In the world of Irish traditional music, you would be hard-pressed to find a more accomplished and creative group than Téada.

County Sligo fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada, the group’s founder, recently sat down for an interview with irishphiladelphia.com. The conversation was wide-ranging, starting with his earliest days in County Clare learning the fiddle—sometimes when he might have preferred playing football to practicing—to a time when it seemed his career path might lie in the field of education, and ultimately to the successful career he has carved out with Téada and his talented bandmates.

The picture he paints is one of a musical journey ever evolving and ever more creative.