Danny Guinan

'Wise' is not a word one would normally equate with anybody not possessing a lifetime of experience and it is a word Danny Guinan only uses in his song 'If I was wise' to emphasise the fact that this Irish singer-songwriter is going to be around for a long time yet. Born and raised in what he describes as "the quietest and therefore the best place in Ireland", Co. Offaly, he has forged a career in music that has brought him from Offaly to Paris to Portland and back and everywhere in between.

Guinan is best described as an intuitive songwriter, seizing the moment when it comes to him and instead of wrestling with it letting it fly off again keeping only the song that he needs to draw from it. In a world of unparallelled blandness in music he is sworn to fighting for the integrity of 'the song'. It's probably not for nothing that Luka Bloom singled him out when asked on Belgian tv's 'Laatste Show' if he had any recommendations for people looking for the next up and coming Irish songwriter. And Luka Bloom, among others like Elvis Costello and Tom Waits, has been a constant source of inspiration to him. The resemblance, however, says nothing of Danny's deep-rooted commitment to making music based on an acoustic platform nor the undeniable Irish and 'Roots' strain that runs through his songs.

Live, the gig is a revelation. There are no trappings here, no fancy sideshows. He is as comfortable playing in his local pub as he was in Dranouter 2003, stealing the hearts of the folk festival public. That has a lot to do with the fact that he is regularly flanked by two of the finest musicians you are bound to find anywhere namely Siard de Jong and Onno Kuipers. With their combined ability on fiddle, accordion, bouzouki, whistles, mandolin and guitar the gig that they all put together is a wonder to behold. Not for the faint-hearted, live and on cd Danny Guinan leaves an impression on heart, mind and feet that one won't easily leave behind.

Siard de Jong

Siard has been playing with Danny for 10 years now and has featured on all 5 albums recorded in The Netherlands. While fiddle is his main instrument he plays such a plethora of others that the list is just too long to write down here (11 different instruments on the new album for example).

This virtuoso has been fascinated by music from a very young age and had mastered the fiddle, banjo and whistles before going to Ireland for the first time aged 15 with his paper-round money in his back-pocket. Of course Ireland did it for him and he has gone on to play with a vrtual 'who's-who' list of famous Irish musicians including Ronnie Drew, Mike Hanrahan, Keith Donald, Finbar Furey and Eleanor Shanley.

Siard is certainly not a musician with only one string to his bow. He has displayed his multi-styled virtuousity with country, rock and pop acts like Within Temptation, De Drie Tieten and Ad Vanderveen among many others. A much-in-demand session musician as well as if he didn't have enough to do. Siard has his own site, www.siard-de-jong.com, where you can find out more about this gifted musician.

Onno Kuipers

Onno was inspired at the age of 8 to play the accordion by the music of his famous uncle Rens van der Zalm. His formative years were spent playing Hot Club and Cajun and through these he became a member of the much-loved Louisiana Radio with whom he played for ten years. In between those gigs he compiled for himself an impressive CV recording and playing with Dimitri van Toren, Fungus, Rob de Nijs, Normaal and more.

After Louisiana Radio hung up their washboards Danny asked Onno to join the band and in no time he had become part of the backbone of their sound. Thus it was with some difficulty that he had to decide whether or not to join The Berinis for their 2005/06 farewell tour. He did but was back with Danny in time to record the new album while still finding the time to also play with The 4tuoze Matrozen.

A witheringly brilliant accordion player (he has 10 of the things!) Onno is also no mean guitarist, mandolin player, whistle… well, you get the picture.

Janos Koolen

Janos is a young man with a burning passion for strings and acoustic music. He joined Danny's band in 2005 and has become a fixed asset in a short space of time. An accomplished and stylish guitar and mandolin player his interest in music of all sorts led him to study the stuff in Utrecht from 1999. Not content with this he put everything into practise by recording his own solo cd "In my garden" which he toured throughout Holland.

He's also played and plays in may other Irish and Bluegrass bands and played at many the festival throughout Europe. Apart from playing with Danny he also treads the boards with Izak Boom, Hobson's Choice, Kaz Lux and Gilles Rullmann. A dynamic and dazzling talent. Not to mention the whistle-playing, piano, 5-string banjo…

And further