Grada

World travelers Grada now call Dublin and Galway home, but their band members originally hail from New Zealand and Manchester, U.K. as well as Ireland – drawn together in 2001 by their shared interest in playing Irish music in a new way. The contemporary Celtic quintet is composed of five equally talented musicians playing a variety of traditional instruments who have no trouble finding side projects when Grada is not out on the road to some far off land. Along with Grada originals, their 2007 release (Cloudy Day Navigation) stretches the group’s sound with covers of songs by Scottish songwriter Emily Smith and American neo-folksinger Suzanne Vega. The band stopped by Folk Alley headquarters without their bodhran, so they made one – from a cardboard box, duct tape, and everyday kitchen utensils. Their December 2007 stop by the Folk Alley studios coincided with two concerts at Happy Days Visitor Center in Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Peninsula, Ohio with Andrew Laking on bass and guitar, Gerry Paul on Guitar, Alan Doherty on flutes and whistles, Nicola Joyce sang and played bodhran and Colin Farrell on fiddle and whistles.