The Duo:
After playing together on and off for a few years previously, Paul and Rob came together to form the na-mara duo in 2006. Since that time, they have been playing across many of the clubs and festivals in north London and the counties around their home town of St. Albans.
Over this time, they have increasingly explored music from all corners of the Celtic diaspora, in particular Brittany and Asturias.
One of Paul’s projects has been to take songs from the French speaking world and translating them into English to bring them to a wider English-speaking audience. Meanwhile, Rob has been researching tunes from the Spanish-Celtic regions of Asturias and Galicia to include in their sets.
In recent times, they have the increasingly been writing their own songs in the traditional style. A number of these are included on their second major album, ‘The Bite’, released on the Rightback Records label in autumn 2010.
Rob Garcia:
Rob was born in London of Spanish descent – his parents arrived in the UK as child refugees from the Spanish Civil War in 1937 – he trained as a professional musician and classical guitarist, and has played solo and duo recitals in the UK and Europe and been a teacher. He plays mandolin, mandola, bandurria and classical guitar in the duo.
Paul McNamara:
Paul comes originally from Middlesbrough where as a teenager he played around the local folk clubs. After many years in Scotland and Oxford, Paul settled with his family in St Albans in 1987. He plays Lowden and Taylor guitars in the duo.
