John Cutliffe is an Irish musician from Buncrana, County Donegal. He was born on February 8, 1962. He started his work in 1977 and ended his musical career in 2007. However, in 2012, he returned and started making people aware of the conflict between Israel and Palestine until early 2014. Then in October of the same year, he worked with many people on a song called "Shyma Smiled for Me". He currently works for an NGO in Myanmar.
Early life
John Cutliffe was born on February 8, 1962 in Buncrana, Ireland, to parents Kevin Cutliffe and Ailish Cutliffe. He attended Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana, a Secondary School in his home town.
In Bands (1991 to 2007)
John has played Irish traditional and bluegrass music in the many pubs that dot the Irish countryside and has played with many pop and rock bands over the years. In London his Irish bluegrass band The Pyros teamed up with Frank Tovey and recorded albums on Mute Records. Cutliffe helped formed The Pyros in his home town of Buncrana. The group developed a following in the North West of Ireland. Various lineups included Kevin Doherty and Ciaran Tourish. During this time John played with well-known musicians, including Altan, Gerry O Connor, Ted Hawkins and former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough. Cutliffe is the owner and editor of JigTime, a website that chronicles Irish and American roots music and was the Tour Manager and general U.S. "man on the ground" for Irish traditional band Altan. He is a keen photographer and his pictures can be seen on websites including Rosanne Cash's site and the MerleFest site and on album covers both in Ireland and Nashville. In 2005, Cutliffe teamed up with Andrea Zonn to produce the Hands Across The Water CD, a 16 track collaboration album between Celtic and American artists for children who were orphaned in the south east asian tsunami.
Shyma Smiled For Me
In October 2014, John and Rory Gallagher teamed up to work on "Shyma Smiled For Me" which was released on December 5, 2014, with all proceeds going to children's charities in Gaza. The song was written by John and Rory and featured many well known Irish and UK artists as well as a choir of children from Jerusalem and his son, Kevin. In addition to Cutliffe himself, the lineup included Rory Gallagher, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Liam O Maonlai, , , , Wee Glee Singers, , Brian Mullan, Laurence Doherty, , Claire McDaid, and Sophia Brock, as well as Kevin and Caroline Cutliffe. The song made a brief appearance in the Irish download charts in 2015.
