SAOIRSE (Gaelic for FREEDOM and pronounced SEERSHA) were formed in the "33rd" county of the Greater Irish Diaspora..Glasgow, Scotland, back in 1996. We are a 3 piece featuring guitar, bass, fiddle, mandolin & Outer Mongolian Nose Flute!! We are all 2nd generation Irish & our aim is to promote through music & song the foundation of a 32 County Irish Republic,free from the shackles of 800 years of English Occupation & Oppresion.
We play approximately 3 gigs a week at home in Glasgow & tour extensively throughout the UK, Ireland & east coast of the US. Most memorable gig to date was performing to 20,000 Glasgow Celtic football (soccer!) fans at an open air concert in Glasgow to celebrate their team's winning of all three domestic honours in 2001.
Our influences are mostly artists who were not afraid to speak out against all forms of injustice be it home or abroad. Irish groups like The Wolfe Tones, Barleycorn, Pangur Ban, Wolfhound,Christy Moore..International artists such as Woody Guthrie,Joan Baez,Victor Jara, Billy Bragg, all greatly influenced the musical direction we chose to follow.