Ross Daly
Many years before what we call “World Music” appeared on the scene, certain individuals had already understood the enormous value and vast variety of the world’s various musical traditions and had dedicated their lives to their study. One such person is Ross Daly.
Although of Irish descent, Ross Daly does not really fit into any particular ethnic stereotype given that his life has been spend in many different parts of the world and his home for the last 35 years is the island of Crete in Greece. Ross Daly, at a very early age, discovered that music was, in his own words, “the language of my dialogue with that which I perceive to be sacred”.
This dialogue eventually led him to the great modal traditions of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent where he finally found the musical archetypes that he had been searching for all his life. In these traditions he encountered music which was not merely a vehicle of self-expression, but which was able to take one beyond what one normally perceived to be the boundaries of one’s self into other transpersonal realms of experience.
This discovery changed everything in Ross Daly’s life and he subsequently gave up all other activities and dedicated his life to the study of the innermost secrets of these musical traditions as well as to the art of composition. He subsequently travelled extensively, studying under many of the world’s greatest masters of modal traditions. Since 1975 he has been based on the island of Crete where he is universally recognized as one of the foremost experts on the island’s rich musical tradition.
He is also especially well known and respected for his ability to bring artists of different and seemingly unrelated traditions together in collaborations of unique quality and depth. In 1982 he established the Labyrinth Musical Workshop which is today situated in the village of Houdetsi 20 kms south of the capital city of Herakleion.
After many years of intensive training in a variety of musical traditions, Ross Daly turned his attention largely to composition drawing heavily on all of the knowledge which he acquired during his long apprenticeships. Today he has released more than thirty five albums of his own compositions as well as of his own arrangements of traditional melodies that he collected during his travels. The island of Crete in Greece still provides a base for his personal and musical research as he continues travelling around the world performing his music.
Ross Daly has performed in many important venues and festivals such as: Carnegie Hall (2015), Migration Festival, Taipei, Taiwan (2006), International Lute Festival, Tetouan, Morocco (2006), Madrid Summer Festival, Sabatini Gardens, Spain (2006), International Festival, Warsaw, Poland (2006), Manresa Festival , Barcelona,Spain (2006), Athens Concert Hall (1993, 2006), National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland(2005), Konzerthaus Mozart Saal, Vienna, Austria (2005), Thessaloniki Concert Hall (2002), San Francisco World Music Festival, U.S.A (2005), State Theatre Company, Adelaide, Australia,(2005), Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France (1992-93, 2002,2003,2005, 2008), Festival de Saint Chartier, France(2003), Municipal concert hall, Kayseri, Turkey (2006) Skala Aglantza Nicosia, Cyprus (2005), Urkult Festival, Sweden(2003), Passionskirche, Berlin (1994,95,96), Rudolstadt Festival, Germany (2002), Aarhus, Denmark(1997), Huset theatre, Aalborg, Denmark (1995-97), Copenhagen, Denmark (1995-97, 2003), Les Nuits Atypiques Festival, Langon, France (1995), Nikos Kazantzakis Theater, Heraklion, Crete (1996, 1999, 2001, 2008), Sodern Theatre Stockholm, Sweden (2004), Archaeological Museum, Madrid, Spain (1998-99, 2001), Festival of Murcia, Spain (1999), Isle of Wight Festival (2000), Oslo Cathedral (2004), Cemal Resit Rey Conser Salonu, Istanbul, Τurkey (1997, 2005, 2006), World Music Festival, Skopje, FYROM (1999, 2003), Lycabbetus theatre, Athens (1987,91,93,98), Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, U.K (1998-2000-2), Purcell Room, London (2007), Clarinet Festival, Bretagne (2008), Jerusalem Oud Festival (2008), WDR, Munich, Germany (1999), WDR Wuppertal, Germany(1992), Protestant Church, Brussels, Belgium (2001), Luxemburg Concert Hall (1992, 1994), San Sebastien Festival, Spain (2008), Nuremberg, Germany (1992, 2006), Cairo Opera House (2006), Emirates Palace Theater (2006, 2007), Frankfurt, Germany (1992), Epidaurus Theatre, Greece, Herodion Theatre Athens, Greece (1992, 1998), Bourges, France (2008) Al Dhafra Concert Hall, Abu Dhabi (2008), Rainforest World Music Festival, Sarawak, Malaysia (2008), and many others.
In Summer 2004 he was the artistic director of the cultural program of the Olympic Games for the Olympic city of Heraklion on the island of Crete, titled “Crete, Music Crossroads”. He organized and artistically supervised 15 concerts with the participation of 300 musicians from all over the world. Amongst others there were musicians of international fame as : Jordi Savall, Eduardo Niebla, Huun Huur Tu, Habil Aliev, Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan, Mohammad Rahim Khushnawaz, Trio Chemirani, Adel Salameh and many others. Today, Ross Daly continues travelling and performing in Greece and abroad whilst simultaneously directing the Musical Workshop “Labyrinth” in the village of Houdetsi on Crete.
Kelly Thoma
Kelly Thoma has been studying the lyra with Ross Daly since 1995 and soon after started travelling with him and his group, “Labyrinth” to perform in some of the most prestigious venues and festivals around the world. She has participated in many projects with musicians from various different traditions of the world.
As a member of “Labyrinth” and the Labyrinth Musical Workshop she has had the chance to meet and play with many renowned musicians such as the Trio Chemirani, Ömer Erdoğdular, Derya Türkan , Zohar Fresco, Efrén López, Pedram Khavar Zamini, Dhruba Ghosh, Ballake Sissoko, Erdal Erzincan, Mehmet Erenler, Yurdal Tokcan, Mayu Shviro, Ustad Mohammed Rahim Khushnawaz and many more, which resulted in a unique sound and a personal style on the lyra as well as a creative approach to traditional music.She participates in most of Ross Daly’s projects and since 2008 she is a member of Tokso Folk String Quartet with Anne Hytta, Eleonore Billy and Sigrun Eng exploring and creating music inspired -amongst others- by nordic traditions.
With Ross Daly she has performed in Carnegie Hall, Theatre de la Ville, Queen Elizabeth Hall, San Francisco WMF, Rainforest WMF, Womadelaide, Rudolstadt and many other important venues and festivals around the world.
She has released three albums of her own compositions Anamkhara (2009), 7Fish (2014) and “As Τhe Winds Die Down” (2018) and has graduated from the English Literature department of the Athens University as well as from the”Rallou Manou” Dance School.
