21/07/10 Samhradh, Samhradh! – Summer 2010!

I just realized that I haven’t been updating my webpage as I have been too busy! In the studio at the moment with T with the Maggies to record a new album and having such a great and fruitful time! 11 tracks down do far, not bad for a few days work!

Manus Lunny and I are talking of making a new recording starting as soon as this project is finished, so I will keep you posted!

Altan are very busy this summer. We are just back from Italy where we played a lovely concert with a local Italian orchestra in Bobbio, where the Irish monk St. Columbanus had a monastery and is buried.

I will be playing a solo gig here in Co. Donegal on August 7th as part of the Kilcar Festival, and the wonderful Mark Kelly will be accompanying me on that night! The Mary from Dungloe festival opens this Saturday and I have been given the honour to do the opening, so that should be good fun!

Altan will be playing the Buncrana Festival this Sunday 25th July, on the Guinness Rig, Shore Front.

I am looking forward to the Leonard Cohen concert in Lissadell before heading to Italy again with Donal Siggins, Emer Mayock and Steve Larkin, wonderful musicians! Altan then head to Spain and finish in Bilbao on the 25th of August, a fantastic city!

So it’s non stop, ach tá an saol go maith!

Mairéad x

01/02/10 Mairéad named Donegal Person of the Year

Maireád Ní Mhaonaigh has been announced as 2009 Donegal Person of the Year. The announcement was made at a Donegal Association function in Foley’s Bar, Merrion Row, Dublin on the evening of Thursday 28 Jan.

Talking to The Donegal News, Mairéad said “This year is Áltan’s 25th anniversary and getting this award for me is just the crowning glory – it’s the icing on the cake. I am so looking forward to the presentation night in the Burlington Hotel on February 28. We have a lot of musical friends coming along and we hope to have many stars from Donegal. It really is such an honour and I am very grateful to the Donegal Association.” We’re all so excited at Mairéad HQ!

This is the 75th anniversary of the Donegal Association’s work, and the 32nd Year of the ‘Person of the Year’ award and so is a very special celebratory year for the association. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is the 4th female to receive the honor. You can get more details on the association from their website.

Maireád will be inaugurated as Donegal Person of the Year at the Annual Gala Dinner which is again at the Burlington Hotel this year and will be held on Saturday 27th February.

If you want to share in this very special evening and award with Mairéad, her family and friends, you can purchase tickets directly from the Donegal Association. It would be great to see you there !

Tickets priced at €65 are available from any member of the Committee of the Donegal Association; by email to donegalassociation@eircom.net; by post to Sorcha Ní Dhomhnaill, Secretary, Donegal Association, c/o Teachers Club,35 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

09/01/10 Mairéad nominated for Meteor Award!

Bliain mhór os ar gcomhar! Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh has been nominated for a Meteor Award, Ireland’s music industry awards. Mairéad, who is nominated in the ‘Best Folk / Traditional’ non-voting category stands alongside musicians and singers of the highest calibre: Sharon Shannon, Christy Moore, Kíla with Bruno Coulais and Kathleen Loughnane. This is so exciting for everyone at Mairéad HQ, and coincides with Mairéad’s 2010 Ní Mhaonaigh-Lunny dates for ‘Imeall’, Mairéad’s first solo project. We hope to see you at one of Mairéad and Manus’ gigs this year, make sure to tune into the awards, which take place on February 19th and will be broadcast that night or on the weekend of the event.

Thanks so much to everyone for their support and for getting the word out on ‘Imeall’. Have a fantastic new year!

Le beannacht agus buíochas,
Everyone at Mairéad HQ.x

04/01/10 An Bhliain Úr: The New Year

Beannachtaí na Bliana Úire oraibh uilig ó chósta shiocanach Thír Chonaill. We are snowed in here in North West Donegal… it may be cold, but the crisp sharp light on the water makes up for it! Errigle is covered with dust like snow for over ten days now which gave a christmas card backdrop to this year’s Frankie Kennedy Winter School. The school is now in it’s 16th year and although alot of regulars were unable to travel to it because of the bad weather it was still a huge success.

Audiences and students made their way to the various classes and concerts against all odds. I’m really looking forward to 2010 as this is Altan’s 25th Anniversary year ! Manus Lunny and I are heading to Celtic Connections in Glasgow this month on the 17th and 27th for a few concerts… better Glasgow than Moscow… actually Moscow would be nice too!!

Altan are playing in Theatre de la Ville, Paris, France on the 8th.and 9th of January. Angela McLaughlin has put together a few gigs for Manus and I all over Ireland in February, we are really looking forward to that, just check the gig list! Altan are going to be in the US for most of the month of March so we are really looking forward to that – will keep you posted!

Actually the new album with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra was officially launched in Japan when we toured there before Christmas. It was for sale here in Co. Donegal at the Winter School but it will be officially launched here in February or March.

Mairéad

« older entries