The Team

Meet the NAFCo 2012 Team

Dr Liz DohertyDr. Liz Doherty
Director

Dr. Liz Doherty is a fiddle player and lecturer in traditional music at the University of Ulster. As a performer she has recorded and toured as a solo artist and with various bands  (e.g. Bumblebees, Nomos, Fiddlesticks, String Sisters). Her academic interests include fiddle traditions from Ireland, Scotland and Cape Breton Island, Canada (the subject of her  1996 Ph.D dissertation), gender issues in traditional music and, more recently, PRMDs among traditional musicians. She is currently Chair of the International Council for Traditional Music, Ireland and is a board member of the Irish Traditional Music Archive.

Tom SherlockTom Sherlock

Dublin born Tom Sherlock has worked as a full-time music business professional since 1982 when he began working with leading Irish folk music label Claddagh Records. He helped establish Claddagh as the world’s largest distributor of traditional music and opened up many new international territories for the label and its acts. During his fifteen years with the label Tom worked as A & R manager and also as production manager. He also established a retail arm for the company and successfully managed Irelands leading folk and roots music record store-which still trades to this day.

Since 1997 Tom has worked in music management and event consultancy. He has represented many of the leading Irish traditional music acts among them Altan, Liam O’Flynn, The Poet and the Piper, Karan Casey, Seamus Begley, Paddy Glackin and Roisin Elsafty. As an agent and promoter he has presented Riverdance, The Chieftains, The Dubliners amongst others and has worked with most of the worlds leading Arts and Folk Music festivals. Tom continues to work closely with The Guinness Irish Festival and Tonder Festival. A contributor to The Encyclopedia of Ireland and The Companion to Irish Traditional Music he is an occassional lecturer in music business. Tom currently serves on the board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin and previously served at board level for Open House Festival in Belfast and the Dublin Folk Festival.

Maggie Maguire

NAFCo Administrator

Michael Gallanagh

NAFCo Treasurer

Dr Fintan Vallely

NAFCo Conference Co-Ordinator

Fintan Vallely is a flute player, writer, lecturer and researcher on Traditional music. He was Traditional music correspondent and reviewer with both The Irish Times and The Sunday Tribune, has played professionally and has several recordings. His books include analytical, essay, tutor, song and ethnography work, and in 2011 his Ben Lennon – The Tailors’ Twist and the 850-page, definitive A-Z encyclopedia Companion to Irish Traditional Music were published. His research work covers education, the flute and the bodhrán. He teaches and lectures at summer schools has taught academic programmes in NUI Maynooth, University of Ulster, DkIT and Trinity College Dublin.

Tara Connaghan

NAFCo International Youth Camp Co-Ordinator

Mats Melin

NAFCo International Céilí Co-Ordinator

Swedish born Traditional Dancer, Choreographer and Researcher Mats Melin has worked professionally with dance in Scotland since 1995 and in Ireland since 2005. His current position is Lecturer in Dance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. He has been engaged in freelance work nationally and internationally as well as having been Traditional Dancer in Residence for four Scottish Local Authorities. Mats co-started the dynamic Scottish performance group ‘Dannsa’ in 1999. Mats is a former member of the Scottish Arts Council’s Dance Committee and Scottish Government Working Group on Traditional Arts. As of 2005 Mats holds a first class honours the Master of Arts degree in Ethnochoreology, University of Limerick, Ireland. Mats is an office bearer for Dance Research Forum Ireland. He is currently conducting PhD research on Cape Breton Step Dancing.

 

Christine Yorston

NAFCo Vounteer Programme Co-Ordinator

Christine is a former headteacher and Principal School Advisor with a passion for life-long learning. As a head teacher in central London, she ran an after school Scottish fiddle class which was attended by primary aged children who came from all over the world. She is a trustee of The London Feis, a movement launched in 2006 to bring Scottish traditional music teaching to learners of all ages and stages. Christine hails from Stirling in Scotland and was born into a musical family. She is the sister of famous Scottish fiddle artistes Alasdair and Iain Fraser and spent her earlier years immersed in that culture. She has been a regular attendee at NAFCo conferences and is looking forward to being part of the Derry, Donegal NAFCo team.