Track Listing: 1. The Starry Lane to Monaghan/Star of Ireland/Sean sa Cheo 2. 3 Deer and a Hare/Pangur Bán 3. Farewell to Eyrecourt/The Stone n the Field/Paddy Fahy's Reel 4. Thomond Bridge/The Boys of Youghalarra 5. The Galway Jig/The Lark in Charlie's Meadow/Eddie Moloney's 6. Papa's Pet/A Rainy Day/Eileen O'Brien's 7. O'Rahilly's Grave 8. Tatter Jack Walsh/Paddy Fahy's Jig 9. Policeman's Request/Julia Delaney's/The 13 Arches 10. Paddy Fahy's Jig/Manorhamilton the 8th of May/The Wednesday Visit. 11. Tipperary So Far Away/The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow 12. Side by Side/The Smiling Lady/The Ceilier Click on underlined titles to hear MP3 sound bites

We are delighted to announce our release of this fine duet CD.
The Kane Sisiers
Side by Side
DM003

Guest musicians:
Daithi Sproule: Guitar
Mick Conneely: Bouzouki
Patsy Broderick: Piano
Nathan Pilatzke: Dancer

From North Connemara, Liz and Yvonne Kane, known as The Kane Sisters are much respected musicians and educators. Born in Letterfrack, they were educated in Kylemore Abbey School. They were taught music by their Grandfather, local fiddle player,Jimmy Mullen and Mary Finn, a Co.Sligo musician and teacher.

Liz and Yvonne first came to national and international prominence during the three year period in which they toured with accordion player, Sharon Shannon as members of her band, The Woodchoppers. They traveled all over the world with her band and are featured artists on Sharon’s album ‘The Diamond Mountain Sessions’. At that time, a Hot Press review by Siobhan Long confirmed ‘...while 'Fire in their Bellies' (with Liz and Yvonne Kane) is ensemble playing at its best and most naked.'

Following this period of touring with Sharon Shannon, the girls decided to embark musically on their own and they recorded their first album together entitled ‘The Well
Tempered Bow’. This received rave reviews including this review from well known New York music critic, Earle Hitchner:

“Aptly titled, 'The Well-Tempered Bow' is fine-honed unison fiddling by two musicians who know how to draw out the heat and light within a melody. There's no superficial flashiness substituting for a more difficult-to-achieve understanding of what makes a tune tick. This duo debut has real depth and heft, with superb accompaniment from guitarist and pianist John Blake, a member of the band Téada. The Kanes Head Up Best Traditional Albums of 2002”

The Kane Sisters toured Ireland and the United States following the release of their first album and this followed with a second album entitled ‘Under the Diamond’ in 2004. More reviews followed including this extract below:

“Liz and Yvonne Kane's debut recording ‘The Well Tempered Bow’ was so good in every way it was hard to imagine what the two fiddle playing sisters from Letterfrack, Connemara, would come up with as a follow-up. Well, the old adage "if it ain't broke" is most fitting here. Although they did invite a couple more musicians to participate as accompanists, in all other aspects their new CD is pretty much identical to the first, down to the great mix of esoteric tunes generously sprinkled with more spine-tingling Paddy Fahey compositions. But who's complaining, not me. I loved the first album, and I love this one... almost as much. Liz and Yvonne seem to have a knack for selecting the most gorgeous Irish tunes ever composed-- the jig "The Lakes of Killarney" is on my list, and so is Liz's own tune "Betsy's Delight"--or having their unique way with old favorites.”

Based in Letterfrack currently, Liz and Yvonne teach music during the school year and tour in the US during the summer. Between them, they have close to 200 students and travel all over the west coast teaching music.

Their new album ‘Side by Side’ will be launched in July at The Catskills Irish Festival in East Durham, NY and followed by a two week tour with concertina player Edel Fox.

More info at www.thekanesisters.com

Press Reviews

The Living Tradition Jan/Feb 2011
On their third album, fiddlers Liz and Yvonne Kane have produced another great selection of East Galway tunes including several of Liz's compositions, and only three from their muse Paddy Fahey (unless he's changed his approach to tune names). Instead, there's more from Paddy O'Brien, Ed Reavy and other late great Irish composers. The CD title comes from one of Liz's tunes, written in celebration of her long musical partnership with Yvonne - after all, the girls are well into their twenties now! It's a charming reel, with that weaving unpredictability of East Galway music, followed by Paddy O'Brien's Smiling Lady and a reel new to me: The Ceilier.
But I've started at the end, so we'll work backwards. There are two slow tracks on this recording; one combining the song airs Tipperary So Far Away and Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow: they make fine waltzes on twin fiddles. O'Rahilly's Grave is a well-known air, and a perfect example of the tight duet playing for which Liz and Yvonne are justly famous. In between are a couple of sets of jigs, one of Paddy Fahey's in each, which I recently heard when the girls performed with the brilliant Edel Fox in Camden: here they are taken at a slightly slower pace, and even without the extra drive of Edel's concertina this is lovely music. Dancer Nathan Platzke (from Ottawa, not one of the Galway Platzkes) twinkles his toes to Paddy Fahey's Jig, and to a previous pair of hornpipes.
The two fiddlers are also joined by Daithi Sproule on guitar, Mick Conneely on bouzouki, and Patsy Broderick on piano at various points. There isn't such a preponderance of reels as some albums, but enough to please most listeners: Farewell to Eyrecourt and The Stone in the Field are relatively well known, The 13 Arches and Eileen O'Brien's less so, and of course there's another of Paddy Fahey's here. The opening track is very well chosen, with the ever-popular Sean sa Cheo following Finbarr Dwyer's Star of Ireland, preceded by Ed Reavy's classic Starry Lane to Monaghan: timeless perfection. The Kane sisters' notes on each tune are full and informative. Alex Monaghan


Earle Hitchner's Top 30 of 2010 in The Irish Echo, Ceol column.
23. "Side by Side" by the Kane Sisters (self-issued): Letterfrack, Galway, fiddlers Liz and Yvonne continue to dazzle.

Folkworld
"Side by Side" is the third album of fiddling sisters Liz and Yvonne Kane (FW#24, #31, #31) from Letterfrack, Co. Galway, Ireland. A short bio: both graduated from whistle to fiddle, one of their teachers being their grandfather Jimmy Mullen. He also planted the love to Michael Coleman, Finbarr Dwyer and others the siblings often refer to. Liz and Yvonne left their first impression when touring with Sharon Shannon & The Woodchoppers.
Most tracks here have been recorded in Liz's living room in Letterfrack, thanks to Ronan Browne's mobile recording studio. They were joined in session style by guitarist Daithi Sproule (#36), bouzouki player Mick Conneely (#21) and Patsy Broderick on piano. Furthermore, Ottawa Valley stepdancer Nathan Pilatzke beat it out on a wooden plank in her kitchen. It is a rather unique set of tunes: the hornpipe "Thomond Bridge," here in B flat, followed by Paddy O’Brien’s "Boys of Youghalarra". Liz and Yvonne love complex tunes with many notes in it, so there are just some rolls in it and no other ornamentation. Proceedings kick off with three grand reels, Ed Reavy's "Starry Lane to Monaghan" (which I hear here for the first time), Finbarr Dwyer's "Star of Ireland" (dito), and the well-known traditional "Sean Sa Ceo" (recorded many times). It is immediately followed by Liz's self-penned jigs "Deer and a Hare" and "Pangur Ban". And so forth, more reels, more jigs, more Liz's, but also the slow air "O'Rahilly's Grave" and the song air "Tipperary So Far Away" (the Clancy Brothers did sing it). The final track is the reel "Side by Side" from Liz, and this is exactly what they do, playing at close quarters, side by side, as one. Walkin' T:-)M

Irish Music Magazine
Pay heed as the gifted Kane Sisters, Liz and Yvonne, fiddle their way into an unadulterated CD that exemplifies strong tune selection combined with skilled instrumentation resulting in the tour de force that is '5/de by Side'.
The Connemara born sisters stay true to their musical upbringing by recording the majority of the tracks at Liz's house in Letterfrack. It was recorded in session style in the living room with dancing taking place on a wooden plank in Liz's kitchen and this is encapsulated perfectly on track four with Thomond Bridge. In tandem with the dexterous fiddle duo, Nathan Pilatzke adds his own unique percussion to this hornpipe in the form of dancing shoes, pauses for a break, then hop steps into Paddy O'Brien's Tipperary tribute of his childhood friends entitled The Boys of Youghalarra.
An elegant Calway Jig taken from the fiddle playing of Paddy Fahey played with steadfast style flows into the Liz Kane penned The Lark in Charlie's Meadow in memory of the musician and dancer Charlie O'Malley from Renvyie.The fiddles saunter into a set of reels with the stand out being Eileen O'Brien's which showcases the combination of subtlety and rawness of the bow which is inherent in both sisters yet also highlights the skilled accompaniment of the other stringed instruments.
Speaking of accompaniment, the Kane sisters were in the company of talented guests. As well as the aforementioned dancer, Nathan Pilatzke, they were joined by Donegal guitar player, Daithf Sproule, the noted Mick Conneely on the bouzouki and the renowned Patsy Broderick on piano.
Overall this CD is a must buy. It draws character from the unique blend of quality instrumental combined with an integral respect for the tune composition adorned with a dash of the vivacious personality that is an intrinsic part of those Kane Sisters when they're playing 'Side by Side''. Eileen McCabe