Few could have foreseen the sweeping influence Moving Hearts would exert on Irish music when they formed back in 1980. A fiery brand of fusion characterised the group’s radical approach to Irish music, and they garnered a huge following in their five-year lifespan.

After their debut in 1981, Moving Hearts produced a further three albums before the expanded, and by then totally instrumental band, ceased regularly touring in 1985.

They reformed briefly for a gig in the Point in 1990, and are now back in the rehearsal studio for two gigs at Dublin's Vicar Street this February. These hugely anticipated performances are expected to mainly feature material from the group's groundbreaking instrumental album, The Storm.

Essentially, Moving Hearts had two separate incarnations. The first line-up featured Christy Moore (guitar, bodhrán and vocals), Declan Sinnott (lead guitar), Donal Lunny (bouzouki, synthesiser), Eoghan O'Neill (bass), Davy Spillane (uilleann pipes, low whistle), Brian Calnan (drums) and Keith Donald (saxophone).

Moore departed the group after two albums to be replaced by Mick Hanly, who eventually handed over the vocal duties for a short period to Flo McSweeney.

The second manifestation of the band, an all-instrumental line-up, is often acknowledged as being the catalyst for much of the music associated the with Riverdance phenomenon. Indeed, many former band members have since played with the dance show's orchestra.

The forthcoming Dublin concerts will feature a nine-piece Hearts: comprising Lunny, O'Neill, Spillane, Donald, Noel Eccles (percussion), Matt Kelleghan (drums), Anthony Drennan (guitar), Graham Henerson (keyboards) and Kevin Glackin (fiddle).

Always at the core of Moving Hearts' sound was a dynamic blending of traditional music with rock, jazz and folk. A unique combination of sax and pipes was underpinned by a dynamic and powerful rhythm section. The band's influence on subsequent acts - like the Afro-Celt Sound System, Kila, The Pogues and even U2 - is obvious.

Their demise has often been attributed to commercial and financial dictates, rather than any musical differences between the members, a claim supported by Noel Eccles.

"The original idea of the band being a co-operative was a very noble idea," insists Eccles. "But it became unviable. We owned our own PA and trucks to move the stuff around. We had our own tour bus, whereas most bands were renting. That's fantastic when you're gigging all the time. Borrowing for trucks and equipment and whatever becomes a bit of a chain around your neck, though, because you have to gig all the time to pay that off."

Saxophone player, Keith Dionald, feels that now is the right time to reconvene, after the lengthy break.

"Every year since we split we've had various offers from promoters and festivals to gig," says Donal. "But we haven't been able to do them. For many of the intervening years, two or three, or evenfour band members were away playing with Riverdance, and, due to various other commitments, we just couldn't get back together again."

Late last year, the recording of a film by Philip King to celebrate Donal Lunny's upcoming 60th birthday facilitated an opportunity tore-launch the Hearts.

"For the film, Philip asked me to spend a morning in a studio listening to and commenting on the music of our final album, The Storm," says Donald. "We hadn't chatted for years, and, of course, the subject of the hearts came up. Later, Donal and Noel Eccles were working on music for the Ryder Cup, and the whole thing just emerged out of that.

"We then rang around to see who was available and, for the first time, most of the band were. So, we are doing it on that basis."

Davy Spillane, the Hearts' Dublin-born piper, also remembers various half-attempts to get the group back together. "Nothing really came through to fruition," he says. "I suppose, there were internal house-keeping problems, so we were caught up in a way that we couldn't go forward. But it wasn't in an unhealthy way, it was just housekeeping stuff.

"But, finally, Donal rang me before Christmas and asked if I wanted to do it again. This time, for some reason or other, it seemed to work."

Commenting on his own unique role as a piper, in what was essentially a rock 'n' roll band, Spillane has fond memories of those heady, early days.

"Back then I was a boy, so of course it was exciting," he says. "Also, because I was playing and making uillean pipes and learning - I came from a tradition of where you knew what it was like to be an apprentice - that was a blessing, because it left me in what was a very 1970s frame of mind," says Spillane, talking of the attitude of freedom and experimentation that was around the band.

"I was still delighted and appreciative of the break given to me from these esteemed musicians", says Spillane. "As we all know, folk musicians were big stars back then. So, it was quite a big deal for me. I was full of joy and anticipation of the learning curve involved."

Spillane also sees Moving Hearts in a somewhat different light, compared to how others might perceive the band.

"I know the pipes and sax together were different, and we integrated the rock thing back into the folk thing that preceded it. But what was great about Moving Hearts when it was playing well was the energy. I see now, in retrospect, that it was just a classic Dublin rock band."

Percussionist Eccles explains his motivation for being involved in the re-union, in terms of his own convictions about the band's substance.

"I would like to go out there and show everybody who missed it first time the power that was in the band and the way the rhythm section worked with the tunes - the traditional melodies," says Eccles.

"The unique thing about the Hearts was the rhythm section approach, which was generated by Donal, of course. It wasn't just adding a popular groove to the music. It was using and orchestrating it very definitively and using the instruments in a way that supported the music, rather than just playing along with it."

Keith Donald is buoyant about the impending concerts.

"I think the power of the band is the thing that will surprise people," he says. "there will be nine fairly competent musicians on stage- journeymen who have served their time in various fields and who are fairly together at what they are at. There is also a new musical voice in the ensemble - the violin of Kevin Glackin.

"The combinations are multiplied a lot. I can hear in my head what it's going to be like, but I'm also looking forward to hearing what it's going to be like in the flesh."

Certainly, the musical traditions of Ireland were expanded by the rock and jazz-influenced arrangements played by Moving Hearts. The band howled with originality.

With a further two decades of diverse experience under their collective belts, the Vicar Street gigs could just prove to be the musical highlight of the year.

Moving Hearts play Dublin's Vicar Street venue for four nights on Tuesday, February 6, Wednesday, February 7, Thursday, February 8, and Friday, February 9. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster outlets.