Well, the highly coveted award for "Craig's favorite performance at the Dublin Irish Festival this year" goes to Killashandra. Killashandra, otherwise known as "Ted and Debbie," play their music in a way which is thoughtful and speaks volumes about the musicians. I think it is really music which could not be made by two people who had just met for the first time. At the same time, they have not allowed their years of making music together to make their music stale, either. It reminded me, in that way, of hearing Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, or June McCormack and Michael Rooney. Not so much in the musical style, but in the way that they worked together as partners.
Ted and Debbie play tunes slowly when it fits the tune and their own style, and they play less common(-ly performed today) rhythms, like barndances. They improvised and experimented with tunes in a way which seemed to surprise even themselves. Their performance was punctuated by occasional anecdotes about some of the tunes and where they learned them.
Unfortunately, they have no recordings released that I'm aware of. I'm hoping that will change. In the meantime, you'll probably be able to hear them at the Dublin Irish Festival next year, and they occasionally lead the session at Claddagh downtown. Regretfully, however, I've seen very few sessions in the Columbus area which made room for even occasional solo performances, and a lot of what is really special about Killashandra's music would be lost in the din of a local session.
