Maire Ni Chathasaigh

The harp tradition of Ireland has expanded with the playing of Maire Ni Chathasaigh (pronounced: Moira Nee Ha-ha-sig). A past champion of All-Ireland and Pan-Celtic harp tournaments, Ni Chathasaigh documented the very first harp record of traditional Irish dance music, THE BRAND NEW Strung Harp, in 1985. Since 1987, she’s continuing to explore the options of her device within a duo that she stocks with her hubby Chris Newman, an experienced British classical guitar virtuoso. Her enhancements in the harp possess included new methods to ornamentation, while her publication of harp agreements, The Irish Harper, released by Aged Bridge Music in 1991, continues to be among the leading specialists about them. Based on Incredible String Music group creator Robin Williamson, Ni Chathasaigh “provides single-handedly reinvented the harp.” Guys from the Lough harp participant Derek Bell was similarly impressed by Ni Chathasaigh’s playing, contacting her “probably the most interesting and first participant in our Irish harp today.” Examining her playing, the Irish Moments composed, “her technique is certainly amazing, the furious choosing from the melody with the proper as well as the judicious layering of counterpoint using the still left, finishing using a dramatic accept from the strings to avoid the resonance.” Ni Chathasaigh inherited her musical abilities from her mom and grandmother, both of whom had been well-respected traditional performers. Singing by age two, Ni Chathasaigh was trained to try out piano by her mom. By her teenagers she had learned the instrument, showing up frequently on Irish radio and tv. Ni Chathasaigh and Newman possess collaborated on four albums. Their initial work The Living Timber, released in 1988, was called Folk Record of the entire year with the Daily Telegraph. Their 4th record, Reside in the Highlands, released in 1995, was documented throughout a concert by the end of the ten-month-long tour. Ni Chathasaigh was also highlighted on Dan Ar Bras et L’Heritage des Celtes’s record, Finisterres. Ni Chathasaigh’s melodic harp playing continues to be highlighted on albums with the Indigo Ladies and Pole Stewart.