Irish | Sligo, Ireland
Teada, Gaelic for “strings”, is a traditional band that formed in Sligo, Ireland 21 years ago that has grown to have a worldwide reach. Teada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, Israel, and Australia. Highlights include a 30,000-capacity stadium concert in Brittany, along with performances at Rainforest World Music Festival & Penang World Music Festival in Malaysia, Edmonton Folk Festival in Canada, Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, and World Music Festival Taiwan. In 2014 the band performed for 40,000 people during an extensive 7-week tour of Japan and Taiwan.
The six members of the band are fiddle player Oisin Mac Diamada, button accordion player Paul Finn, Damien Stenson performs on flute, Seán Mc Elwain switches between the bouzouki and guitar, and bodhran player Tristan Rosentock. Samantha Harvey performs on the piano and also performs Irish dance.
In 2001, Teada appeared on the Irish television series, Flosc, and it brought them to national attention. When their debut album Téada was released, The Irish Times lauded the band for “keeping the traditional flag flying at full mast,” and Scotland’s Edinburgh Evening News wrote, “If there is a better new band on the Emerald Isle, they must be very, very good.”
Spring 2022 brought the release of Téada’s sixth album on the Gael Linn label, featuring the brilliant vocals of Séamus Begley along with the band’s customary re-energizing of rare tunes from the tradition.