The Celtic Flyers
Irish dance band
Auckland Area
The Celtic Flyers is a 5 piece band lead by Irish born musician Sean Kelly. As a youngster, Sean suffered the torture of the annual Feis Cheol with solo and choir vocals, picking up the odd silver to use as a fishing weight when going after flounder in the River Foyle. Educated in The Tech. and University of Ulster, Sean took the ferry to England in 1985, where he very quickly got into an original rock band called Partisan. They enjoyed regular gigs at some of London’s’ best known small music venues, the Mean Fiddler, the Powerhouse and Covent Gardens’ Rock Garden. Just as Sean was starting to introduce the whistle into some of Partisan’s music, he moved to Auckland, New Zealand in 1990 where he lives to this day with his two kids Rose and Tom. Kitty O’Brien’s’ was Auckland’s first Irish Pub. It opened in 1992 and Sean saw the opportunity to get involved in the burgeoning Irish music scene. Since then he has played and continues to play with some fantastic New Zealand and NZ based musicians. Sean’s’ recent debut CD; Sean Kelly & Friends ‘See the Light’ was reviewed by Tim Page in NZ Musician magazines’ 100th Edition:Sean Kelly presents as authentic an offering of Irish music likely to be found in this antipodean setting. Right from the first track, the listener is transported to the rolling mist covered hills of the Emerald Isle. Whilst the recording is of new and old songs Sean has garnered over the years, it is playing them live that Sean says ‘brings them to life’. Sean now leads one of New Zealand’s best known Irish bands, the Celtic Flyers. They have enjoyed great success over the years being the principal St Patrick’s Festival concert band for the last seven years, playing the post Lions rugby match bash in New Plymouth 2005 to 6000 rugby supporters and generally playing at all the major Irish functions in the Auckland area and beyond. Sean performed the anthem in advance of the Ireland vs. All Black test at Eden Park, June 17th. Sean considers it a great honour to have been selected to sing another Derry man’s song, Phil Coulter’s, ‘Ireland’s Call’. Other highlights for Sean have been playing on stage with The Chieftains and meeting Damien Rice |
 
The Celtic Flyers main influences would be The Pogues, Altan, Christy Moore, David Gray, The Dubliners Ideal for: Celtic themed event, irish dance |
| Similar acts in this area: tamlin, twisty willow, the grail |
| Thank you for your email Kellie, You beat me to it! I was going to email you and say just how thrilled we were with the Celtic Flyers, everybody commented how great their music was and the fact that they are pure entertainers. I can't thank them enough for making my party what it was and I literally danced every number for 4 hours!!! Quite a few people have asked me how to contact them so you could get some more bookings from it. Please thank them again for me. Kind regards Jane Stace |
| The celtic flyers irish band for dance auckland new zealand |