Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill
Encyclopedia
Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer, pianist, and composer, considered one of the most influential female vocalists in the history of Irish music. She is famed for her work with traditional Irish groups such as Skara Brae
, The Bothy Band
, Relativity
, Touchstone, and Nightnoise
.
. Her paternal grandparents moved there from the Rann na Feirste Gaeltacht
of Donegal
in the 1930s.
Tríona is from a prominent musical family. Her paternal aunt, Neillí, contributed nearly 300 folk songs to the folklore collection of University College Dublin
. Together with her brother, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill
, younger sister Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
, and multi-instrumentalist Dáithí Sproule
, Ní Dhomhnaill first attracted attention with their folk group, Skara Brae
, that specialized in songs sung in Gaelic
, many sourced from the Rann na Feirste area where their father's family originated.
player Dónal Lunny
left the Irish folk band Planxty
in 1975 and launched a new record label called Mulligan, one of his first projects was to form a band to accompany accordion player Tony MacMahon
on a series of shows for Irish National Radio. Along with uilleann pipe player Paddy Keenan
, flute
and whistle
player Matt Molloy
, and fiddle player Paddy Glackin
, Ní Dhomhnaill and her brother became charter members. Initially named Seachtar (meaning "seven"), the group changed its name to the Bothy Band
after the departure of MacMahon.
As the Bothy Band, the group played its first concert on February 2, 1975, at Trinity College, Dublin
. Although they were together for only three years, the Bothy Band were one of the first bands to bring the musical traditions of Ireland up to contemporary standards. While the group experienced numerous personnel changes, Ní Dhomhnaill and her brother Micheal were still members when the Bothy Band's final album, Afterhours, was recorded during a concert performance at the Palais des Artes in Paris
in 1978. A second live album, Live in Concert, recorded by the BBC
in London
at the Paris Theatre
in July 1976 and Kilburn National Theatre in July 1978, was released in 1995.
in the United States
. Ní Dhomhnaill soon assembled a new band of North American musicians, Touchstone, that initially rehearsed in Cross’s home. Touchstone's two albums, The New Land (1982) and Jealousy (1984), combined songs sung in Gaelic
, original singer/songwriter tunes, and traditional folk songs from the United States and Nova Scotia
.
Relocating to Portland, Oregon
, in the mid-1980s, Ní Dhomhnaill was reunited with her brother Mícheál
, who had emigrated to the area from Ireland
a few years before. Together with the Cunningham brothers, Johnny
and Phil
, formerly with the Scottish group Silly Wizard
, they toured and recorded two albums as Relativity
. They also collaborated with Billy Oskay and Brian Dunning
, later replaced by Johnny Cunningham, in a Celtic-tinged new age group, Nightnoise
.
With Skara Brae
With Clannad
With The Bothy Band
With Touchstone
With Relativity
With Nightnoise
With Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
With other artists
Compilations
Skara Brae (band)
Skara Brae were an Irish traditional music group from Kells, County Meath with origins in Ranafast , County Donegal. The group consisted of three siblings, Micheal O Domhnaill, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, and Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, with Dáithí Sproule from Derry...
, The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band was an Irish traditional band active during the late 1970s. It quickly gained a reputation as one of the most influential bands playing Irish traditional music...
, Relativity
Relativity (band)
Relativity was a Scotch-Irish quartet formed in 1985 consisting of two Scottish brothers and an Irish brother and sister. The four members of the band were brothers Phil Cunningham and John Cunningham , from the influential Scottish band Silly Wizard, and Irish sister and brother Tríona Ní...
, Touchstone, and Nightnoise
Nightnoise
Nightnoise was a music ensemble active from 1984 to 1997. Their original blend of Irish traditional music, Celtic music, jazz, and classical chamber music inspired a generation of Irish musicians...
.
Early years
Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill was raised in Kells, County MeathKells, County Meath
Kells is a town in County Meath, Ireland. The town lies off the M3 motorway, from Navan and from Dublin. In recent years Kells has grown greatly with many Dublin commuters moving to the town....
. Her paternal grandparents moved there from the Rann na Feirste Gaeltacht
Gaeltacht
is the Irish language word meaning an Irish-speaking region. In Ireland, the Gaeltacht, or an Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts where the government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant language, that is, the vernacular spoken at home...
of Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
in the 1930s.
Tríona is from a prominent musical family. Her paternal aunt, Neillí, contributed nearly 300 folk songs to the folklore collection of University College Dublin
University College Dublin
University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...
. Together with her brother, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was an Irish singer, guitarist, and composer, who was a major influence on Irish traditional music in the second half of the twentieth century...
, younger sister Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer from Kells, County Meath. Known for her work with the short-lived, but very highly regarded Skara Brae and her collaborations with sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, as well as other traditional musicians...
, and multi-instrumentalist Dáithí Sproule
Dáithí Sproule
Dáithí Sproule is a guitarist and singer of traditional Irish music from Derry, Northern Ireland. His niece is the singer songwriter Claire Sproule.-Biography:...
, Ní Dhomhnaill first attracted attention with their folk group, Skara Brae
Skara Brae (band)
Skara Brae were an Irish traditional music group from Kells, County Meath with origins in Ranafast , County Donegal. The group consisted of three siblings, Micheal O Domhnaill, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, and Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, with Dáithí Sproule from Derry...
, that specialized in songs sung in Gaelic
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, many sourced from the Rann na Feirste area where their father's family originated.
The Bothy Band
When bouzoukiBouzouki
The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
player Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny
Dónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
left the Irish folk band Planxty
Planxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...
in 1975 and launched a new record label called Mulligan, one of his first projects was to form a band to accompany accordion player Tony MacMahon
Tony MacMahon
Tony MacMahon is an Irish button accordion player and broadcaster. Among his influences were accordionists Joe Cooley and Sonny Brogan, as well as piper Willie Clancy, fiddler Bobby Casey, and singer and piper Seamus Ennis....
on a series of shows for Irish National Radio. Along with uilleann pipe player Paddy Keenan
Paddy Keenan
Paddy Keenan is an Irish player of the uilleann pipes who first gained fame as a founding member of The Bothy Band. Since that group's dissolution in the late 1970s, Keenan has released a number of solo and collaborative recordings, and continues to tour both as a soloist, and with...
, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and whistle
Whistle
A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...
player Matt Molloy
Matt Molloy
Matt Molloy is an Irish musician, from a region known for producing talented flautists. As a child, he began playing the flute and won the All-Ireland Flute Championship at only seventeen years old...
, and fiddle player Paddy Glackin
Paddy Glackin
Paddy Glackin is an Irish fiddler from Clontarf, Dublin. His father Tom Glackin was from Donegal and Paddy's fiddle style reflects his family's Donegal roots. Glackin is considered one of the leading Irish fiddlers in the late 20th/early 21st centuries. He became fiddle champion at the All-Ireland...
, Ní Dhomhnaill and her brother became charter members. Initially named Seachtar (meaning "seven"), the group changed its name to the Bothy Band
The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band was an Irish traditional band active during the late 1970s. It quickly gained a reputation as one of the most influential bands playing Irish traditional music...
after the departure of MacMahon.
As the Bothy Band, the group played its first concert on February 2, 1975, at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. Although they were together for only three years, the Bothy Band were one of the first bands to bring the musical traditions of Ireland up to contemporary standards. While the group experienced numerous personnel changes, Ní Dhomhnaill and her brother Micheal were still members when the Bothy Band's final album, Afterhours, was recorded during a concert performance at the Palais des Artes in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1978. A second live album, Live in Concert, recorded by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the Paris Theatre
Paris Theatre
The Paris Theatre was a former cinema located in Lower Regent Street, London, which was converted into a theatre by the BBC for radio broadcasts...
in July 1976 and Kilburn National Theatre in July 1978, was released in 1995.
Career in the United States
By the time the Bothy Band disbanded in 1979, Ní Dhomhnaill had been persuaded by singer/songwriter Mike Cross to emigrate to Chapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Ní Dhomhnaill soon assembled a new band of North American musicians, Touchstone, that initially rehearsed in Cross’s home. Touchstone's two albums, The New Land (1982) and Jealousy (1984), combined songs sung in Gaelic
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
, original singer/songwriter tunes, and traditional folk songs from the United States and Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
.
Relocating to Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, in the mid-1980s, Ní Dhomhnaill was reunited with her brother Mícheál
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill
Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was an Irish singer, guitarist, and composer, who was a major influence on Irish traditional music in the second half of the twentieth century...
, who had emigrated to the area from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
a few years before. Together with the Cunningham brothers, Johnny
Johnny Cunningham
Johnny Cunningham was a Scottish folk musician. He was a founding member of Silly Wizard, as well as a member of Relativity, The Raindogs, and Nightnoise. Throughout his career, Cunningham was also a fiddler, composer and producer. His younger brother, Phil Cunningham, is a multi-instrumentalist...
and Phil
Phil Cunningham (folk musician)
Phil Cunningham, MBE, born 1960 in Edinburgh, Scotland is a Scottish folk musician and composer.-Biography:Phil played accordion and violin from a very young age. He attended school in Portobello, and was raised Mormon, attending church regularly and playing organ...
, formerly with the Scottish group Silly Wizard
Silly Wizard
Silly Wizard was a Scottish folk band that began forming in Edinburgh in 1970. The founder members were two like-minded university students—Gordon Jones and Bob Thomas...
, they toured and recorded two albums as Relativity
Relativity (band)
Relativity was a Scotch-Irish quartet formed in 1985 consisting of two Scottish brothers and an Irish brother and sister. The four members of the band were brothers Phil Cunningham and John Cunningham , from the influential Scottish band Silly Wizard, and Irish sister and brother Tríona Ní...
. They also collaborated with Billy Oskay and Brian Dunning
Brian Dunning
Brian Dunning is an Irish flautist, largely known for being a member of Nightnoise. He had both Celtic and jazz influences early on. He studied at the Berklee College of Music in 1977. He is also known for works with Jeff Johnson, such as cùChilainn's Last Battle, and can be heard on the soundtrack...
, later replaced by Johnny Cunningham, in a Celtic-tinged new age group, Nightnoise
Nightnoise
Nightnoise was a music ensemble active from 1984 to 1997. Their original blend of Irish traditional music, Celtic music, jazz, and classical chamber music inspired a generation of Irish musicians...
.
Discography
Solo albums- Tríona (1975)
- Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (1993)
- The Key's Within (2010)
With Skara Brae
- Skara Brae (1971)
With Clannad
- Clannad 2Clannad 2Clannad 2 is the second studio album by Irish folk group Clannad. It was released in 1975.-Track listing:# "An Gabhar Bán " – 3:15# "Eleanor Plunkett" – 2:49# "Coinleach Glas An Fhómhair" – 5:46# "Rince Philib A'Cheoil" – 1:51...
(1975)
With The Bothy Band
- The Bothy Band (1975)
- Old Hag You Have Killed Me (1976)
- Out Of The Wind (1977)
- After Hours (Live in Paris) (1979)
- Best Of The Bothy Band (1983)
- The Bothy Band – Live in Concert (1995)
With Touchstone
- The New Land (1982)
- Jealousy (1984)
With Relativity
- Relativity (1985)
- Gathering Pace (1987)
With Nightnoise
- Something of Time (1987)
- At the End of the Evening (1988)
- The Parting Tide (1990)
- A Windham Hill Retrospective (1992, compilationCompilation albumA compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
) - Shadow of Time (1993)
- A Different Shore (1995)
- The White Horse Sessions (1997)
- Pure Nightnoise (2006, compilation)
With Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill
- Idir an Dá SholasIdir an Dá SholasIdir an Dá Sholas is a music album by Irish musicians Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and Dónal Lunny...
(with Maighread Ní DhomhnaillMaighread Ní DhomhnaillMaighread Ní Dhomhnaill is an Irish traditional singer from Kells, County Meath. Known for her work with the short-lived, but very highly regarded Skara Brae and her collaborations with sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, as well as other traditional musicians...
and Dónal LunnyDónal LunnyDónal Lunny is an Irish folk musician. Lunny has been at the forefront of the evolution of traditional Irish music for more than thirty-five years and has participated within the renaissance of traditional Irish music in that time period...
) (1999)
With other artists
- ImeallImeall- Personnel :*Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh - vocals, Irish fiddle, Hardanger fiddle*Manus Lunny - bouzouki, programming, vocals, guitar*Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill - piano*Dónal Lunny - bodhrán*Michael McGoldrick - flute, uileann Pipes*Jim Higgins - percussion, bodhrán...
(with Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh) (2008) - Ceol Cheann DubhrannCeol Cheann Dubhrann-Singers:* Máire Ní Bhraonáin* Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh* Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill* Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill* Gearóidín Breathnach* Dónall Mac Ruairí* Connie Mhary Mhicí Ó Gallchóir* Bernard Ó Duibheannaigh* Aodh Óg Ó Duibheannaigh* Aodh Mac Ruairí...
(2009) - T with the MaggiesT with the Maggies (album)-Release:The album was launched in Dublin on 29 October 2010 by actor Stephen Rea. Friends of the singers in attendance included musicians Luka Bloom, Neil Martin and Paul Brady and broadcaster Miriam O'Callaghan...
(2010)
Compilations
- Celtic Christmas: A Windham Hill Sampler (1995)
- Celtic Christmas Volme II: A Windham Hill Sampler (1996)
- Celtic Christmas Volume III: A Windham Hill Sampler (1997)
- Celtic Christmas Volume III: A Windham Hill Sampler (1998)