Malachy O'Neill plays double bass with country-soul band The Knights of Mentis, and with pioneers of Turkabilly The Brickwork Lizards.

He was director of Livestock Festival, which combined a programme of World Music with antique and unusual agricultural practices.

Malachy’s passion for Middle Eastern music was  in 2011, by an overland trip from Uzbekistan to Western China, via Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.