Buille

BIO Formed in Cork in 2005, Buille have blazed a trail through traditional and contemporary music, releasing two critically lauded genre-defying albums and performing hundreds of concerts all over the world. Although the line-up has evolved over the years, the freshness and originality of the music has remained constant. Buille, which is the Irish for beat or strike, only partly describes the impact of the Buille sound which was described by the Irish Times as “as fresh a breath that’s blown through traditional (and roots) circles in a long, long time.” The music, which is all newly composed, draws its influences from jazz, blues, Eastern Europe, contemporary classical music, and of course their own deep roots in the Irish tradition. Their debut album, simply titled ‘Buille’ and released in 2005, was produced by Donald Shaw and released on his Vertical Records label. It quickly catapulted the group into the public consciousness and appearances at major festivals all over the world and extensive radio and TV coverage followed. The ‘sequel’, which had the even more imaginative title of ‘Buille 2’, was released in 2009 and cemented their position as one of the most unique and exciting bands on the touring folk circuit. The Irish Times described it as a “spine-tingling collection that bursts with originality” and The Journal of Music said “Quite simply this album represents the best of what contemporary traditional music is”.

Over the course of 2011 and 2012 the band organised a series of experimental concerts in Cork entitled ‘Junctions – New Musical Encounters’, where they invited a collection of their musical heroes to perform with them. The diverse line-ups included such luminaries as Béla Fleck, Martin Hayes, Michael McGoldrick, Mick Flannery, Karan Casey, Dónal Lunny and many others. In 2013 the group were the subject of an in-depth documentary on TG4 entitled Ar Thóir an Cheoil and also featured on the debut series of both Fleadh Live and Bosca Ceoil. Their third album Buille Beo was released in 2017. It is a collection of newly composed music performed and recorded live in the intimate surroundings of the Ionad Cultúrtha in Baile Bhúirne, West Cork. Joining the brothers are Ed Boyd on guitar, Brian Morrissey on bodhrán and percussion, and Kenneth Edge on soprano saxophone. The new material has influences from the worlds of jazz and contemporary classical music, and takes up where the previous two albums left off in the exploration of unconventional meters, grooves, and harmonies. The immediacy of live setting has brought an even greater vitality to the sound making this collection a new landmark in the band’s creative journey and development.

“Buille, the brainchild of Niall Vallely, gives a lie to the false dichotomy around the notion of tradition and innovation. Over the course of a dozen new pieces (cumulatively amounting to a highly coherent suite), and recorded in Ballyvourney’s Ionad Cultúrtha, Buille Beo is a driving, reflective and always freewheeling celebration of life’s musical possibilities. At its heart is the interplay between Vallely’s ever-inquisitive concertina, Kenneth Edge’s soprano saxophone and Caoimhín Vallely’s expansive piano, their parts made whole by Brian Finnegan’s wide-angled percussive force and all grounded by Ed Boyd’s guitar. It’s a melée more suited to the open road than the fireside. Buille’s division of the set into two (supposed LP) sides concentrates the listener’s eardrums magically.” Siobhán Long – Irish Times ****