OISÍN

Formed during the 1970s, the Irish folk ensemble Oisín featured Geraldine MacGowan, born in Dublin, Eire, on vocals and bodhran, with Anne Conroy on accordion becoming a member in the early 1980s. The group’s 1987 release Winds Of Change appeared on Tara Records and carried primary attribution to MacGowan and Conroy, although additional contributions came from Davy Spillane on uillean pipes and low whistle, Tom McDonagh on bouzouki, Brian O’Connor on flute and whistle, Maire Bhreathnach on fiddle, Gerry O’Connor on fiddle, Steve Cooney on bass and synthesizer, Noel Bridgeman on percussion, and Shay MacGowan on vocals and guitar.

Throughout the 1980s MacGowan and her husband Shay established an Irish pub and music venue in Hannover, Germany. She has sustained performance and recording activity into the new millennium. Conroy wed the respected accordionist Joe Burke, born in 1939, in 1990, after which the pair has continued to appear together as a duo.