Cara Dillon
Winner of 2010 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - Best Album (Hill of Thieves)
Winner of 2010 Spiral Awards – Best Female Singer and Best Traditional Song (Jimmy Mó Mhile Stór)
Cara Dillon “may well be the world’s most beautiful female voice”. (MOJO)
Born in Dungiven, in County Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975, Cara was brought up in a close musical family, in an area steeped in traditional music and heritage. She displayed a striking vocal talent at just 14, winning the All Ireland Traditional Singing Trophy, and whilst still a teenager she went on to sing with Oige, De Dannan and the folk ‘supergroup’ Equation, where she met her husband and musical collaborator, Sam Lakeman.
Her first solo album was released in 2001 to wide critical acclaim. The combination of Cara’s expressive vocals with Sam’s rippling piano accompaniment, as well as his somewhat understated album arrangements, was unrivalled in the industry – recognised through the shower of accolades that followed, including BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for Best Traditional Track and the Horizon Award. The self-titled album swiftly placed Cara as one of the leading lights of the worldwide folk scene, where she has remained since.
One of Cara’s most famous tracks is her take on Tommy Sands’ heartbreaking narrative about the Northern Ireland conflict. Originally recorded at the behest of Billy Connolly to accompany his TV series looking at Great Britain, There Were Roses is a rare, overtly political, song in Cara’s repertoire, and one that saw her win the 2004 Irish Meteor Award for Best Female Singer, from a shortlist of nominees including Sinead O’Connor, Enya and Roisin Murphy. She gained further national acclaim when, in 2006, Never in a Million Years, a track penned between herself and Lakeman, featured on BBC Radio 2’s playlist for six weeks.
Cara’s unique ability to find a song’s soul and imbue material with not only a profound sweetness, but also poignancy and depth, has kept her in high demand throughout the last decade. Her touring schedule has seen her sell out auditoriums as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and China, as well as the USA and Europe.
2009 was a particularly successful year for Cara, whose fourth album, Hill of Thieves, was released to the widest acclaim yet – reaffirming her place at the very top of her field. Her gentle charm and natural personality combine with her stunning vocals into a mesmerizing gift of a performance.
We’ve been trying to get her to Orkney for many years now, and are elated to have finally got her here for the festival – not to be missed!
Cara will be accompanied in Orkney by Sam Lakeman, on piano and guitar, and Irish flute and whistle master, Brian Finnegan.
“Cara Dillon is, without exaggeration, amongst the very finest to be heard today.” fRoots
“The Irish, of course, breed prize-winning musicians like racehorses, but even among these Dillon is a wonder – wide-eyed all-Ireland champion…Dillon’s vocals, expressive beyond her years, are right on the money.” Q
“Dillon’s crystalline, angelic voice, is an instrument of rare beauty, capable of melting the sternest of hearts.” BBC
“Her singing is never less than beautiful.” Bright Young Folk
more @ www.caradillon.co.uk
www.myspace.com/caradillon