Illawarra Folk Club presents Tony McManus in Concert with support act David Rovics

TONY McMANUS in Concert with support act David Rovics

Hailed by John Renbourn as ‘the best Celtic guitarist in the world’ Tony McManus has been listed as one of the 50 transcendental guitarists of all time by Guitar Player Magazine.

Conjuring a unique but universal language from that most ubiquitous of instruments, the acoustic guitar, Tony McManus has both extended and transcended the parameters of contemporary Celtic music. Ranked by peers and predecessors alike alongside the guitar world’s all-time greats, his fiendishly dexterous, dazzlingly original playing draws on traditions from the entire Celtic diaspora – Scotland, Ireland, Brittany, Galicia, Asturias, Cape Breton, Quebec – along with still further-ranging flavours, such as jazz and east European music. Long applauded for his uncanny ability to transpose the delicate, complex ornamentation characteristic of traditional bagpipe or fiddle tunes – even the phrasing of a Gaelic song – onto his own six strings, McManus is increasingly being acknowledged also as a pioneering figure in bridging the realms of Celtic music and other guitar genres.

Support Act:

DAVID ROVICS is a songwriter, musician, writer and podcaster
based in Portland, Oregon.  Since the 1990’s, David has been touring
regularly throughout North America, Europe, and occasionally elsewhere,
playing on stages large and small, at protests and festivals as well as
in squatted social centers and folk clubs.  He has recorded dozens of
albums and has millions of his songs streamed every year.  He writes
regularly for Counterpunch and Fifth Estate, among other publications.

Doors open 6.30pm    Concert Starts 7pm