Séamus Egan to return to Pastorius June 28

Posted 6/26/17

Seamus Egan by Carole Verona Although Séamus Egan performed with his Irish band Solas at Pastorius Park several times during the past decade, he actually played here for the first time “years and …

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Séamus Egan to return to Pastorius June 28

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Seamus Egan

by Carole Verona

Although Séamus Egan performed with his Irish band Solas at Pastorius Park several times during the past decade, he actually played here for the first time “years and years and years ago when I was a teenager,” he recalled.

After 21 years with Solas, Egan will perform with a newly formed group called the Séamus Egan Project at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28,

Egan, who sings and says he “plays more instruments than he can carry,” is accomplished on the Irish flute, tenor banjo, guitar, mandolin, tin whistle, and low whistle, among others. With him will be Moira Smiley, a singer from Los Angeles who plays banjo, accordion and piano, and Kyle Sanna, a guitar player from Brooklyn.

Once again, the free Pastorius Park series is produced by the Chestnut Hill Community Association and is sponsored by Chestnut Hill Hospital. The Seamus Egan Project performance is sponsored by The Co-op Shop.

Egan’s father came here as a young man from County Mayo, Ireland, and met Egan’s mother, who was born and raised in Germantown, at the Irish Center on Carpenter Lane in Mt. Airy. She was the daughter of Irish immigrants from Donegal. Séamus was born here and the family moved back to Ireland when he was about 3 years old. Ten years later, they returned to America and settled in Lansdowne.

It was about that time when Egan met Mick Moloney, a local folklorist and musician. “When I was 13 or 14, Mick took me under his wing,” he said. “I would be over at his house in Germantown going through his 78s and meeting all these musicians who were passing through. That was an accelerated education course in music for me.

“Mick would say, ‘I’m playing over at Pastorius Park tonight with Eugene O’Donnell. Come with us.’ It was just like that. I would sit in and play a few songs with them and that’s how I started playing at Pastorius Park all those years ago.”

So what can audience members who have never heard Séamus Egan or Solas perform expect to hear and experience?

“We will play songs that are new, that have never been performed or recorded before and also some things from the Solas repertoire. In a very general sense, it’s acoustic folk music that originated in Irish music,” he said.

He explained that much of the American folk music tradition came over from Ireland.

“There is a strong connection at the cellular level between American folk music and Irish Celtic music,” he noted. “Irish music has strong healthy bones and you can do an awful lot with it. You can bring things into it or put things around it and the center of it always seems to hold. We’re fortunate to have music like that. It’s difficult not to have outside influences in how you play or sing even though the blood running through your musical veins might be of a certain type.”

After 21 years of playing together, Egan and his Solas bandmates decided to put the group on hiatus so that they could spend some time at home and explore new opportunities.

“To keep the cobwebs from gathering, I have been composing, producing albums and working on soundtracks,” he said. “I plan to get into the studio soon.”

Moira Smiley, a singer and composer from Los Angeles, creates and performs new work for voices. Her voice and compositions can be heard in feature films, BBC and PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 60 albums. When she’s not performing solo or with her band VOCO, Smiley tours with other indie artists and bands. VOCO has recorded four albums. She has a degree in early music vocal performance from Indiana University School of Music.

Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer, and producer Kyle Sanna has performed with many of today’s virtuosos, including multiple Grammy Award-winning artists Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile, as well as with well-known interpreters of Irish music including Kevin Burke and Martin Hayes. His music has been performed at the Bach House in Eisenach, the Sultan of Oman’s Royal Opera House, Sydney’s ABC studios, and Carnegie Hall. He has given guitar workshops at the Montana State Women’s Prison, at an orphanage in Juárez, Mexico, and at numerous universities and festivals from Alaska to Cuba.

Egan is looking forward to his performance at Pastorius Park. “I have always had a fond place for Pastorius Park in my heart because of the memories of being there so long ago,” he said..

Egan, who is single, lives in Center City.

“It’s just me and my banjo,” he said.

For more information, go to https://myriadartists.com/seamusegan/.

Pastorius Park is two blocks west of Germantown Avenue at the corner of Millman Street and Hartwell Lane. Rain venue is the lower auditorium at SCHA Cherokee Campus. More information about the concert series is at www.chestnuthill.org or call 215-248-8810.

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