GreenBirdFlying is the alt folk trio of Cliodhna Quinlan, Mark Murphy and Mandi Frankham. As a trio they perform tuneful original folk music and songs with a hint of strangeness, that fit around many genres including traditional, old time and americana.
Their latest project is a collaboration with Sligo poet Mary Branley. They have developed a full show around her poetry, combining songs using her words as lyrics and also her performing her own work against an arranged carefully thought. out musical backdrop. They have performed with Mary at theatres and poetry festivals around Ireland.
GreenBirdFlying have performed in the Dock in Carrick on Shannon several times over the past few years, playing their own music as well as soundtracks to classic silent movies such as Nosferatu and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. They brought the Hunchback of Notre Dame to the Blackrock Film Festival in county Louth in 2019. Cliodhna and Mark met as members of the swing jazz band, The HoneyBees and Mandi joined them last year to complete the trio.
Cliodhna is an accomplished fiddler, has worked and toured with many artists, such as theatre director Mike Scott for several productions and singer Hazel O Connor. She arranged and performed strings on the first album by songwriter and percussionist Ronan O'Snodaigh, "Tiptoe"
Mark, a piano player, multi-instrumentalist and music teacher. He is a long standing music professional having worked with a host of north west based musicians over the years, including "The Honeybees", "The Bughouse Band", "The Bill Stewart Quintet", "Perry Blake" and "Backwater Jack" to name just a few. As a mature student he graduated from Newpark music centre with a degree in jazz performance, He is also the pianist with jazz group The Kobe Trio. Their recent debut album was declared "One of the finds of 2020" on BBC radio Ulster.
Mandi Frankham is a well known established local singer. Her most recent release is 'Frankham and Love', a classic pop and RnB album of original songs featuring some of the finest studio musicians in Ireland. This was named by Tony Clayton-Lea as “one of the best soul albums of the year”.She received an Honours Degree specialising in vocals from BIMM Dublin and studied Traditional Irish music with Mossie Martin in Leitrim.