Irish folk at the highest level!

Becky Ní Éallaithe: concertina, dance
Fabio Rinaudo: uilleann pipes, whistles
Laura Torterolo: voice, guitar
Michel Balatti: irish flute
Luca Rapazzini: violin
Tom Stearn: voice, guitar, bouzouki, mandola, banjo
Birkin Tree unveiled their latest album "4.0" to the public at the 2022 edition of the Ennis Trad Festival in Ennis (Ireland), a prestigious event that punctually boasts the presence of dozens and dozens of famous musicians from the Green Island. A few weeks later they proposed it to an enthusiastic audience at the FolkClub. "4.0" celebrated the fortieth year of activity of the most important Irish folk band in Italy and at the same time marked a milestone in the history of Birkin Tree's artistic project, which in recent years has had the ability to renew and evolve and is now firmly projected towards the future. The 'historical memory' of Birkin Tree (Fabio Rinaudo and Michel Balatti) has found in the younger Laura Torterolo and Luca Rapazzini fantastic and well-prepared adventure companions, they have been joined permanently since 2022 by the Scotsman Tom Stearn, who took over in the summer of 2022 from the glorious guitarist Claudio De Angeli. Now our Ligurian friends are back on our stage, for the usual February appointment with Irish folk at the highest levels. They are joined on this occasion by an extraordinary young dancer and musician, the Irish Becky Ní Éallaithe, for a concert of great energy and suggestion, in which all the colors and atmospheres typical of Ireland are evoked; a careful selection of musical tales from the Celtic lands that outlines a fascinating itinerary, consisting of both ancient and poignant ballads and wild and overwhelming reels, typical of the great instrumental repertoire of the Green Island; many songs from Birkin Tree's vast songbook will be performed, inspired by the vast and ancient Celtic repertoire linked to the accordion, violin, uilleann pipes and flute. Guitar and bouzouki bring great rhythmic and dynamic energy to the fascinating rhythmic-melodic texture presented by the solo instruments.
Young Becky Ní Éallaithe hails from Connemara, on the west coast of Ireland, and is a virtuoso sean-nós dancer and amazing concertina player. Becky learned traditional dances directly from local dancers in Connemara and today performs and teaches sean-nós dance throughout Ireland and even abroad. Among his best-known performances are the RTÉ 2021 Folk Awards in Vicar Street Dublin and Matera, European Capital of Culture 2019, as part of the handover ceremony at Galway 2020 Capital of Culture. Becky regularly performs at Irish music festivals across Ireland and recently placed second in the sean-nós Oireachtas na Samhna dance competition. She recently graduated with honours from the University of Limerick, where she studied Irish music and dance.
Birkin Tree, for the twelfth time on our stage, certainly represent the most important Italian musical reality in the field of Irish folk, with thousands of concerts in Italy, Ireland and Europe, hundreds of radio broadcasts all over the world, numerous collaborations with the most renowned and illustrious Irish musicians, 6 acclaimed record productions... and a huge passion for Irish music! Birkin Tree have played more than 2,000 concerts in Italy and Europe and are the only Italian band -and one of the very few in the world- to perform regularly in Ireland, where they have played in some of the most important festivals, including Feakle, Ennis Trad, Glencolumbkille, O'Carolan; they have performed in radio and television broadcasts for RAI1, RAI3, RAIRadio1-2 and 3 (in 2021 the highly successful concert held in the prestigious I Concerti del Quirinale festival, broadcast live by RADIORAI3), TELE+3, TMC Telemontecarlo, RTS Switzerland, Radio Capodistria, Radio Popolare and in Ireland for RTE, Radio Kerry and Clare FM. In April 2010, Birkin Tree hosted RADIORAI3's live broadcast The Music Room, with an hour-long performance. Their music has been broadcast on radio stations in Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Holland, Norway, Ireland, England, Australia, the United States, Russia and Switzerland. They have performed with some of Ireland's leading musicians such as Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, pipers Liam O'Flynn and Mick O'Brien, singer Niamh Parsons, harpists Grainne Hambly and Seana Davey, singer Cyril O'Donoghue, concert musicians Tony O'Connell and Caitlin Nic Gabhann, accordionists Murty Ryan and Derek Hickey and violinists Aoife O'Brien,  Tola Custy, Queavinn O'Raghallaigh, Michael Queally, Michelle O'Brien, Kira Nì Bhriain and Ciara O'Maonaigh. Fabio Rinaudo, one of the founders of Birkin Tree, took part in the Chieftains' Italian tour in July 2008. In the summer of 2011 the group was invited to the Masters of Tradition Festival in Bantry, County Cork, Ireland. Their concert was a great success and was broadcast on the radio by RTE Lyric FM (national broadcaster). The group has also performed in France (Festival Pot'Arts Illfurth) and toured Germany. In 2015 the concert organized by the FolkClub for MITO saw Michel Balatti and Fabio Rinaudo join the immense Martin Hayes for an evening of great success and emotional impact. In March 2016 the band played in Milan for Enterprise Ireland, in the presence of the Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Joan Burton. In June 2016 the group was called to participate in an important production of the prestigious Ravenna Festival, where it performed with the band Lunasa and soloists Caitlinn Nic Gabhann, Mick O'Brien and Kira ni Bhroin. In addition to being present in dozens of compilations, the band has six record productions to its credit: "Continental Reel" (1996 - best album of the two-year period 95/96 for the main Italian ethnic music magazine Folk Bulletin); "A Cheap Present" (1999 - review by Cinque Stelle by the weekly Musica de La Repubblica); "3(three)" (2003 - BRAVO! quality award by French TRAD Magazine, sixth place in the 2003 WORLD TOP TEN ranking by the German magazine FolkWorld, review by Four Stars of Music by La Repubblica; third place in the ranking of the best five albums of 2003 by Folk Bulletin); "Virginia" (2010); "Five Seasons" (2019 - 10th place in the ranking of the best 20 albums of 2019 for Il Giornale della Musica) and the latest "4.0" (November 2022).