About Dorsa

Dorsa derives from the placename of a small village in Armagh, "Dorsey," (Dorsa in the old gaelic).
It was a gateway to a Bronze Age fortification known as the Dorsey trench, believed by archaeologists to have been the south facing defence for the ancient capital of Ulster, Eamhain Mhacha.
It formed part of the Black Pig’s Dyke delineating what is now the province of Ulster.

The foundation of Dorsa:

Since their foundation in 2000 Dorsa have impressive achievements to their credit.

Dorsa formed part of the musical representation of Ireland at Expo 2000 intHanover, Germany which included the musicians Donal Lunny, Altan, Juliet Turner, The Saw Doctors, Dervish and Eleanor Shanley.

Within months of their formation they were playing Festivals such as Folkest (Northern Italy’s biggest Folk Festival).

Dranouter festival in Belgium, one of the biggest folk festivals in Europe and Tesserete festival in Switzerland were some of the next to succumb to Dorsa’s powerful music. A recent tour of Germany in winter ’01 saw them playing forthirty-one successive nights to audiences of up to 1000 people each night.
Dorsa featured in Ireland at Music Under The Mountains Festival in Co. Wicklow which also featured the Chieftains and Kila. They also headlined the Johnnie Crampsie festival in Strabane, an honour previously bestowed upon groups of the calibre of Altan.

An extensive and exhaustive three week tour of the U.S. in March ’02 was followed by five concerts in Ulster.
Off to England then for a week long tour where Dorsa headlined at the Gosport folk festival.

Other spring dates Include SNCF folk festival in Basel, Switzerland and the Tommy Makem festival in June.
Dorsa have received considerable air-play in Ireland and abroad and have been featured in a programme for the forthcoming series "Ceol i gCuideachta" on young Irish musicians.

The band have also made an appearance on the TG4 series Geanntrai and the Irish Traditional Music Magazine Award Winning Programme "Flosc" .

Their music is rooted in the bedrock of the musical traditions of the North of Ireland – from the compositions of Josephine Keegan and Brendan Mc Glinchey (Armagh) to the music of Donegal, Tyrone and Fermanagh, not to mention their delving into old collections from the said areas.

But they do not neglect excursions to exotic locations such as Leitrim, Roscommon, Clare and Kerry and other places where great music is to be found.

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