Na Casaidigh or The Cassidys are an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

traditional group. They have been based in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

for many years, but they originally hail from

Gweedore Gweedore ( ; officially known by its Irish language name, ) is an Irish-speaking district and parish located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. Gweedore stretches some from Glasserchoo in the ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

. The group consists of brothers Aongus, Seathrún, Ciarán, Fionntán, Feargus, and Odhrán.

is their native tongue and they had to study

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

as a second language during their school years. The brothers' music has attracted worldwide attention and brought them to audiences from

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

in West Africa to

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The Cassidys' father has long been a church choirmaster. He instilled his love of music, and Gaelic music in particular. Music instruction was woven through the boys' childhood.

Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

was introduced first, followed by other instruments that included

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

s and

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circula ...

bodhrán The bodhrán (, ; plural ''bodhráin'' or ''bodhráns'') is a frame drum used in Irish music ranging from in diameter, with most drums measuring . The sides of the drum are deep. A goatskin head is tacked to one side (synthetic heads or othe ...

, and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. All of the Cassidy brothers contribute to the group's harmonies. In addition, each plays several instruments. Odhrán studied the violin in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He went on to play classical concertos with a number of

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

s. He is also accomplished on the

uilleann pipe The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

s. Seathrún, who gave up his desire to work as a professional

harpsichordist A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord. Harpsichordists may play as soloists, as accompanists, as chamber musicians, or as members of an orchestra, or some combination of these roles. Solo harpsichordists may play unaccompanied son ...

, plays piano, guitar, a number of different flutes, and bouzouki. Feargus plays bodhrán and rhythm guitar, while Aongus plays viola and fiddle. Ciarán is the group's accordionist and bassist, and also plays the

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

. Fionntán plays

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and fiddle. Na Casaidigh's first venture into the world's spotlight came during a mid-'80s visit to Ireland by then-U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

. The Irish government requested a performance from the brothers for a state banquet. The event was televised live from

Dublin Castle Dublin Castle ( ga, Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a former Motte-and-bailey castle and current Irish government complex and conference centre. It was chosen for its position at the highest point of central Dublin. Until 1922 it was the se ...

. The brothers repeated the state honor about a decade later during then-U.S. President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's peace-promoting trip to their country. The group has toured throughout the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, including stops in New York at St. Patrick's Cathedral and

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

. The brothers have received warm welcomes at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and from the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. In West Africa, they appeared at the celebration held to mark the Lome Convention's signing by the European Union. Their lyrics are mostly in

. They have performed classic Irish songs, such as "Bó na Leathadhairce", "

Báidín Fheilimí Báidín Fheilimí is a traditional Irish song, which originates in the Gaeltacht region in the north-west of County Donegal. It is usually taught to young children. The lyrics are in Irish and is based on the immortalization of a small boat owned ...

", "Peigí Leitir Móir" and " Beidh Aonach Amárach". Renowned composer, Patrick Cassidy, is a cousin of the band, and the sean nós singer Sibéal is a daughter of band member, Odhrán.https://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/out-about/night-of-music-in-duiske-abbey-34720078.html

Discography

* ''Na Casaidigh'' (1980) * ''Fead an Iolair'' (1984) * ''The Cassidys Live'' (1985) * ''1691'' (1991) * ''Off to Philadelphia'' (1996) * ''Óró na Casaidigh'' (1997) * ''Singing From Memory'' (1998) * ''The Cassidys-Na Casaidigh'' (2001)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casaidigh, Na Culture in Gweedore Irish folk musical groups Musical groups from Dublin (city) Musical groups from County Donegal