An Irish-Greek collaboration that began with the Ireland’s national music touring and development organisation Music Network commission Songbird and has continued to develop and evolve. Bright Phoebus, an Irish-Greek/Hellenic ensemble which participates annually as the house band for the Irish Wings music festival on Paxos, Greece consists of five members: The artistic director of Belfast Trad Festival Dónal O’ Connor, the singer and musician Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, the singer Chrysoula Kechagioglou, the multi – instrumentalist Alexandros Kapsokavadis and the canun player Effie Zaitidou. In Paxos, Bright Phoebus has collaborated with amongst others Paul Brady, Neil Finn (Crowded House) & Liam Ó Maonlaí.

Most recently, the collaboration formed part of the cultural program around Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, including a performance at the Numismatic Museum of Athens on 7 July.

The program from the recent Athens performance and some further background on the Irish-Greek collaboration is found here:

ireland.ie/en/greece
One of the great highlights of our Athens performance was the opportunity to collaborate with Ross Daly, one of the world’s foremost interpreters and composers working across the modal musical traditions of Crete, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. Of Irish descent and based in Crete since 1975, Ross founded the remarkable Labyrinth Musical Workshop in Houdetsi, which brings master musicians and students from across the world together through an extensive programme of seminars, masterclasses and concerts. 

Bright Phoebus continues to grow, evolve and create new musical relationships and has developed into a genuine and ongoing musical relationship between Ireland and Greece.