Xosé Manuel Budiño

Xosé Manuel Budiño

Xosé Manuel Budiño is a Galician folk musician from Moaña, Spain, known for his work on the gaita and for his place within Celtic and Spanish folk music. He begins at Moaña’s Semente Nova pipe school in the early 1980s and also takes part in the Xarabal pipe band. In 1991, he founds the group Fol de Niu.

Career and collaborations

Budiño performs with groups including Altan from Ireland, Capercaillie from Scotland and Oskorri from Euskadi, and he also works with artists such as Kepa Junkera, Uxía and Mercedes Peón. His profile is closely tied to Galician Celtic music, while his own work draws on traditional music and develops it into original composition.

Style and recordings

His music is described as rooted in small details of traditional music, but aimed at creating new music that can itself become part of tradition. One of his albums is Home, a work shaped by experiences gathered while touring internationally in places including Sofia, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Dublin, Milan, Lebanon, Syria and Morocco. On that album, he handles composition, arrangements, recording and production, and works with Jorge Pardo, Paulo Borges, Jacky Molard, Paco Charlín, Mercedes Peón, Carlos Castro, Kepa Junkera, Xoel López and Antón Reixa.

Live work and presentation

Home also leads to a new live show with a band that combines new technology and video creation with organic roots instruments, including Galician drums. Budiño is presented as an inventive and wide-ranging artist whose work connects his home region with broader Celtic and world music scenes.