About Us

This duo has been together for three and a half years since meeting at Ethno Sweden. Shona is 20 and hails from Hawthorn, Co. Durham, while Damien, 28, is from Coleraine, Co. Derry in Northern Ireland. Shona is a student on the Folk and Traditional Music Degree which is run by the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the first of its kind ever in the UK. Damien became one of the first graduates from the same degree programme in July 2005. An extremely gifted pairing, this instrumental and vocal duo play an array of traditional and self-penned tunes and songs originating and influenced mainly from the Irish tradition. Shona ‘...here comes the exceedingly good Miss Kipling’ (Yorkshire Evening Press) is one of the leading piano accordionists in the country and Damien ‘Fret King’ (Musician - MU mag) is an outstanding tenor banjo player and guitarist as well as being hailed ‘one of the finest singers around...’ by none other than Bellowhead’s Jon Boden. Shona and Damien make a sound which is exhilirating, passionate, skilful and unique. ‘Live, this duo rocks...’ - Irish Music Magazine, August 2006.

SHONA began playing accordion aged 11 as physiotherapy following a badly broken arm and rapidly started winning competitions run by Comhaltas, becoming UK champion twice and playing in three All-Ireland finals. In 2002, Shona was a finalist in the BBC Young Folk Awards. In 2003 she was asked to guest with Northern Sinfonia in their production of the ‘Threepenny Opera’ and in 2004, Shona was the only female and traditional musician, out of 2000 applicants, to be awarded one of the first five BBC Fame Academy Bursaries, to enable young musicians to develop their professional career. Having now released two albums with Damien, Shona is now at the forefront of the recent resurgence of traditional music and has been described as demonstrating ‘...a vast range of dynamic and style some would think not possible on the instrument.’ - Properganda 4

DAMIEN, a virtuoso tenor banjo player and guitarist and also a fine singer to boot, grew up steeped in the Irish tradition. Raised in Coleraine, Co. Derry, he featured in three All-Ireland tenor banjo finals whilst touring Europe with his family band, including visits to Iceland, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden. In September 2001, Damien took up residence in Newcastle-upon-Tyne to pursue the first degree in Folk & Traditional Music of its kind in the UK. Damien graduated in July 2005 with a higher second class honours degree. He currently plays with fantastic quintet CROSSCURRENT (crosscurrent.co.uk) who Vin Garbutt recently described as ‘...rejuvenating the folk scene. CrossCurrent are brilliant...’ In addition, Damien is a much sought after session musician with bands and musicians such as Bellowhead, Uiscedwr, Brian Finnegan, Rachel Unthank and The Winterset Julian Sutton and more. He currently works alongside Kathryn Tickell as Associate Director of ‘Folkestra’, a youth folk band consisting of the cream of young talent in the NE region as well as regularly working for Folkworks, North Music Trust,The Sage Gateshead and The Tender Roots Project in Yorkshire. One of Damien’s aims as a tenor banjo player is to raise its profile in the traditional music scene and he does this through his ‘...exceptional articulation and musicality...’ - Chris Newman.

Shona + Damien recorded their debut album ‘Pure Chance’ in 2003 which received much critical and public acclaim from sources such as fROOTS, The Living Tradition, The Daily Telegraph to name a few. This was the beginning of what was to be a very eventful few years to come. Before the release of the duo’s second and long-awaited album ‘BOX ON’ this year, the pair had already performed at many of the major folk festivals and clubs including Cambridge, Sidmouth, Warwick and as far afield as the prestigious Celtic Colours International Festival in Nova Scotia, Canada. February 2005 saw the very sad death of Shona’s father, Dr David Kipling, which was devestating to Shona and her musical career as she saw her father as her main inspiration. ‘BOX ON’ however, was to be a turning point and after nearly a year, the duo got back on the road and decided to record the new album, the name having been inspired by Shona’s father. Now established as the new young heavyweights of the folk scene, BOX ON has received a huge amount of press and has firmly put the duo back there with the best. They have recently featured in fROOTS, The Living Tradition, Taplas, eds magazine, Rock n Reel, Irish Music Magazine and have received airplay on BBC 3’s Late Junction, BBC Radio Newcastle, BBC Radio Shropshire, The Mike Harding Show, BBC Radio Manchester, Radio Kerry and more. BOX ON features some well known guests such as SCOTS TRAD MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR 2005 Aaron Jones, Rachael McShane of Bellowhead & CrossCurrent, Peter Tickell of The Kathryn Tickell Band & CrossCurrent and Aidan O’Kane. It is a landmark album and quite frankly, these two are a knockout!

Contact:
E-Mail: mail@focalmusic.co.uk
Telephone: 0191 2724269 / 07986032765
Address: FOCAL MUSIC LTD.
29 Dilston Road, Fenham
Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE4 5AB