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about

The debut recording of the transatlantic Irish duo of American multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock and Parisian flute and whistle player Michel Sikiotakis, France's first All-Ireland whistle champion (whose virtuoso flight on “The Whistling Postman” must be heard to be believed). Pure drop Irish airs, jigs, reels and hornpipes lovingly rendered by two masters of the craft.

“If you think Sikiotakis is kind of an unusual last name for an Irish flute player, you’re right. And if you think Michel is an unusual first name both for an Irish flute player and for someone whose last name is Sikiotakis, you’re right again. But if you think that being a Frenchman of Greek ethnic extraction has any adverse effect on Michel Sikiotakis’ mastery of Irish flute and whistle technique, you only have to hear this album to see that you’re dead wrong. The American guitar and bouzouki virtuoso Robin Bullock is given equal billing on The Irish Girl, but Sikiotakis is the center of gravity here, his warm, woody and lilting tone and joyfully virtuosic delivery inviting both admiration and awe. Highly recommended.” – All Music Guide

“A gorgeous collection of (mostly) Irish instrumentals from well-known string wizard Robin Bullock and former All-Ireland Champion flutist Michael Sikiotakis. Bullock’s playing, on guitar and bouzouki, is subtle enough to let the whole range of flute dynamics through. Sikiotakis is, simply, a genius!” – Sing Out: Winter 2004

“Much-travelled American Irish guitar and bouzouki hero meets French wooden flute and whistle player, music collector and All-Ireland champion in a Parisian Irish pub, and the result is…well, jolly good. Great tunes, great musicianship and a live spontaneous feel…who needs a big band?” – Folk Roots

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(Liner notes from original release on Dorian Recordings, 2003)

The traditional Irish music scene, like traditional music scenes everywhere I suppose, is a complete universe and a very small village at the same time. The music is literally all over the world now, yet everybody involved in it seems to know everybody else, if not directly then by only a few degrees of separation. And there’d be nothing surprising in an American guitarist meeting a French flute player in an Irish pub in Paris and discovering a natural chemistry – which is exactly what happened in 2000 at Connolly’s Corner on the Left Bank, the night I met Michel Sikiotakis.

As soon as I heard him play, I realized that here was one of the genre’s finest flute and whistle players. He also knew a thing or two about the music, as I later found out – he’d traveled through Ireland recording great musicians (flute player Kevin Crawford, for one, well before he shot to fame with Lúnasa), he’d helped organize French concerts for the likes of the Chieftains, Altan and De Danann, and of course he’d won two All-Ireland championships himself, one as a member of his first group and one as a tin whistle soloist.

As for me, I’d been rambling the Irish music circuit in North America for a while, first eleven years on the road with Helicon mixing Celtic tradition with its cousins from the rest of the world, then a year and a half touring and recording with All-Ireland button accordion champion John Whelan, as well as getting to teach alongside some of the world’s greatest Celtic musicians every July at North Carolina’s Swannanoa Gathering. So my ears were primed when I came to Paris and heard Michel sailing through reels, jigs and heartbreaking slow airs, one after another, with the power and authority that only come from many years of mastery. We started hanging out at his apartment overlooking the Parc de la Villette, playing duo concerts around Paris, sharing tunes and laughs, and gradually realized that something was happening here that wanted to be documented…

Enter Dorian Recordings, et voilà. It’s an honor to join such a musician as Michel in a duo, and even more, to call him my friend. We offer you here a few tunes from our first couple of years of playing together, and we hope you enjoy them.

– Robin Bullock

credits

released May 1, 2003

Robin Bullock: guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, keyboards
Michel Sikiotakis: wooden flute, tin whistle

Recorded in Paris, 2002-2003

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about

Robin Bullock Black Mountain, North Carolina

Robin Bullock has been hailed as one of the 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists by DigitalDreamDoor.com, “one of the best folk instrumentalists in the business” by Sing Out! Magazine, “breathtaking” by Guitar Player Magazine, and a “Celtic guitar god” by Baltimore City Paper. His virtuosity on guitar, cittern and mandolin blends Celtic, Appalachian and Baroque influences into one beautiful whole. ... more

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