“Music is the language of my dialogue with that which I perceive to be sacred”

Ross Daly

Although of Irish descent, Ross Daly does not really fit into any particular ethnic stereotype given that his life has been spent in many different parts of the world and his home for more than 35 years has been the island of Crete in Greece. Ross Daly has traveled the world, mainly in the Middle East, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, studying various forms of local music traditions. In these traditions, he encountered music that was not merely a vehicle of self-expression, but music that was able to take one beyond what was normally perceived to be the boundaries of one’s self into other trans-personal realms of experience. After many years of intensive training in a variety of musical traditions, Daly turned his attention largely to composition, drawing heavily on all of the knowledge that he acquired during his long apprenticeships.

In 1982 he established an educational institution called Labyrinth Musical Workshop, in Houdetsi, Crete. More than 250 instruments that Daly collected during his travels are on show. Since 2002 seminars and “master-classes” are conducted every year with some of the greatest teachers of traditional music from around the world. It is a meeting point for musicians and students and is recognised as the leading institution in Greece today, in the field of education of modal and traditional music in general.

Ross Daly is the originator of the term Contemporary Modal Music, which refers to contemporary compositional works which draw their influences and inspiration from the broader world of Modal musical traditions which are found primarily (although not exclusively) in the vast geographical region between Western Africa and Western China.

Zohar Fresco, Trio Chemirani, Bustan Abraham, Ballake Sissoko, Vassilis Soukas, Petroloukas Chalkias, Kelly Thoma, Stelios Petrakis to name a few.

Ross Daly has performed at many important venues and festivals such as: Carnegie Hall, New York U.S.A | Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, U.K | Konzerthaus Mozart Saal, Vienna, Austria | Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France | Luxemburg Concert Hall | National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland | State Theatre Company, Adelaide, Australia | Sodern Theatre Stockholm, Sweden | WDR, Munich, Germany | WDR Wuppertal, Germany | Cairo Opera House | Emirates Palace Theater | Epidaurus Theatre, Greece | Herodion Theatre Athens, Greece | Al Dhafra Concert Hall, Abu Dhabi | San Francisco World Music Festival, U.S.A | Rainforest World Music Festival, Sarawak, Malaysia | TFF Rudolstadt Festival, Germany | Festival de Saint Chartier, France | Les Nuits Atypiques Festival, Langon, France | Urkult Festival, Sweden | Huset theatre, Ahlborg, Denmark | Migration Festival, Taipei, Taiwan | International Lute Festival, Tetouan, Morocco | International Festival, Warsaw, Poland | Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall, Istanbul, Τurkey | Jerusalem Oud Festival | Luxemburg Concert Hall | Madrid Summer Festival, Spain | San Sebastien Festival, Spain

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