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Doolin' is a folk music band, inspired by traditional Irish music and mixing it with pop-rock, funk, jazz and even hip-hop influences.

Biography
Founded in Toulouse, France, in 2005, it takes its name from a small Irish village. Doolin' is a sextet composed of Nicolas Besse on guitar, Wilfred Besse on vocals and accordion, Guilhem Cavaillé on violin (the latter left the band in October 2016 and has since been replaced by Niall Murphy and Sam Proctor), Jacob Fournel on Irish flutes (low whistle and tin whistle), Josselin Fournel on bodhrán (the latter is vice-champion of Ireland in this discipline) and Sébastien Saunié on bass. The sextet's attraction to Irish music comes from trips to Ireland or from listening to certain artists such as The Waterboys, U2, The Pogues, Sharon Shannon, Altan, Solas (group), or Martin Hayes.

According to Anne Berthod, music journalist at French magazine Télérama, the group "cultivates its Celtic tropism with a terrible groove and a good dose of fantasy ". For his part, Garry West, founder of Compass Records, declares "There has never been a group in France that does as much honour to Irish music as Doolin', while bringing a personal touch to it ". Eric Bureau of the French newspaper Le Parisien declared that "the best Irish band is... from Toulouse".

In 2017, Doolin' became the first French band to be invited to the Folk Alliance International Conference and to appear on the festival compilation.

The band performed in April at the famous festival MerleFest and is preparing for an August 2018 tour of major Irish festivals in the United States.

Popcorn Behaviour (2006-2007)
In March 2006, the group's first album was released, self-produced and distributed by Keltia Musique. It received the Bravos Trad'Mag award as well as the support of renowned Northern Irish flautist Desi Wilkinson.

Angels Are Free (2008-2010)
After two years of touring, the group released their second album in 2008, which allowed them to increase their popularity, while at the same time working on a film-concert presented for the Hivernales du Documentaire, on Man of Aran, a documentary by Robert Flaherty published in 1934. In terms of collaborations, we find Costel Nitescu, a gypsy jazz violinist, Dan Houghton, a traditional Scottish musician on the border pipe, and Olivier Arnaud on the mandolin and banjo. This second album was again praised by Trad Magazine as Gérard Viel considered it "a must listen to and get as soon as possible ".

The title High Reel, the introduction to the album, enabled the group to appear in 2013 on the soundtrack of the film Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia directed by Laurent Tirard.

Exile (2011-2012)
In 2011, after participating in the French tour of the Irish dance show Celtic Legends, the band released its third album Exile. The same year, the band completed its first Irish tour, including a concert at the Tall Ships Festival in Waterford, sharing the stage with The Waterboyz, Sharon Shannon and Dervish.

Live In Lorient (2012-2015)
In August 2012, the band took advantage of its 7th participation in the Lorient Interceltic Festival to record a live album entitled Live In Lorient. The album was released the following year and distributed by Coop Breizh. This album allows the band to revisit the songs that made their success with guests such as Sam Proctor on Reconciliation Set, and Brian Kelly and Ben Gunnery on the track Dinkey's Session Set. This album was a great success with the public.

Doolin’ (since 2016)
The band's eponymous album, released in 2016, takes as its theme the great wave of Irish emigration to North America in the 1850s, a theme chosen by the band as 2016 marks the 170th anniversary of the Great Famine in Ireland. It was recorded in Nashville and signed by Compass Records after the band met Alison Brown and Garry West, co-founders of this prestigious American label. Even more than in his previous projects, this album sees Doolin' collaborating with many renowned musicians, starting with John Doyle (musician), guitarist of Solas who assumes the role of artistic director of the album.

The album opens with Song for John, a song about an Irishman's exile during the Great Famine. The song Reel Africa, a cover of a traditional Irish ballad, on which the band is accompanied by the renowned flautist Michael McGoldrick, is a way of raising awareness of the famine that still exists on the African continent today. Galway Girl (a cover of Steve Earl's song of the same name) sees the band accompanied by banjo virtuoso Alison Brown (winner of 4 Grammy Awards), while for Le Dernier Kouign Amann it's Jerry Douglas (winner of 14 Grammy Awards) on the dobro who lends a hand.

The title Ballad of Hollis Brown, a cover of a Bob Dylan song, evokes the distress of a family suffering from famine during the Great Depression in the United States and is enhanced by percussionist Kenny Malone (drummer for Ray Charles and Johnny Cash among others). Mary Shannon (Sharon Shannon's sister) on banjo, is a guest of the sextet on Mary's Jig.

Throughout the album, the theme of the Great Irish Famine is the occasion for the band to tackle themes linked to the consequences of the event, such as the migratory flows, notably with the track Sailing Across The Ocean.

Doolin' is also the occasion for the band to cover for the first time a song from the French repertoire: the famous song Amsterdam by singer Jacques Brel.

John Doyle composed an instrumental track Wind Her Up especially for the album, and the album ends with a cover of Sinéad O'Connor's Famine, which takes a more modern and universal approach to this theme with the participation of New York rapper Taron Benson.

The group also chose to donate 10% of the album's proceeds during its first three years to the Grameen CA Foundation to support agricultural development projects in Africa.

The album was very well received by both the public and the critics. For example, Irish American News journalist Jack Baker declared: "A more beautiful gift has not come from France since the delivery of the Statue of Liberty" and called the album the best musical discovery of 2016. In France, Bernard Geniès of the Nouvel Observateur spoke of "A record full of sea spray and energy" while for Julien Bordier of L'Express "If the best modern Irish music group was French, it would be called Doolin'".

Studio Albums
2006 Popcorn Behaviour (Doolin')

2008 Angels Are Free (Doolin')

2011 Exile (Doolin')

2016 Doolin’ (Compass Records)

Live Albums
2012 Live in Lorient (Doolin')