At the start of their career, Malinky gained a "Danny" Award for new talent in 1999 at Celtic Connections Festival. The band went on to play across Britain and Europe including appearances at Cambridge, Lorient and Tonder Festivals and in 2002, they toured Germany on the annual Scottish Folk Festival Tour. The band with the line-up of Karine Polwart (vocals guitars & bouzouki), Mark Dunlop ( bodhran & whistle), Kit Patterson (fiddle, mandolin & guitar), Steve Byrne (vocals, bouzouki & guitar) recorded their fist album titled Last Leaves. Fiddler John Bews came into the band replacing Kit Patterson along with button box player Leo McCann and the album 3 Ravens featured this line-up. Karine Polwart and Leo McCann left the group in 2005. Joining the ranks are multi-instrumentalist Ewan MacPherson and vocalist Fiona Hunter.
Mark Dunlop – bodhran, whistles, vocals.
Mark from County Antrim is the band’s original whistle and bodhran player and is renowned for his on-stage wit and has emerged as a sensitive singer and interpreter of traditional Irish songs.
Steve Byrne – vocals, bouzoukie, guitar.
Angus born Steve is a graduate of the Edinburgh’s School of Scottish Studies and is a traditional arts develoment officer. His fine traditional singing saw him win through to the finals of the Young Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year 2001 competition. Since summer 2004, Steve has also been a member of Emily Smith's touring band, 2002's BBC Young Scottish Traditional Musician of the Year, appearing on her acclaimed second album A Different Life. His solo project of Angus songs and poems set to music is (finally!) due for release in February 2006.
Jon Bews – fiddle, vocals.
Jon is a prize-winning graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and a former member of acclaimed folk rockers Burach. He has made several recordings with Basque singer song-writer Mikel Urdangarin. He has recently turned his hand to producing, with a number of album projects in the pipeline. Jon currently juggles his Malinky commitments with the all-instrumental band Cantrip, and is a well-kent face around Edinburgh's lively session scene.
Ewan Macpherson: Born in Liverpool, Ewan was one of the first ever intake of students at Paul McCartney's Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. His recording credits include the new release from Croft no 5 and The Complete Songs of Robert Burns. He also appears on a new album by contemporary Scottish trio The Unit, with Paul Jennings & Amy Geddes, and on the forthcoming solo album by Alasdair White of Battlefield Band. He has performed with a wide range of artists including BBC Radio 2 Folk Award-winner John Spiers (Spiers & Boden), Búrach, Cantrip, and All-Ireland champion Claire Mann. Ewan regularly plays with Edinburgh trio Fine Friday and has a strong interest in Scandinavian music, working with Fribo with vocalist Anne Sofie Linge Valdal (Jim Sutherland’s Cold Weather Dancing) and fiddler Sarah-Jane Fifield, and pan-European six-piece Althing. An active member of the Edinburgh session scene, Ewan is becoming recognized as one of Scotland’s most versatile multi-instrumentalists.
Fiona Hunter: Glasgow-born Fiona is a graduate of the Scottish Music BA course at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where she was a student of the renowned singer Alison McMorland. She has travelled widely, including appearances with RSAMD course leader and former Battlefield Band stalwart, Brian McNeill, at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. While in the USA, Fiona undertook an internship at the illustrious Smithsonian Institute, home to decades of invaluable folklore study. A great enthusiast of the singing of the Scottish Travellers, she has been working with the Stewart family, from Perthshire, learning her trade from some of the last members of the renowned Traveller folksong dynasty. A gifted singer with a strength of voice that marks her out from her peers, Fiona also brings her skills on cello to the Malinky lineup, further diversifying and enhancing the band sound.
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