Eamonn Cotter is a highly respected flute player, maker, and teacher from Kilmaley, County Clare. He plays with the popular group Shaskeen. He has released two solo recordings: “Eamonn Cotter: Traditional Music from County Clare,” and (in 2012) “The Knotted Chord.” Eamonn teaches privately and at workshops and summer schools, including the Willie Clancy Summer School.
Here’s Eamonn’s own description of his recorded work:
“The first recording I did was an album just released on tape in 1979 with the school band that I’d been with for 5 years – that was at St Flanaghan’s College which I attended from 1972 to 1977. That was a great school for musicians; I studied with Noel Hill, Paul Roche, many well known musicians.
“We all played together in a ceili band for those few years. The school decided to release an album to commemorate some centenary they had to celebrate the foundation of the school. It was just released on tape. It’s a very good album; it’s a shame they don’t release it on CD. It was recorded at Windmill Lane studio in Dublin; it’s a famous studio now but it was in its early days then. Since then I’ve recorded with Shaskeen Ceili Band; I also did a solo on The Mouse Behind the Dresser, which is a very well-distributed album. Of course there’s my own solo album which was released two years ago in 1996. It’s gone fairly well, I got pretty good reviews, I was surprised. Naturally you’d expect with an album like that you would get some negative vibes; maybe people are being too nice to me. I’ve been braced for it, but I haven’t got any yet for some reason — maybe they feel I wouldn’t be able to take it!”