Martin O'Connor

An accordion player since the age of nine, Martin's career has seen him playing in many of traditional music's leading groups including Midnight Well, De Dannan, The Boys of the Lough, and Skylark.

His first solo album 'A Connachtman's Rambles' met with critical acclaim and established him as a solo musician. His second solo album 1990’s 'Perpetual Motion' is considered by some to be one of the best accordion albums ever produced by an Irish artist. The release in 1993 of 'Chatterbox' gave further evidence of his outstanding technique, imagination, and compositional talent.

A popular session musician, O’Connor has appeared on recordings by such diverse musicians as Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, Mark Knofler, Tanita Tikaram, Townes Van Zandt, Chieftains, the Dubliners, Davy Spillane, Maire Brennan, and the Waterboys.

In 1995, O’Connor became the first recipient of the Allied Irish Banks, Traditional Musician of the Year award at a ceremony in his home town of Galway. The award was to acknowledge the tremendous contribution he’s made to traditional Irish and in particular, accordion music.