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The music of Mairéid Sullivan and Ben Kettlewell is a hybrid of soaring traditional Slow Airs, contemporary songs and mesmerizing dance rhythms. Hypnotic soundtracks form a cocoon of comforting and energizing emotions and imagery.

Mairéid Sullivan has been singing since her childhood in West Cork, Ireland. Mairéid (rhymes with 'parade') was born on a farm at Lisheens, Kealkill, about four miles from Bantry Bay. "Music was everywhere. My father was a master horseman and a wonderful tenor who encouraged me to sing. My mother taught me traditional songs."

Upon returning to Melbourne, Australia, after seven years traveling the world and other places, Mairéid and Ben met up with musical friends to record their latest CD, Never Drift Apart. “Our vision for Never Drift Apart was to create a comforting and energizing canopy of sound for the listener, recreating the experience my mother created for me when she sang me to sleep as a child, a memory that has nurtured me all through my life. Each song is a world unto itself: songs of joy, struggle and hope."

Mairéid has received excellent reviews for her two earlier solo recordings, For Love's Caress (1998) and Dancer (1994, produced by Donal Lunny). She appears on several best-selling Celtic music recordings, including a duet concert recording, A Celtic Evening, with Derek Bell, the harper with the Chieftains. She is the author of Celtic Women in Music (1999). The second volume is due for publication. Ancient Self - Memoirs, a poetry collection, was published in 1997. Mairéid has been working on a documentary film about the spirit of Irish musical culture, while creating an accompaning book and DVD. To see the photo-journal, click on Filming in Ireland. To see brief Quicktime film clips, featuring interviews with seven Irish artists, click here. Maireid and Ben have won awards for their feature length art film, Time after Time, filmed in Ireland, North America and Australia. You can view an eight minute preview here.

Mairéid is a student of history, with a special interest in Celtic culture. Her poetry, essays and articles have appeared in many publications, including Martin Melhulish's Celtic Tides (1999) and Hugh Downs’ My America (2002).

Mairéid is the eldest of seven brothers and sisters. She has a daughter, Brigette.

"I grew up in the Irish countryside but I feel that I am a part of every place I have been around the world. It has been said that memory is the first theatre. Memories of exploration in places of great beauty mark my life journey. Sitting quietly in sacred places, by a waterfall or a stream, against ancient stones or under ancient trees, we can ask nature and our ancestors to speak to us, and they will. When I was a child in Southwestern Ireland, there was a hidden grotto above a stream at the bottom of our farm, known as Lady's Well. I remember gazing at the expression on the faces of the many statues of Mary there. That expression of deep peace calls to me still and I've seen it on the faces of other sacred statues and icons all over the world. Early childhood memories seem to dominate my personal memories. I vividly recall singing aloud in the open air, out on misty, lush green fields.

"As a young woman in Australia, I loved to walk through the rainforests, especially at first light, searching for Lyrebirds; to watch and listen as the Lyrebird shaped his mound and then danced and sang exotic melodies, mimicking the voices of other birds. The Lyrebird became my "totem" and I still carry a large Lyrebird feather with me. When I think of Asia, I recall exotic tropical forests, quaint isolated villages, the large monastic centers, and the welcoming teachers who shared their insights on the glorious heritage of ancient Asian cultures. Bike riding in France, Belgium and Holland has etched a kaleidoscope of enthralling memories and tastes, especially for Dutch mayonaise, French wine and Belgian chocolate. The profound stillness I experienced while canoeing on Desolation Sound in Canada inspired my first full poetry cycle.

"I'll never forget the many road trips Ben and I made on our tours, off the main highways, from coast to coast across the United States: magnificent views from mountain tops at sunset, steaming deserts at dawn, the endless majestic plains, and the long shadows cast across the valleys at dusk. We were often mesmerized by hours spent studying water birds as they soared over the wetlands and the Pacific when we lived at Marina del Rey, in Southern California.

"After all of my travels, and meetings with people all over the world, I know that with humanity's abundant emotional resources, and the tools at our fingertips, we can cooperate in maintaining peace in the world. Music helps us thrive in the chaos of the world"

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Ben Kettlewell is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and author. He has been involved with almost every aspect of music and music technology for three decades. Of Scottish and Cherokee ancestry, he was raised by his Grandfather in rural North Carolina. Ben is writing a novel, The Little Quaker Boy, which tells the story of his childhood in North Carolina. Ben lived for many years on Cape Cod, until he joined forces with Mairéid Sullivan in 1997. They have been inseparable since then.

Throughout his career, Ben has utilized new technology to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instruments.

He began his professionally career at the age of nineteen, touring as lead guitarist in several well known rock, folk, blues and jazz ensembles. He has composed music for television productions and multimedia projects. He has won awards for his original scores for theater productions. His compositions in the electronic and ambient music genre have been recorded and released on British and American labels.

As well as being an accomplished acoustic and electronic musician, Ben has been a music journalist for over twenty years and a radio presenter for ten years. His book, Electronic Music Pioneers, (Pro Music Press, 2002, distributed by Hal Leonard Corp.) is based on a radio series for which he was awarded a grant from the Massachusetts Council for the Arts and Humanities. (Click here to read more about the book.)

Ben is also a celebrated painter and graphic designer. His fascination with computer technology has led him to become a sought after webmaster for visual and performing artists world-wide. He is the editor of the online music magazine, Alternate Music Press (www.alternatemusicpress.com) one of the earliest and most eclectic music publications on the Internet.

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