TG4 Irish Traditional Musician of the Year 2001

“The doyenne of Irish harp players” - Scotland on Sunday

"The most interesting & original player of our Irish harp today"
- Derek Bell

Welcome / Fáilte!

Máire Ní Chathasaigh is “the great innovator of modern Irish harping, a player of outstanding technique and imagination” (THE ROUGH GUIDE TO IRISH MUSIC), “the doyenne of Irish harp players” (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY), and one of Ireland’s most important and influential traditional musicians. She was the 2001 recipient of Irish music’s most prestigious Award, that of TRADITIONAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR - GRADAM CEOIL TG4 - "for the excellence and pioneering force of her music, the remarkable growth she has brought to the music of the harp and for the positive influence she has had on the young generation of harpers".

As a teenager in the 1970s she invented a whole new “traditional Irish” style of harping that quickly became the norm amongst both her contemporaries and the younger generation of Irish players, thereby spearheading the re-introduction of the harp into the mainstream of the living tradition. She was described by the late Derek Bell as “the most interesting and original player of the Irish harp today”. She won the All-Ireland and Pan-Celtic Harp Competitions several times and in 1985 recorded the first harp album ever to concentrate on traditional Irish dance music, The New-Strung Harp - "an intensely passionate and intelligent record and a milestone in Irish harp music" THE IRISH EXAMINER - which will be re-released by Old Bridge Music on 8 September, 2023. (Listen to it on Spotify here.)

"Her work restores the harp to its true voice." THE IRISH TIMES

She has subsequently made seven duo albums with guitarist Chris Newman, two quartet albums with the Heartstring Quartet (Chris, Máire, her sister Nollaig and Nollaig's late husband, Arty McGlynn) and a trio album with her sisters Nollaig and Mairéad (The Casey Sisters).

Her partnership with Chris Newman, “one of the UK’s greatest guitarists” (BBC RADIO 2), has toured in twenty-three countries to venues ranging from the tiniest of village halls and historic European churches to palaces in Kyoto and Istanbul, London’s Barbican, Sydney Town Hall and Cologne's Philharmonie with their distinctive mix of traditional Irish music, hot jazz, bluegrass and baroque - and striking new compositions.

“Dazzling virtuosity” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH “Music of fire and brilliance from the high-wire act in traditional music” * * * * THE IRISH TIMES “Their blinding technique, sizzling Irish reels and hot jazz improvisation brought an extended standing ovation… Newman has the great gift of being informative and hilarious simultaneously” THE WEST AUSTRALIAN “An eclecticism and spirit of adventure that is quite thrilling" * * * THE TIMES “In a class of their own” * * * THE GUARDIAN “Blazing guitar and dancing harp” DIRTY LINEN (USA)·”Brilliant, innovative harping and guitar-playing of astonishing virtuosity and versatility” * * * * SONGLINES

Further information about Máire is here.

A TV documentary about Máire and her sister Nollaig was broadcast on Ireland’s national Irish-language TV station TG4 in November 2020, as part of its 'Sé mo Laoch series, and has been re-broadcast a couple of times since then. Watch it here.

Máire's albums (in CD & download format); books (in hard copy & download format); and downloadable individual harp pieces and arrangements can be ordered from our Old Bridge Music online shop.

Listen...
....to Máire & Chris play Maurice O'Connor, George Brabazon & The Crooked Road live on KALW (California) Radio's Folk Music & Beyond:

Listen...
...to the newly-remastered (2023) version of Máire's ground-breaking 1985 solo album The New-Strung Harp on Spotify here.

... to Máire playing her compositions with Sharon Shannon, Dónal Lunny, her sister Nollaig Casey and other luminaries of the Celtic music world on Tracks 5 & 13 of Dan ar Braz's Gold Disc-awarded album for Sony France, Finisterres, on Spotify here.

Watch...
...Máire playing her own compositions (slip-jig 'The Chestnut Tree' and reels 'Ríl an tSuaimhnis' and 'The Copper Hills of Beara') with Chris at the televised ceremony at the Cork Opera House on the night she was awarded Gradam Ceoil TG4 - Musician of the Year.

Máire's classic album, The New Strung Harp, has been remastered, given new artwork, and will be re-released by Old Bridge Music on 8 September, 2023!

The New Strung Harp, Máire's ground-breaking solo album, is of historical significance as the first harp album ever to concentrate on traditional Irish dance music. It was first released in 1985 by Scotland-based Temple Records to much critical acclaim. It was described as "An intensely passionate and intelligent record... a masterpiece of virtuosity... a milestone in Irish harp music" by the CORK EVENING ECHO (Ireland), as "A classic exercise in music-making" by THE SCOTSMAN, and as "Exquisite... exhilarating harp virtuosity... an undoubted classic" by THE IRISH PRESS.

Before his death in 2021, Robin Morton, the owner of Temple Records, decided to wind up the company and very kindly gifted the the album rights back to the recording artists. The New Strung Harp has therefore been digitally remastered, given a new cover and artwork (though it still features the original cover painting by Colm Murphy) and will be re-released by Old Bridge Music on 8 September, 2023. Pre-release copies are now available in CD and download format from our Old Bridge Music online shop.

Some reviews the album received after its first release in 1985:
"A milestone in Irish harp music" "An intensely passionate and intelligent record" "A work of art" "The harp album I’ve been waiting for" "A classic exercise in music-making" "Intricate, subtle, inventive, captivating, exhilarating, spellbinding - a truly beautiful album" "One of the loveliest albums for many a year... if you have tears to shed, prepare to shed them" "Magical" "Unquestionably deserves to be hailed as a classic exercise in music-making" "Extraordinary: a labour of love and a joy to the listener" "An ornate, astonishing, glorious record" "Exhilarating harp virtuosity... From her deep knowledge and love of her music she has developed a unique approach to the harp and to ornamentation which makes this album an undoubted classic".

Further details and tracklisting here.

Interview with Máire published in the Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY, 23 March, 2023
An interview with Máire was published in the Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY, 23 March, 2023, prior to her 24 March concert with Chris at the Irish Cultural Center of the Mohawk Valley, Utica, NY.

Interview with Máire published in The Echo 4 September, 2022
An interview with Máire was published the The Echo, Cork's daily newspaper, on 14 September, 2022, prior to her 30 September concert with Chris at the Cork Folk Festival.

Interview with Máire published in The Irish News 22 July, 2022
An interview with Máire was published in The Irish News, Belfast's daily newspaper, on 22 July, 2022, prior to her appearance at the Belfast Tradfest.

The Second Edition of The Irish Harper Volume Two: 24 Pieces by Turlough O’Carolan Arranged for the Irish Harp by Máire Ní Chathasaigh was published on 25 July, 2022. It contains original arrangements of 24 of Carolan's beautiful tunes (with suggested fingering), a brief biography of Carolan, historical notes on the pieces and performance guidance. The arrangements are suitable for intermediate to advanced players.

The book was first published by Old Bridge Music in 2001. It has been amended, updated and given a new cover for the Second Edition, published in July 2022.

More information and purchase links here.

Máire's previous book of harp arrangements, The Irish Harper Volume One , is available in both hard copy and downloadable pdf format here (just scroll down the page) and her arrangements of 'DonOíche Úd i mBeithil', 'Fan mar a bhfuil tú, a Chladhaire' (Stay where you are, you rogue), 'Molly St George', 'Connamara', 'Lady Gethin', 'The Lost Summer' and 'The Song of the Harp' (the latter available for both solo harp and harp duet) are now available in downloadable pdf format and can be purchased here.

The Living Tradition magazine cover feature
Máire and Chris were delighted to be featured in the April / May 2021 issue of The Living Tradition magazine - and to be on the cover of course! The magazine features an interview with them too Click here to read it...

TV documentary about Máire and her sister Nollaig
A documentary about Máire and her sister Nollaig (also featuring their sister Mairéad in addition to Chris and Nollaig's late husband Arty McGlynn) was broadcast on TG4 on November 29th, 2020, as part of its 'SéŽ mo Laoch' series and re-broadcast 13 Feb 2022 (TG4 is Ireland's national Irish-language TV station.) You can watch it on the TG4 Player here. If you don't speak Irish, just remember to enable the subtitles...

The programme was Critics's Choice in The Sunday Times Culture Magazine on November 29th, 2020.

A selection of other TV, radio and press coverage can be found here, in reverse date order.

More news...

Máire and Chris on the front cover of the new April / May 2021 issue of The Living Tradition.
More covers below, here and here...

Máire on the front cover of the June-July 2017 issue of Folk Magazin (Germany).
The accompanying interview is here.
More covers above, here and here...

A documentary about Máire and her sister Nollaig (also featuring their sister Mairéad in addition to Chris and Nollaig's late husband Arty McGlynn) was broadcast on TG4 on November 29th, 2020, as part of its 'SéŽ mo Laoch' series. (TG4 is Ireland's national Irish-language TV station.)
You can watch it on the TG4 Player here.

Gradam Ceoil TG4:
TG4 Irish Traditional Musician
of the Year Award 2001
- the highest, most prestigious honour for a traditional Irish musician.
Information about the award is here.
Press coverage of the award is here .

Watch Máire playing with Chris at the televised ceremony at the Cork Opera House on the night she was awarded Gradam Ceoil TG4 - Musician of the Year 2001.

Poster for the premiere of the Casey Sisters' work, Corcach: A Journey, commissioned by the 2018 Cork Folk Festival.
Corcach Mór na Mumhan, or the Great Marsh of Munster, gave Cork its name.·Corcach·is a collection of original·music inspired by the city’s·colourful history,·from its 7th century monastic origins through to its vibrant present.

"First-class musicianship... wonderfully
atmospheric" * * * * The Daily Telegraph

"Intimacy and intuition are at the heart of this radiant collection... a treat" * * * * The Irish Times

"Blissfully beautiful... channelling mythology, nostalgia and geography to bewitching effect in heartfelt music" * * * * Songlines
More reviews here and here...

Latest

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