Live at the Druid Presents "The Music of the Flanagan Brothers"

The Druid Pub in Inman Square, renowned for its authentic Irish atmosphere and live traditional music, is launching a new concert series spotlighting global roots music. The concert series will take place next door at The Lilypad, a cozy venue in Inman Square, offering an intimate setting for this special event.

Featuring Dan Neely on Banjo, Diarmuid Ó Meachair on Melodeon and Matt Mulqueen on Piano. Enjoy a concert of live music and a presentation about the music and lives of the Flanagan Brothers from the 1920's.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the Flanagan Brothers were one of Irish music's most successful acts. Major attractions both on radio and live at all of NYC's most important dance halls, the group's creative, high-spirited energy perfectly reflected that era’s Irish sensibility and is captured on the nearly 170 sides they made for every record label of the day. This concert will explore the ebullient genius of these recordings and feature a program of in-person performance set against an extraordinary backdrop of archival sounds and projected images that celebrate the music and lives of these important Irish music pioneers.

Daniel Neely is a musician and ethnomusicologist (Ph.D, New York University 2008). He's written the weekly column about traditional music for New York's Irish Echo newspaper since 2012 and has been a member of Ward Irish Music Archive's board of directors since 2021. From 2008-2023, he was the Public Relations Officer for the Mid-Atlantic Region of Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann and from 2012-2016 he was the artistic director of the Augusta Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia. In addition, he led the popular traditional music session at Lillie’s Bar and Restaurant in Manhattan from 2009-2017, he played tenor banjo with the champion New York Céilí Band in 2016-2017, and from 2005–2013 he led the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, a New York-based group that was modeled on the Irish-American dance bands of the 1920s and 1930s. He learned to play the tenor banjo with Mick Moloney and is a fiddle student of Brian Conway's. He's taught master's level courses on Irish music at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House and has given invited lectures on Irish music history at Boston College, Technical University Dublin, Na Píobairí Uilleann, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the Irish American Heritage Museum, and the Ward Irish Music Archives.

Diarmuid Ó Meachair is an Accordion player from Cúil Aodha, Co. Cork. He is also an accomplished Melodeon player and sean-nós singer. He was awarded the prestigious TG4 Young Musician of the year award in 2022. Diarmuid is part of the teaching staff at the Department of Music in UCC and he teaches Irish Music at Holy Cross University, Worcester, Massachusetts. Diarmuid has released 4 solo albums to date, "Siúl na Slí" (December 2022), "Melodeon Medleys" (July 2023), "Diarmuid Ó Meachair" in (July 2024) and released a live album from a solo concert celebrating the single row Melodeon with Sean nós dancing (June 2025). He has been nominated for 3 RTÉ Folk Awards as "Best instrumentalist" (2023 & 2024) and "Best emerging artist" (2023).

They will be accompanied by Matt Mulqueen on piano.

Matt Mulqueen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, into a musical family. His older brothers played button accordion and fiddle, and his sister became a champion step-dancer. This environment instilled in Matt an irresistible desire to learn and play Irish traditional music. His first music instruction came in the second grade when he joined the boys choir at his elementary school. At age nine, Matt asked his parents if he could learn to play the piano. He began with group piano lessons at a local community college. From there, he progressed to private lessons in Irish and Classical music with Donna Long, who has been the greatest influence on Matt's playing. Listening to the host of traditional musicians who haunt Irish pubs and to innumerable recordings allowed Matt to forge his own compelling style of accompanying Irish music. 

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