Uiscedwr

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Uiscedwr
Uiscedwr, left to right: Kevin Dempsey, Anna Esslemont, Cormac Byrne
Origin	Cheshire \ Yorkshire
Country	United Kingdom
Years active	2003 - present
Genres	Folk music, Contemporary Folk
Labels	Yukka Records
Members	Anna Esslemont, Cormac Byrne, Kevin Dempsey
Website(s)	http://www.uiscedwr.com

Uiscedwr, pronounced "ish-ka-dooer" (roll the 'r'), are a British trio which was based in Manchester, but has recently moved to the Yorkshire area. The band has a contemporary folk sound that mixes lively dance numbers, mournful fiddle tunes and songs. Their music has gained much praise from critics and the group won the BBC Young Folk Award in 2003 [1].

As well as touring and recording, Uiscedwr run courses in fiddle, guitar and bodhrán.

1 Members
2 History
3 Anna's battle with Aplastic Anaemia
4 Discography
5 External links

[edit] Members

Uiscedwr's membership has altered a little as the band have found their place and the members have worked on the progression of their own musical ideas.

Anna Esslemont plays fiddle and sings. One of the founder members of the band, Esslemont dropped out of the Royal Northern College of Music in order to pursue a freer musical style than was offered by the classical world. She grew up in Wales, and has played the violin since she was six, playing in both the North Powys Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.

Cormac Byrne is from County Waterford in Ireland, and plays bodhrán, having discovered his passion for percussion at the age of 12. He went on to become a member of Tommy Hayes’ percussion orchestra Spraoi Drummers. Despite being from Ireland, he didn't discover Irish traditional music until he moved to Manchester. As well as touring and recording with Uiscedwr, Byrne has been touring with Seth Lakeman and recently gained a BBC Fame Academy Bursary, [2] which was used to partially fund Uiscedwr's second album, Circle.

Kevin Dempsey is the oldest member of the group, but also the newest addition, replacing Ben Hellings as guitarist. He has had a varied career as musician and producer with numerous artists including Dave Swarbrick. He also appeared on stage with folk rock legends Fairport Convention at the 2003 Cropredy Festival.[3] As a singer, he also adds male vocals to the group.

[edit] History

Esslemont and Byrne met in Manchester in 2002, and soon afterwards determined to form a group together. Byrne invited a friend from Ireland to play the guitar, and with the lineup fleshed out by Esslemont's younger sister they entered the BBC Young Folk Awards 2002, which they won. Despite the win, the guitarist left the group, and Esslemont called upon an old acquaintance, Ben Hellings. Now as a trio of Esslemont, Byrne and Hellings, they recorded Everywhere in 2003, which gained a high profile in the folk world and earned the group a nomination for the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2005.

Unfortunately, shortly before the Folk Awards, differences within the group led to the departure of Hellings. His replacement was found in the form of guitarist Kevin Dempsey, whose vocals would also add to the group's sound.

[edit] Anna's battle with Aplastic Anaemia

In 2005, Esslemont fell ill with aplastic anaemia, and although her recovery has progressed well, the illness has cut back on the group's tour schedule and delayed their second album.

It has been announced recently that Esslemont will be having a bone marrow transplant in December 2006, which has led to the cancellation of all gigs until June 2007. This has included the cancellation of The Blood Tour - a charity tour planned for December to raise money for the Aplastic Anaemia Trust and to raise awareness of the need to donate blood, platelets and bone marrow. As a compromise both Esslemont and Byrne took part in a sponsored charity event to raise money fot the Aplastic Anaemia Trust, The Aplastic Anaemia Trust's Vampire Fun Run in London on October 29th. Anna and Cormac are taking donations via the link at the bottom of the page, and have so far raised more than £2,000 for the charity!