They met one strange night in 2002 when both were classical music students at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, and aside from forming a romantic attachment, resolved right there and then to form a band together. From County Waterford, Byrne had been playing percussion since he was four in various bands and orchestras, and had been a member of Tommy Hayes' percussion orchestra Spraoi Drummers. Ironically, though, he didn't seriously get into Celtic music until becoming absorbed by the Irish session scene in Manchester, where his brilliance as a bodhran player blossomed. Esslemont had also played in an assortment of disparate bands since first picking up a violin back home in Newtown, Powys, at the age of six, and she was studying violin when she met Byrne in Manchester.

Feeling stifled by the rigidity of the classical genre, Esslemont abandoned her violin class to concentrate on the fledgling Uiscedwr, now augmented by guitarist Ben Hellings, who'd worked with Esslemont in one of her previous bands in Wales. They were swiftly catapulted to national attention when Anna's sister secretly entered them for the 2002 BBC Young Folk Awards even though they'd barely played in public at that point. They amazed everyone -- especially themselves -- by winning. This in turn led them to a prestigious appearance at the 2003 Cambridge Folk Festival, and their natural exuberance, stage presence, and tune-playing artistry did the rest. They quickly built a devoted audience and their debut album, Everywhere (a mix of infectious self-written and trad tunes interspersed by dark songs sung by Esslemont), was highly praised.

But in 2005, with the British folk world at their feet, disaster struck. After initially being told by a doctor she was feeling ill due to a bad diet, Esslemont was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a rare disease stemming from a low red blood cell count that resulted in white blood cells attacking her bone marrow. There followed a frustrating year of intensive hospital treatment, during which time Hellings left the band after a series of disputes and Byrne toured with the fast-rising Seth Lakeman. Against the odds, Uiscedwr survived. Byrne rejected Lakeman's offer to join his band permanently to stay by Esslemont's side when she needed him most and Kevin Dempsey, one of Britain's finest acoustic guitarists (who'd played with everyone from Percy Sledge to Alice Coltrane to Dave Swarbrick's Whippersnapper), replaced Hellings. Gigs were difficult -- Esslemont collapsed at the end of the band's set at the Cropredy Festival -- but between her constant hospital visits, Uiscedwr recorded their second album, Circle.

Produced by Joe Broughton with a heavier, more jazzy influence, Circle presented a more mature sound than the first album, but suffered from the lack of promotion due to Esslemont's health problems, and was largely overlooked. On December 15, 2006, Esslemont underwent a bone marrow transplant operation, which one specialist had advised her against due to being too dangerous. Yet she emerged with her fighting spirit undiminished, determined to make up for lost time and put Uiscedwr back on the map. She played fiddle on a New Model Army album and collaborated with Byrne on the music for Tapeire, a Celtic show starring James Devine, featured in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's fastest tap dancer. And halfway through 2007, the Circle album was reissued and Uiscedwr went back on the road. ~ Colin Irwin