Mary started out playing piano as a youngster but as she grew older her interests shifted. In high school she taught herself to play the guitar after watching both of her brothers learn, playing mostly folk music jamming with friends. Mary had listened to her Dad sing Irish songs around the house while she was growing up. In the spring of 1992 after many years of music deprivation, Mary decided to learn the fiddle. She bought a violin from a friend and began to teach herself to play using books and tapes. She attempted to take lessons for a while but found that the classical players she worked with just didn't know how to teach her what she wanted to learn. So she continued to use books and recordings to help her learn the traditional Irish style that she was really looking for. In the meantime, her brother Tim was taking an interest in learning to play the flute. He and Mary were soon playing together the simple melody lines of old Irish ballads. Pretty soon their older brother Patrick joined in as well, backing them up on his guitar. Pat's girlfriend talked the owner of a popular local pub where she worked into having the group play for St Patrick's Day the following year and she joined the band as well as a vocalist. Mary and her band mates chose the name of Paddy's Night Out for their newly formed group after a song made popular by the Wolf Tones. The group worked in earnest over the following months often rehearsing 5 or 6 times each week, and by the time St Patrick's Day 1993 rolled around they had developed a full repertoire and added another band member, Bob Midden on bass. Paddy's Night out continued to perform together for about 5 years and then dissolved when Mary's brothers both moved away. Mary and Bob decided to form a new group that would focus more on the traditional dance music of Ireland. Bob had redirected his flute playing style from Western European art music to traditional Irish music and both he and Mary were learning many new dance tunes. Mary continued to work with recordings and books to develop her style, gleaning as much as she could from occasional interactions with other fiddle players. Mary studied with Cape Breton fiddler, Dan MacDonald, from 2002-2004 who played with “Toraigh” during that period. She has also studied briefly with Patrick Ourceau and a few other well-known traditional Irish musicians at music camps around the country. Mary's musical interests continue to grow and along the way she has also learned to play the bodhran and is currently learning the tenor banjo and mandolin.
Bob started playing music when he was 10 years old in the grade school band. He didn't know anything about music and no one in his family had ever played a musical instrument so when he had to choose an instrument he chose flute because that's what was needed most in the band. He continued to play until high school but the school he attended didn't have a band or any organized musical activities, so he didn't play music again until about 1982. A few years later he was coaxed into playing with the church choir for Easter and, as they say, one thing led to another until eventually he was playing flute and bass guitar at services every Sunday, but longed for another musical venue.
Through the years he had played folk music from the 60s & 70s during occasional gatherings with friends, listened to classical and jazz and even country, but never quite seemed to find what he was seeking. Several years later after moving to Bowling Green, OH, he started taking classical flute lessons and was ready to join the community orchestra when, one sunny Sunday afternoon, while strolling through an historical re-enactment with his two sons, he encountered two guys playing traditional Irish and Scottish music. Hearing this music, something strongly connected to his soul. These musicians helped him locate sheet music and recordings. While sharing some beers at a pub outside Cleveland one Friday night listening to a popular Irish band that played there regularly, Bob discovered that his friend and his friend's sister and brother had a family band that was booked to perform their first gig on St. Patrick's Day about six weeks later and, wouldn't you know it, they didn't have a bass player. So Bob joined the group, Paddy's Night Out, February of 1992 and played with them for about five years until that group dissolved when Mary's two brothers moved away. Mary and Bob then set out on their own and founded a new band, Toraigh, which continues to this day. Approximately 15 other musicians have played with the group over the years.
Bob's first attraction in Irish music was to the folk songs and ballads of the Clancy Brothers and the Fureys. But eventually his tastes evolved to the high energy dance music and more elaborate arrangements of songs characterized by Altan, Solas, Dervish, Danu, Flook and other more modern traditional Irish groups. He also was intrigued by the innovative use of electronica and diverse ethnic rhythms by such high profile groups as Capercaillie. These influences helped shape the music of Toraigh which still carries a few remnants of those early years with Paddy's Night Out.
The aim of the group now is to become ever more original while holding tightly to the tradition, through new and different arrangements and creative use of bodhran, and other rhythms as well as the exploitation of modern electronic techniques of music generation, since music is such a powerful force for uniting all people.
Martin Koop started writing songs and playing guitar at 15 years old. At 17, he appeared as a vocalist on Illimitable, a compilation album of Toledo, Ohio artists. Martin left home at 18 to play music in Austin, Texas, where he started to learn his craft as a street musician on Austin's Sixth Street, and played country and western music with Sam Price and the Texas Gamblers. After that, he lived in Nashville, Tennessee, playing music and writing songs, and collaborating with some great undiscovered writers and pickers. In Nashville, Martin was a featured artist for a Bluebird Cafˇ early show. He traveled to Norwich, England for two years - playing music, writing songs, tending a pub, and exploring the rich history of the English countryside. Since then, he earned academic degrees in art history and law, writing songs and making music all the while. In 2001, Martin earned the Minstrel Soup Poetry Olympics Bronze Medal for performing several original songs. He has been playing traditional Irish music with the band Toraigh for approximately one year. Martin is an ASCAP Member. He has performed as a street musician in England, New York City, Saint Augustine, Florida, and Los Angeles, California. He writes songs that are tuneful, meaningful, penetrating, simple, and occasionally funny. Martin's current influences include Patrick Street, the Bothy Band, Jerry Holland, James Kelly, Zan McLeod, John Gorka, John Prine, Doc Watson, Andrea Zonn, and Solas. Lloyd Cole, Warren Zevon, Shel Silverstein, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Martin lives with his wife, Beth, and their 3 year old son, Ethan, in Tiffin, Ohio where the bluegill fishing is so fine in June that Mary and Bob must draw Martin away from ponds, lakes and reservoirs for gigs, they could do this by snaring him in their musical tapestry of hornpipes, jigs and reels, but, Mary and Bob prefer to drag him away bodily at this time of year to fulfill the band’s commitment’s, ( Mary hits him over the head with the Bodhran whilst Bob plays a mean Bass Guitar riff to drown out Martin’s screams ).
For information about bookings contact Bob Midden:
