With their musical career rocketing, the sky is (literally) the limit for young Trad band Cúig, having secured sponsorship from the country’s premier airline, Aer Lingus.
The five-member band – Camlough brothers Eoin and Cathal Murphy, Miceal Mullen from Killeen and brothers Ruairi and Ronan Stewart from Tyrone – are currently fronting a new promotional video for the airline, which has already been viewed more than 200,000 times across the globe.
The band spearheads Aer Lingus’ advertising of the world-famous Milwaukee Irish Fest, North America’s largest celebration of Irish music and culture. Having graced the stage at last year’s event, Cúig were invited to return this year, with the Aer Lingus team following them on the journey. The result is a two-minute video featuring the boys as they travel trans-Atlantic to perform their music in front of thousands at the US festival, with the track ‘Carry On’ from their new, soon-to-be-released album used as the soundtrack to the video.
This level of exposure is the stuff of dreams and signals exciting times ahead for the young musicians who say they still can’t quite believe it.
Speaking to The Examiner from America, where they are continuing their summer tour, Miceal Mullen explained how the opportunity came about: “We got the initial email from Aer Lingus when we were in Paris playing a gig there at the Irish Cultural Centre and to say that we were shocked would be a complete understatement!, he enthused.
“We played Milwaukee Irish Fest last year and had such an amazing time so we were already buzzing to be going back for a second year; the sponsorship with Aer Lingus was just a massive bonus. We never expected to ever get this kind of exposure and the fact that Aer Lingus enjoyed our music enough to feature it on an advert is still hard for us to get over!
“The track ‘Carry On’ is a song from our new album that will be coming out later this year with launches being organised for local venues,” Miceal added.
The boys are due to return home later this month where they will spend just a few weeks before embarking on a month-long German tour. All this while continuing with their studies at their respective universities is no mean feat for these young men, the eldest of whom has just turned 23. But in light of what they have already achieved, Cúig can be assured of a stellar future in the music industry.