The Budvar Music Trail: Conor Mallon & Dara Dubh

Conor Mallon from Keady, Co.Armagh started his musical career with the Armagh Pipers Club where he attended Uilleann Pipe lessons. He progressed through ranks to become one of the senior teachers at the club before touring in a full time capacity. Conor has been categorised as “Leading the next generation of Uilleann pipe players.” by folking.com.

Conor was the first recipient of the ACNI/BBC NI Young Traditional Musicians Platform award and subsequently was a guest musician with the Ulster Orchestra and with the award winning Foden’s Brass Band. Conor is a Senior County, Ulster and All-Ireland Champion on Uilleann Pipes in the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and has won many other awards including the Uilleann Piping Scholarship by the Na Píobairí Uilleann Dublin in 2008 and was the first recipient of the Mark Donnelly Bursary for Uilleann Piping Award in 2010.

Conor has performed at many festivals in Ireland, Europe and the USA including the William Kennedy Piping festival, Piping Live in Glasgow, the Milwaukee Irish Fest and has toured extensively on his own, with his own band “Conor Mallon Band”, with band “Connla”, Comhaltas and with the prestigious worldwide show, “Irish Celtic”. He has performed on a number of Radio shows, TV programmes for RTE, TG4 and the BBC individually and with various other groups.

Mallon’s debut solo album ‘Unearthed’ exploded on to the folk/traditional scene, featuring mostly his own compositions. Obtaining nominations for ‘Album of the Year’ at ‘The NI Music Prize Awards’, in Germany at the ‘Music Critics Awards’ and winning the prestigious ‘Ireland Tonight Radio Awards.

Dara Dubh is an Irish indie–folk–rock artist whose songs sit somewhere between heartfelt confession and a good kick up the road. A singer-songwriter and harpist with a habit of blending the delicate with the downright fierce, she brings a sharp emotional edge to a sound shaped by folk roots, alternative influences, and whatever else has been rattling around her head that week.

With the harp as her trusted companion, Dubh challenges the idea of an instrument often associated with traditional music. The harp has found new life in Dara’s hands as she pushes the boundaries of its capabilities, and a voice that can shift from whisper-soft to unapologetically powerful without warning. 

A SAMA Best Newcomer nominee, JBL & Martin Garrix Music Academy top 10 UK artists and one of The List’s Hot 100 (No. 57), Dara has taken her live show across the UK and Italy, collecting a run of sold-out nights in Scotland, Ireland, and Italy along the way. Her 2024 EP opened the door to a wider audience, followed by a collaborative EP in 2025 that pushed her sound into new territory. She’s currently working away—quietly but determinedly—on her debut album, set for 2026.

With a sound that refuses to sit neatly in any one box, Dara Dubh continues to carve out her own corner of a genre dyfing landscape, one unhurried but unforgettable song at a time.