Toraigh

Toraigh (pronounced “Tory”) is an Irish Gaelic word that means “seek” or “search.”

Toraigh represents the search for great times by bringing people together with the lively, toe-tapping, and heart-warming traditional music and dancing of Ireland.

Toraigh’s repertoire draws on much of the dance music, airs and ballads of the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century traditions of Ireland and Scotland and other Gaelic lands. Dancers often perform with this group and those in the audience who can’t resist the call are invited to dance, clap and sing along. Many of the tunes played by Toraigh are those often heard in traditional Irish music seisíuns (pronounced sessions). Seisíuns are informal gatherings of musicians in a pub, a home or a coffee house. These events are primarily for the enjoyment of the musicians but listeners and dancers are also welcome. To those unfamiliar with the tradition, a seisíun may sound and look like a jam session but the musicians are not actually improvising but instead playing tunes that they know in common from the set of over 10,000 tunes that have come down through the ages including jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, slip jigs, slides, airs and others.