Musicians

Raquel Gigot

a Brussels based accordion wonder of Belgian-Spanish extraction. She plays both diatonic and chromatic accordion and is familiar with a number of musical styles, including the "musette" as played in Paris during the swing-jazz period, as well as traditional music from Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, ... Raquel also performs as a soloist, and provided musical assistance for a number of plays and films (e.g. Cascades, Le Nain Rouge, Tiny et Baldi, ...). As a studio musician, she recorded with various artists on thirty albums (Jean Paul Albert, Albert Marcoeur, Ten Strings Duo, Christian Merveille, Bernard L'Hoir, Urban Trad, Cadans der Getouwen, …). When playing with Orion, Raquel takes the audience through various Irish accordion styles. Her work has been highly praised by the international music press:

"Superb, precise and adventurous accordionplaying"

Folk Roots,Great Britain

"The accordion of Raquel Gigot is expressive and passionate"

Rock 'n' Reel, Great Britain

"This Raquel Gigot is unbelievably brilliant"

Diatonisch Nieuwsblad, accordionmagazine, Holland

"Raquel Gigot swings right down to her finger tips. Her music is full of emotion and spirit, played with precision, finesse and expression."

Accordéon Magazine, France

"It is the finesse, expression and above all, soul, of Raquel Gigot's superb accordion playing that gives the group its unique emotional impact ."

The Living Tradition, Great Britain

Erwan Berenguer

a young and very talented guitar player from Brittany. Erwan is a member of different breton bands (fest noz group Spontus, Obrée Alie, Trio Roland Conq, Jolie Vilaine, Imosima, Triad, ... ), with whom he played all major festivals in Britanny: Festival des Vieilles Charrues in Carhaix, Tombées de la Nuit in Rennes, Festival de Cornouaille in Quimper, Festival de Klegereg, ...
While still in his teens, he was asked to stand in for notorious guitarists as Gilles Le Bigot with Skolvan and as Nicolas Quemener with Skeduz.
Since a few years, he developed a significant musical partnership with Yann Fanch Perroches, one of the masters of diatonic accordion in Britanny.
In october 2005, Erwan joined Orion, playing his first concert together with jazz guitarist Philip Catherine, who was performing as a special guest with Orion that night.
"Erwan Berenguer, new in the band, is the worthy successor of Soïg Siberil"

John Faulkner
vocals, bouzouki, guitar and fiddle.

John hails from Co. Kildare in Ireland, but lives in Galway since many years. He performed worldwide as a solo-artist and as a duet with Dolores Keane ( tours in the USA, Canada, Asia, Australia, Europe, Scandinavia, ...). He was also musical director and arranger for Dolores Keane Band. John shared the stage with many other Irish artists such as Kevin Burke, Arty McGlynn, Nolaig Casey, De Dannan, ...
He is a gifted song-writer and several of his compositions were recorded by Eleanor Shanley and Dolores Keane (on Lion In A Cage and her last album Night Owl), ... In 1989, his song Lion In A Cage topped the Irish Charts for four weeks. It is also the title track on one of Dolores Keane's albums.
John Faulkner's recording career to date consists of appearances on fifteen albums,two of which are solo-albums (Kind Providence and Nomads), three as a duet with Dolores Keane. He also worked as a producer or co-producer for the likes of De Dannan (Ballroom, Hibernian Rhapsody), Sean Keane (All Heart, No Roses), Alec Finn (Blue Shamrock), Dolores Keane (Night Owl, Solid Ground), ...

Gwenaël Micault

an amazing musical centipede, from Breton origin. Though his first instrument is the accordion, he receives professional classical training on the clarinet at the Tours School of Music and studies jazz in the United States. After playing a while as a professional guitarist, he switched to the piano and keyboards and became a much sought after arranger and studio- or stage musician.
He worked with a.o. Jimmy Sommerville, Amanda Lear, Carmel, Arno, Vaya Con Dios, Maurane, Lara Fabian, Richard Gotainer, Etienne Daho,William Sheller, Stellla, Jaïro, Julos Beaucarne, Philippe Lafontaine, Jean Louis Deaulne, Perry Rose, Jo Lemaire, Victor Laszlo, ...
Several albums for which he made all musical arrangements received an Edison Award.
During the first half of the nineties, Gwenaël joins Orion and stays in the band for a couple of years (album Blue Room).
The music of Orion brings him back to his celtic roots , thus rekindling his interest in folk and celtic music.
This resulted in the recording of an ethno-jazz album with the late and much regretted jazz violonist Jean Pierre Catoul (Other Worlds). Gwenaël played along with Yehudi Menuhin and Stéphane Grappelli in the Brussels gala concert "All The Violins Of The World". He also worked with other jazz musicians such as Toots Thielemans, Philip Catherine, Diederik Wissels, Charles Loos, Rosenberg trio, Tars Lootens, Peter Hertmans, ...
The prestigious classical ensemble I Fiamminghi invited him as one of two bandonéon players (the other being Juan José Mossalini) in Maria de Buenos Aires, a tribute to Astor Piazolla.
In 2003 he works as an accordion player with the famous french singer Renaud on his succes album Boucan d'Enfer and tours during one year - playing over 200 concerts with Renaud in all of France's most famous concert halls. A dvd was recorded during this highly succesfull tour.
After leaving Renaud, Gwenaël decides to rejoin Orion in october 2005, having played with a number of other folk acts in the intervening years: Amorroma, Didier Laloy, Wannes Van De Velde et Dirk Van Esbroek (ex-Rum), Lais, Ialma, Camaxe, Sureda, ...

Rudy Velghe

fiddle player, and one of the band's founder-members. In 1978 he started playing in different Flemish folk bands, at the same time collecting old Flemish folksongs. Then he got involved with Irish traditional music. Over the years, Rudy has developed a keen interest in other musical styles such as Balkan music, bluegrass, swing, ...
He has composed and arranged music for television (France 3) and for different shortfilms (Festival of Arts, Galway, Ireland).
He worked for EMI on the "Dao Dezi" album, together with Breton artists like Tri Yann, Manu Lann Huel, Arnaud Maisonneuve, Denez Prigent, ... and guested on numerous studio recordings. Rudy also plays the Nyckelharpa, a bowed instrument with a keyboard and twelve harmonic strings.