Traditional Irish music is enjoyed the world over. Belfast-based Craobh Rua is busy doing its bit to spread the word ? and makes a welcome return to the Wharf, Tavistock on Saturday.

The band is just back from a tour of America that was postponed earlier this year due to a bureacratic delay in getting visas.

?There are Irish everywhere,? says the band?s soft-spoken banjo player Brian Connolly.

?Everywhere. It doesn?t matter what part of the world you go to. It?s just unbelievable.

?In America there are 45-million people of Irish descent. If they all came back Ireland would sink!?

The band kicked off their Stateside trip in Michigan.

?We had a great trip. We appeared at the Chicago Celtic Festival and then went to Boulder, Colorado for the Festival of Mabon,? relates Brian in his lilting Belfast brogue. ?Mabon is an old Welsh word and it is a celebration of harvest.?

The band happily took this nod towards Wales instead of the Emerald Isle in their musical stride.

?We weren?t offended in the least that it wasn?t Irish ? it?s Celtic. The Celts get everywhere!? he laughs.

Despite being rooted in the troubled city of Belfast with its constant reminders of a Northern Ireland beset with sectarian divides and political power struggles Craobh Rua steers its musical course clear of such distractions.

?We play music for enjoyment and bringing enjoyment to other people. There are enough people doing everything else such as politics. People come to our concerts and hopefully they go away with a sense of having had a good time,? says Brian.

The set is a lively mix of rousing jigs, reels and polkas interspersed with tender ballads and airs.

Although they play the Northern Ireland style of traditional music their sound is a fusion of many musical disciplines.

?There are many styles, say of fiddling ? the Donegal style or the Sligo or Antrim style. In the north we have developed our own distinctive style.

?If you learn the Donegal style you pick up some of the tricks they do there. It is like learning a language. If someone wants to learn English and went to Newcastle they would speak with a Geordy accent or if they went to London it would be Cockney . . .?

Brian says the individual band members bring their own particular style of playing to the music.

They have all written tunes but very much in a traditional style.

?We do our own compositions and also new tunes written by other people ? but we give them the Croabh Rua touch.

?Everybody brings their own influences to the band. I think traditional music is always evolving which is great because it is alive,? says Brian.

The band released their long awaited fifth album ?If Ida Been Here Ida Been There? more than a year ago. The pressures of a busy touring schedule currently preclude them from recording another.

?At present we don?t have time to go into the studio. But we always have new material up and running for a new album. Life at the moment is pretty hectic.?

The band is on a fortnight?s tour of England and Scotland. Then after a short break back in Belfast they are back to continue touring. It can be gruelling but they take all the travelling in their stride.

?If you don?t enjoy touring and travelling you are definitely in the wrong business!? says Brian.

?A friend of ours says you don?t get paid for playing music ? you get paid for driving between gigs. The music and meeting people is the enjoyable part.?

Traditional music owes much of its roots in people holding caelidhs at crossroads and going around playing in people?s houses.

?If we are performing in Scotland and stay at a friend?s house we will always play a session there. It doesn?t matter that its your job ? you still want to play those sessions,? says Brian.

He says everywhere there is a great and growing enthusiasm for traditional music.

With their mix of uillean pipes, flute, tin whistles, fiddle, bodhran, banjo, mandolin and bouzouki the members of Craobh Rua are guaranteed to make a few more converts on Saturday night.

Wharf Box office: (01822) 611166.