One of the most hotly-tipped bands in traditional folk and roots music, and which features two Manx musicians, are about to begin their first ever tour with a debut island concert.
Imar are to appear at the Peel Centenary Centre on Friday, April 14.
The band have a solid Manx core, with fiddler Tomas Callister and bouzouki player Adam Rhodes.
The band also features musicians from all sides of the Celtic world, including Irishman Ryan Murphy on the uilleann pipes, Englishman Adam Brown on the bodhran and Scots concertina player Mohsen Amini, who has been nominated in the ’Best Musician’ category in this year’s BBC Folk awards for his work with another band, Talisk.
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Having been hard at work promoting the launch of Afterlight, Tomas said he was looking forward to coming home, and to introducing his new band mates to Peel and the island.
’It’s hard to be away from the Isle of Man and it’s always good to come home,’ he said.
’But it’s especially good to come back to play music that we’ve been working on for such a long time.
’I’m excited to play it to a home crowd on the 14th at the Centenary.
’We’ll be playing tracks from our new album, Afterlight, including music from Ireland, Scotland and, of course, the Isle of Man.
’Also we’ve been writing some new material, and will be playing some of that in the show.’
His band mates are also excited about seeing the island for the first time.
Mohsen said: ’I’m really looking forward to travelling over to the Isle of Man.
’This will be my first visit to the island and what better way is there to visit than by kicking off your first tour playing Manx music with two other natives? It’ll be an ace night and I have a strong feeling we will be making a habit of coming over.’
The band are currently on a huge upward trajectory, after releasing their debut album, Afterlight, at the Celtic Connections festival earlier this year.
They already have a packed schedule of summer gigs lined up, including dates at some of the UK’s biggest festivals, including the Sidmouth Folk festival, Underneath The Stars, Hebcelt and the Shetland Folk Festival.
They also have a number of European dates lined up towards the end of the summer.
Tickets for the Peel Centenary Centre concert are £14, available online or from Shakti Man in Ramsey, Peter Norris Music in Douglas, Celtic Gold in Peel and Thompson Travel in Port Erin.