Anna Houston - Bands and Ensembles

NoCrows

NoCrows are an International Folk Ensemble who live in the musical melting pot that is Sligo in the Northwest of Ireland. We started out in 2005 as a four piece, playing Folk tunes from all over the world. Nowadays most of our repertoire consists of our own compositions and songs. NoCrows have played in countries all over Europe, in Clubs and Concert venues and at major Festivals including Glastonbury.

The sixpiece band are:
Steve Wickham: Fiddle and Vocals
Oleg Ponomarev: Fiddle
Felip Carbonell: Spanish Guitar and Vocals
Eddie Lee: Double Bass
Ray Coen: Acoustic Guitar, Vocals and Fiddle
Anna Houston: Cello and Mandolin

Booking:

felipirlanda@gmail.com / +353 86 335 73 64

Sligo String Quartet

The newly formed Sligo String Quartet perform mostly at weddings and functions.
Music spans from Mozart to Coldplay, from Bach to Beatles, with some Irish and Jazzy numbers added to the mix,
played on two violins, a viola and a cello.

Booking:

sligostringquartet@gmail.com / +353 86 384 77 76

Aye Surely

In our newest adventure, Ray Coen, Felip Carbonell and myself have a bit of fun with covers and original tracks, some songs and a lot of instrumental music. Our repertoire has obvious similarities with “NoCrows” music, as we are all members of the bigger band, but we have managed to create a new sound while keeping that stringy, Irish and Folk sound with definite Latin and classical influences.

Here’s a little video of us playing at a Festival in Italy in June 2022

Booking:

felipirlanda@gmail.com / +353 86 335 73 64

Felip Carbonell & Anna Houston

Felip on Spanish Guitar and Vocals, and myself on Mandolin and Cello, play a wide repertoire of music from all over Europe, Tangoes and other tunes from Latin America, Songs in Spanish and Catalan, along with our own compositions. Depending on the occasion or concert it can be music that ads the perfect feel-good atmosphere, or more reflective pieces like in the video below.

Here is a video: Lost

Booking:

houstonzep@gmail.com / +353 87 773 22 74

Trad Trio

I play Traditional Irish music, and have regular Trad sessions with Ray Coen and Ian Boardly in pubs around Sligo. Ray and Ian are both great singers as well, and the lively sets of Reels, Jigs, Hornpipes, Polkas and Barndances are interspersed with Traditional Songs from Ireland, Scotland and England.

Ian Boardly: Guitar and Vocals
Ray Coen: Fiddle, Guitar and Vocals
Anna Houston: Banjo and Mandolin

Booking:

houstonzep@gmail.com / +353 87 773 22 74

Sligo Baroque Orchestra

I’m a member of Sligo Baroque Orchestra, who mostly play at the monthly “Informal Music Afternoons” at The Model, Sligo.
The slogan “Bringing to Life Music from the 17th and 18th centuries” pretty much sums up SBO.
We play the music we love, with instruments that are not quite period instruments, but we use Baroque bows, and play in a Chamber Music setting, directed by Rod Alston from the Harpsichord.

Booking:

sligobaroque@gmail.com

Jamulus Quartet

Named after the Music program Jamulus, which we used to jam together, this String Quartet led by violinist Patrick Early was born out of the Lockdown. When we weren't allowed to meet up in person, we met online on Jamulus, which enabled us to play string quartet music together with virtually no latency problems, which were the big downfall of other online programs. Thus we were able to play together every week, and had several performances, with some of the four musicians meeting for the first time on the day of the performance!
Jamulus Quartet plays compositions by Patrick Early as well as arrangements of classical and popular music.

Here’s a video of Paranoid-Android (Radiohead)

Booking:

houstonzep@gmail.com / +353 87 773 22 74