Madra Lonn

Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

From Grand Rapids, Michigan

Steve Bell

Matt Epperson

Madra Lonn started in the late 80's when two boys from Michigan's Thumb got out a guitar, a bodhran, and some old Irish and Scottish songsheets, and banged away into the wee hours. It was the heyday of the celtic music revival, and these two forlorn Galloglas lads, half Scottish, half Irish, and half Viking (in Celtic mythology, things don't have to add up), caught the Gaelic bug. Around about this time they called each other a peculiar nickname: BirdDog. They can't remember why, but anytime Matt saw Steve or vice versa, he was heard to call the other one BirdDog. In the 90's, after years of this, and after their interest in Celtic music resulted in their attempts to learn Gaelic, they found out that BirdDog in the ancient tongue is Madra Lonn. A more apt name for the duo might be Galloglas, an ancient mercenary class of men who were part Scottish, part Viking, and part Irish. These two combine all 3 musical traditions in their playing of ancient music. Reels from the Shetlands, Strathspeys from the Outer Isles, jigs from Eire, all played with the firey rhythm of the Nova Scotian pioneers. If it's Dance music, it's gotta have rhythm, drive, and groove. Natalie Macmaster summed it up: "This music is more 18th century than 19th, back when the dance music had dirt in it, a special kind of groove, nothing dainty." Growing up in Michigan's thumb, on the shores of Lake Huron, reminds these two of the importance of the water. Singing about the Great Lakes, the Seven Seas, and the old country means they combine lyrical ballads, sea shanties, laments, new songs, with their playing of traditional celtic dance music. Their inspiration: Easy. Silly Wizard, Altan, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie & Buddy Macmaster, Johnny Cunningham, Jerry Holland, Phil Cunningham, Dougie Maclean, and the list goes on. Basically, anybody who knows how to fuse the ancient celtic world to the modern one, they're on the list. Including Terry Bell. He scores high as a modern celtic bard living right there in the Thumb, writing, teaching, composing, influencing. Speaking of the Thumb, it's awfully close to Canada. That explains part of the musical influence over this group. They pay homage to Celtic Canadian groups for introducing the old world to the new without sacrificing in either direction. Again, we come back to the old music. Not just traditional music as played for the last 200 years, but as played for the last thousand. These guys want to capture that history, that sense of epoch, and the cumulative dance energy of a millenium, going back to the age of the Lord of the Isles and the Kingdom of Dalriada.

Home | About Us | Pictures | Our CD | Guestbook | Email Us | Links

Pictures

Performing at the Tuscola County Celtic Heritage Festival

Our first music CD will be issued in the summer of 2002.
We're very excited to have digitally captured the Modra Lonn sound.
It features lots of great traditional music.
Keep in touch, and check back to the website
for the release date and availability.

Home | About Us | Pictures | Our CD | Guestbook | Email Us | Links

Please Sign Our Guestbook

You can contact Madra Lonn by writing to

Steve Bell
sbellatraven@email.msn.com
or
Matt Epperson
eppmatt@aol.com

Natalie MacMaster
The sensational dancing fiddler from Cape Breton.

Sonas
300 miles east of here, Steve's brother's group.

Kevin Burke
Web site of this legendary Irish fiddler.