The Celtic band Orion has been a going concern since 1987.
Its music testifies to a wholly personal approach of the Celtic tradition. Powerfully
swinging dance tunes alternate with haunting slow airs, graceful melodies and
beautifully crafted traditional songs . Orion also guides the listener through
less known music by Turlough O’Carolan, the blind Irish harpist from the
18th century.
Recently the band has been playing more of its own compositions, combining a
multitude of musical influences.
Since its foundation Orion has undergone a number of changes in its line-up, often including leading Irish, Breton and Scottish musicians.
Orion has played an impressive number of concerts and festivals, touring from Galway in the west of Ireland down to the Gaza strip in the Middle East. The group appeared in many radio and television shows and was highly praised on Radio France, BBC, the Irish radio, and the Belgian VRT-RTBF.
Their previous CD Blue Room appeared
on the Breton label Keltia Musique.
Several prominent artists contributed to the making of this record:
Johnny Mc Donagh (De Dannan, Arcady, Riverdance), Céline T’
Hooft (Zap Mama), Youenn Le Bihan (Brittany’s champion bombardplayer,
member of bands such as Gwerz and Skolvan), Wiet Van De Leest(fiddler
with Flander’s foremost folkband Rum, and later on with Madou), the famous
string quartet Halvenhalf, and Welshman Mike Butcher (sound technician
to Marvin Gaye, Black Sabbath, Toots Thielemans, Philip Cathérine, Adamo,
...).
The Blue Room album has received the accolades of the international
musical press and was printed on 32.000 copies so far.
Along with other artists such as The Chieftains, The Corrs, Altan, Déanta, The Poozies, Milladoiro, Billy Jackson of Ossian fame, Capercaillie, John Whelan and Eileen Ivers, Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, Dan Ar Braz, Loreena Mc Kennitt, Carlos Nunez, ... Orion appears on more than fifteen compilation albums (Narada-records, Sony Music, Earthtone-Universal, Keltia Musique, Fonofolk, ... )
In addition, their album 1990 has been re-released in 1995 to widespread acclaim (Keltia Musique, RSCD 218).
Restless Home , Orion ‘s latest
album features some of the finest musicians from Ireland, Scotland, Brittany
and Belgium:
Philip Catherine(one of the world’s best jazz guitarists), Donal
Lunny (Planxty, Bothy Band and Moving Hearts), Soïg Siberil
(Gwerz, Kornog , Den, Pennou Skoulm, Celtic Fiddle Festival,...), Nicolas
Quemener(member of Irish band Arcady, plays with Breton artists such as
Dan Ar Braz and Gilles Servat), Alain Genty (bassplayer with Gwerz, Barzaz,
Tony Mc Manus, ...).
During several months, the album was n°1 in the breton playlists and was
elected "folk album of the year 1998" by several breton radiostations. The breton
magazine Pays De Bretagne mentions Restless Home in a list
of 15 best albums of the year 1998.
Restless Home was very well received by the general public: hardly
thirty days after its release, 5.000 copies were sold in France.
The album has already been described by critics worldwide as a masterpiece in
Celtic music , thus confirming Orion’s position as one of the leading bands
on the international folkscene today.