WHAT'S NEW | West of Connacht

WEST OF CONNACHT is excited to announce the release of their new single, “The Girl That Broke My Heart”. Out now!!

It features wonderful guest musicians...

Yvonne Casey on fiddle (Co. Clare, Ireland), Jali Suso on lead vocals in Mandinka and English (Gambia, West Africa), and

Cyrus Segura on drums, djembe, guiro and grandfather clock (NJ, USA).

This multinational project was recorded in New Jersey, Ireland, and Gambia, and was mixed and mastered in Bogota, Columbia by Macau!

Traditional Irish Tune

Arranged by West of Connacht

Band Members:

Andi Leahy – Fiddle

Fionnghuala Leahy – Clavinet, Main Synthesizer, Background Vocals - (Gaelic/English)

Peter Gallagher – Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Synthesizer

Featured Guest Musicians:

Yvonne Casey – Fiddle

Jali Suso – Lead Vocals - (Mandinka/English)

Cyrus Segura – Drums, Djembe, Guiro, Grandfather Clock

Produced by: Andi Leahy

Mixing and Mastering: Macau (Columbia)

Recording Engineer and Editor (NJ): Cyrus Segura

Recording Engineer (Gambia): Malick Nyang “Mr. Prince”

Recording Engineer (Ireland): Martin O’Malley

Audio Engineer and Mix Consultant (NJ): Gabriel Frances

Graphic Artwork: Gabriel Frances

Special Thanks: Mairead Ni Oistin

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April, 2019 edition of Irish Music Magazine, Sean Laffey conducts an interview with West of Connacht:

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Andi, Peter and Fionnghuala are delighted to release their new single,

"The Reel of Rio/Paddy Fahey's/The Porthole of 'The Kelp'", a set of traditional Irish reels mixed and mastered at Malbay Studios, County Clare Ireland by Martin O'Malley. Special thanks goes out to Jon O'Connell (The Fiddle Case) for his help with the mix-down.

Fionnghuala Leahy (U.S. Irish flute and clavinet player) traveled to Ireland in the spring of 2018 to meet Peter and Andi and they then decided to collaborate on this track... There has always been musical chemistry between Andi and Fionnghuala, but after getting together with Peter, the chemistry was complete. Andi and Fionnghuala were recorded in New Jersey at Lucky Charms Studio by audio engineer, Cyrus Segura, and Peter in Malbay Studios, County Clare, Ireland. Virtual collaboration went on from there! Soon afterwards, they decided to form a band and

Leahy -Gallagher Music is now known as the band, West of Connacht.

We are also delighted to be joined on our new single by wonderful guest musician and friend, Brian Brooks from London, UK (bouzouki)... and Brian's digital friend "Hal" (bodhrán)! His tracks for this piece were recorded in London.

There are many struggles in recording and collaborating (virtually) from across the pond, but they are having so much fun doing it! They enjoy working with different guest musicians for the love of playing, all coming together to make music as friends.

The download for their new single will be available on our

MUSIC STORE page along with their prior single,

"The Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz" (Cal Scott, Swithsongs, BMI).

Please enjoy and feel free to pass along!

Thank you,

Andi, Fionnghuala and Peter