Joanie Madden is an Irish-American flute and whistle player of Irish traditional music. She is best known as leader of the all-female group Cherish the Ladies, but has also recorded and performed with numerous other musicians, and as a solo artist. [1] She also teaches master classes and workshops. [2]
Madden was born in the Bronx to Irish immigrants. Her father, Joe, was an All-Ireland Champion on the accordion and a well known and respected Irish musician who was inducted into the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Mid-Atlantic Region Hall of Fame in 1992. As a young child, Madden started her journey as a musician by taking some lessons on the fiddle and piano, but the instruments didn't hold her interest. She eventually became enamored with the tin whistle, and paid for her own lessons with neighbor and National Heritage Award Winner, Jack Coen. As a teenager and young adult, she gained experience playing with her father's band, and with classmate Eileen Ivers. In 1983, at the age of 18, she won the All-Ireland Championship on both the flute and tin whistle, and in 1984 she travelled back to Ireland to compete once again and became the first American to win the Senior All-Ireland Championship for tin whistle. Shortly after, Mick Moloney contacted her about performing, emceeing and helping him organize a concert series featuring women musicians. Joanie suggested the title; "Cherish the Ladies" as the name of the concert series and this developed into the Internationally renowned band by the same name, which Joanie has headed since its inception. [3] Since then, she has performed and recorded on over 200 albums and is in constant demand as a soloist and recording artist. While the majority of her work is within the Irish tradition, she has also played on film scores and with artists of varied styles such as Sinéad O'Connor and Pete Seeger, Don Henley, Luka Bloom, Sharon Shannon, Lunasa, Kathy Mattea, Eileen Ivers, Vince Gill, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Chapin, Paddy Reilly, Eric Weissberg, Matt Molloy, Tommy Makem, The Clancy Brothers, The Boston Pops and many more. She has recorded three solo albums; her solo album Song of the Irish Whistle is the most successful whistle album ever recorded in history, selling hundreds of thousands of units. On February 17, 2007, Madden followed in her father's footsteps and was honored when she was inducted into the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Mid-Atlantic Region Hall of Fame. [4]
Madden's choice of flute is rare in Irish traditional music as she plays a Boehm-system flute [5] (sometimes referred to as a "classical" or "silver" flute). The majority of flute players in traditional Irish music play simple-system wooden flutes. The classical flute is not a natural choice of instrument for this style of music, since it is difficult to perform certain ornamentation, for example slides are impossible on a beginner's instrument without ring keys, [6] and different strategies are needed for other types of ornamentation. Madden has broken down these barriers and has been singled out by some of the leading lights in the flute world; Matt Molloy of The Chieftains and James Galway have both remarked that Madden is one of the best flutists in Irish music today.
In 2011, Madden received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of her artistry and her support of Irish-American music and culture. She also had a street named after her on the Grand Concourse in her native Bronx; Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies.
In 2012, Madden was named a Fellow of United States Artists. [7]
She is a recipient of a 2021 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. [8]
The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. A tin whistle player is called a whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Irish traditional music and Celtic music. Other names for the instrument are the flageolet, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, or Irish whistle.
The Fleadh Cheoil, or "music festival" in English, is an annual Irish arts festival and competition run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, or CCÉ, a non-profit organisation which aims to promote the learning of and performance of Irish traditional music and dance internationally and domestically, as the group maintains international branches in several countries.
Green Linnet Records was an American independent record label that specialized in Celtic music. Founded by Lisa Null and Patrick Sky as Innisfree Records in 1973, the label was initially based in Null's house in New Canaan, Connecticut. In 1975 the label became Innisfree/Green Linnet and Wendy Newton joined Null and Sky as operating officer. In 1976 Newton took over control of the now Green Linnet label and moved it to Danbury, Connecticut in 1985. Newton became sole owner in 1978. Newton's love of Irish music had been sparked during a visit to Ireland where she heard traditional music for the first time in a small pub in County Clare.
Matt Molloy is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at nineteen. Considered one of the most brilliant Irish musicians, his style that adapts piping techniques to the flute has influenced many contemporary Irish flute players.
Ceoltóirí Chualann was an Irish traditional band, led by Seán Ó Riada, which included many of the founding members of The Chieftains. Ceoltóirí is the Irish word for musicians, and Cualann is the name of an area just outside Dublin where Ó Riada lived. Ó Riada's work with Ceoltóirí Chualann is credited with revitalizing the use of the bodhrán as a percussion instrument in Celtic music.
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician and producer. He plays guitar and bouzouki, as well as keyboards and bodhrán. As a founding member of popular bands Planxty, The Bothy Band, Moving Hearts, Coolfin, Mozaik, LAPD, and Usher's Island, he has been at the forefront of the renaissance of Irish traditional music for over five decades.
Cherish the Ladies is an American female super group that plays Celtic music. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985. It was the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene. The group took its name from a traditional Irish jig called "Cherish the Ladies", and the series opened to sold-out concerts. Their leader Joanie Madden plays flute and tin whistle. The other members of the group play a wide variety of instruments. Their albums contain both tunes and songs.
Eileen Ivers is an American fiddler.
The Irish flute is a conical-bore, simple-system, wooden flute of the type favoured by classical flautists of the early 19th century, or to a flute of modern manufacture derived from this design. The majority of traditional Irish flute players use a wooden, simple-system flute.
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician, best known for her work with the button accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 debut album, Sharon Shannon, was the best-selling album of traditional Irish music ever released in Ireland. Beginning with Irish folk music, her work demonstrates a wide-ranging number of musical influences. She won the lifetime achievement award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.
Joseph Burke was an Irish musician. He was noted for being a pre-eminent button accordion player, recording and performing traditional music for over half a century.
Micho Russell was an Irish musician and author best known for his expert tin whistle performance. He also played the simple-system flute and was a collector of traditional music and folklore.
Woman of the House, an album by Cherish the Ladies, was released in 2005 on the Rounder Records label.
At Home is an album by Irish-American folk group Cherish the Ladies that was released in 1999 on the RCA label. It contains a combination of traditional Irish folk songs, such as the Irish language "Is Fada Liom Uaimí Uaimí," and purely instrumental numbers, including jigs, reels, and airs. Bobby and Liam Clancy of The Clancy Brothers made guest appearances on the album. One of the members of Cherish the Ladies, Aoife Clancy, was the daughter of Bobby and the niece of Liam. Her brother, Finbarr Clancy, sings with them on "John o' Dreams," while her cousin Dónal Clancy accompanies them on guitar. This was the second-to-last album on which any of the Clancy Brothers appeared together.
Patrick J. Killoran (1903–1965) was an Irish traditional fiddle player, bandleader and recording artist. He is regarded, along with James Morrison and Michael Coleman, as one of the finest exponents of the south Sligo fiddle style in the "golden age" of the ethnic recording industry of the 1920s and 1930s.
"Róisín Dubh" is one of Ireland's most famous political songs. It is based on an older love-lyric which referred to the poet's beloved rather than, as here, being a metaphor for Ireland. The intimate tone of the original carries over into the political song. It is often attributed to Antoine Ó Raifteiri, but almost certainly predates him.
Maggie Boyle was an English, London-born folk singer, who also played flute, whistle and bodhrán.
Irish traditional music is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland.
Josie McDermott (1925–1992) was a traditional Irish musician: a flute and tin whistle player, composer and singer.
Feadóga Stáin, Mary Bergin's debut album, has been credited with establishing the tin whistle as one of the first tier among the standard instruments of Irish Traditional Music. Members of Irish group De Dannan contributed accompaniment and the album is mostly a trio of tin whistle, Irish bouzouki and Bodhrán. This album has been cited by Joanie Madden as highly influential in the development of her own playing, and is generally considered by critics and scholars as a "definitive" or milestone album.
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