's Wedding" and the concerts in Austria and abroad, it was time for a second CD - "Fairytale" to appear in Austria , Germany , Switzerland , Hong Kong and Taiwan released.
Alexander Miksch joined the band at the beginning of 1999, but left after 8 months because he wanted to develop in a different musical direction. After only one month, however, an equivalent replacement was found: Jock Brocks (fiddle, banjo, mandolin, tin-whistle) and Christina Gaismeier (violin). Also a little later Andreas Neumeister (guitar) found the band.
After that, Ballycotton partially left his Irish roots and began to include melodies from all European folk music in the repertoire. The recordings for the 3rd CD "a la cut" began.
In 2001 the connections to the Taiwanese record company Jingo Digital Inc. paid off and a sensational Taiwan tour followed with concerts in sold out concert halls.
In March 2003, 2 years after the release of "a la cut", the 4th CD "Mondland" was released, which, like the other sound carriers, is distributed in Taiwan by Jingo Records.
After Jock Brocks left the company at the end of 2003, there were further changes. From 2004 the band has an experienced folk musician, Peter Beinhofer (member of the established Irish folk band Blackbush) and with the accordion one more new instrument. In the following time there is a lot of play and work, a music video for "Me in the middle" is created. In 2005 the concept album "Eyla" is released, which tells the imaginative story of the Elf Eyla. In the same year, the documentary video "Ballycotton - Portrait of a Band" was created in collaboration with the filmmaker vienzenz . With a visit to Taipei and a series of radio interviews, it was possible to secure distribution via Jingo Records for "Eyla" and the documentary video.
In 2006 Robert Polsterer (guitar, overtone singing) took over the part of Andreas Neumeister.
The next work from Ballycotton's Fantasy Workshop was published in 2009 and is called "Beyond the End of Time". In terms of content, this album with titles such as "Encounter in the Horizon", "The Journey", "Weather Lights" or "Hinterwelt" is an inspiring gallery tour.
Discography
- Joanna's Wedding (Feb. 1997, maxi-CD, 5 tracks)
- Fairytale (Sep 1997, 11 tracks)
- A la cut (Feb 2001, 14 tracks)
- Mondland (March 2003, 12 titles)
- Eyla (Dec. 2005, 14 tracks)
- Beyond the End of Time (Jan 2009, 13 tracks)
Filmography
- "Ballycotton - Portrait of a band", directed by vienzenz; DVD (Nov. 2005)