17. Gino Lupari: Irish Musician

Episode 17. This week’s guest is one of the world’s most famous bodhran players Mr Gino Lupari. Gino plays with a fantastic group called Four Men & A Dog who he affectionately refers to in this interview as The Dogs. Gino has recorded with Sinead O’Connor, Shane McGowan, Rick Danko, Levon Helm (The Band) and Garth Hudson to name but a few. He’s appeared on almost 50 albums, toured in over 30 countries and performed over 1000 concerts.

We talk a little bit about Gino’s Italian heritage through his identity but I mostly steer away from that topic as it was covered excellently by Mr Paddy Glasgow on his brilliant podcast which is entitled Small But Massive. (We hope to get Paddy Glasgow on this podcast some day as he has been doing some of most worthwhile work in the whole of Ireland for the last 30 years or so. Anyway, check out that podcast episode. The link is below.)

In this episode I ask Gino mostly about his percussion. What does he play? How does he play it? How does he decide which instrument to play? How does he arrange? How does he record? I mention the Shure SM57 mic but I just call it the 57. If any of you are thinking of getting into production this should be the first mic you buy. It’s about 100 Euros and it will make anything sound rock and roll.

We also talk about Gino’s new album: No Turning Back. It was recorded in Donegal in Liam Bradley’s studio and also in Paul Casey’s studio who also mixed and mastered it. Musicians featured on the CD include: Liam Bradley. Paul Casey, Seamus O'Rourke, Brian McGrath, Dónal Murphy, Mick Daly, My Girl Josephine, Liam Bradley, Paul Casey, Nicky Scott, John McCullough, Gerry O’Connor, Damien “Nashville” McGeehan, Tim Edey, Dermot Byrne,Cathy Jordan and Lauren Doherty.

Gino is touring the album and you can find those dates as well as links for buying the CD on his website.

We recorded this conversation in Draperstown (aka Ballinascreen) in County Derry on Thurs 4th January 2024. Special thanks to my brother and his family for the loan of their living room. The soft furnishings really helped the acoustics of this recording.

Relevant Links

GinoLupari.com

Small But Massive Podcast

Gino on Small But Massive Podcast

AKG C519M Microphone

Shure SM57 Microphone

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