Máire Ní Chathasaigh (; born 1956) is an Irish

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ist, composer and singer.

Biography

She was born in

Bandon, County Cork Bandon (; ) is a town in County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies on the River Bandon between two hills. The name in Irish means 'Bridge of the Bandon', a reference to the origin of the town as a crossing point on the river. In 2004 Ba ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, in a musical family. She learned to playthe harp when she was eleven. She created new harp ornamentation techniques that made its stylistically accurate performance possible. Having won

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) is a term used to describe organisations and events whose interests extend over the entire island of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Irelan ...

(Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann) harp competitions at under-fourteen and under-eighteen levels, she then, in the mid-1970s, won the Senior All-Ireland competition three years in succession. She also won the Pan-Celtic Harp Competition at junior and senior levels. In 1985 she recorded ''The New-Strung Harp,'' the first harp album to concentrate primarily on traditional Irish dance music. Her stylistic innovations made her famous in the

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celts (modern), Celtic people of Northwestern Europe (the modern Celtic nations). It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and ...

scene. Her partnership with English guitarist Chris Newman made its début on the main stage at the 1987 Cambridge Folk Festival. Since then they have toured as a duo all over Europe, North America, Australasia and Japan. In 1988 they recorded ''The Living Wood'', their first duo album, and since then they have recorded six further duo albums and a quartet album, ''Heartstring Sessions'', with Ní Chathasaigh's sister Nollaig Casey and Nollaig's husband Arty McGlynn (all four toured together in Europe, North America and Australasia as the Heartstring Quartet). In 2015 Ní Chathasaigh recorded a trio album, ''Sibling Revelry'', with her sisters Nollaig Casey and Mairéad Ní Chathasaigh. All albums were critically-acclaimed. Máire has been giving masterclasses and disseminating her ideas and techniques in Ireland, the UK, Europe, North America and Australasia since the mid-1970s. Her arrangements have been published in two books, ''The Irish Harper Vols. I and II'', and she has an honours degree in Celtic Studies from

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) () is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork (city), Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of three Queen's Universit ...

. She has taught at the [][Cork Municipal School of Music (where she created the first non-pedal harp exam syllabus) and at the Leeds College of Music, where her students included the Scottish harpist Corrina Hewat. She was the 2001 recipient of TG4 Gradam Ceoil Ceoltóir na Bliana / Musician of the Year, awarded "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". She features on the cover of the book ''Bringing It All Back Home'' and the June–July 2017 issue of Germany's ''Folk Magazin'' and of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann's magazine, ''Treoir''. She and Chris Newman were featured on the cover, and in an article within, the April / May 2021 issue of '' The Living Tradition'' magazine. She is profiled in ''Celtic Women in Music'' by Mairéad Sullivan, ''The Rough Guide to Irish Music'' and a number of magazine and newspaper articles. A TV documentary programme about Ní Chathasaigh and her sister Nollaig (also featuring their sister Mairéad, together with Chris Newman and Nollaig's late husband Arty McGlynn) was originally broadcast on TG4 on November 29, 2020.

Albums

*''The New Strung Harp'' (Temple Records, 1985) *''The Living Wood'' (first released by Green Linnet, 1988; reissued by Black Crow 1989; re-mastered and reissued by Old Bridge Music 1995, OBMCD07) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''Out Of Court'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD03, 1991) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''The Carolan Albums'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD06,1991) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''Live In The Highlands'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD08,1995) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''Dialogues / Agallaimh'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD014, 2001) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''Firewire'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD017, 2007) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''Heartstring Sessions'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD018, 2008) - with guitarist Chris Newman, fiddler / singer Nollaig Casey and guitarist Arty McGlynn *''Christmas Lights'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD20, 2013) - with guitarist Chris Newman *''Sibling Revelry'' (Old Bridge Music OBMCD22, 2015) - with her sisters, fiddler / composer / singer Nollaig Casey and fiddler / singer Mairéad Ní Chathasaigh (The Casey Sisters)

Books

*''The Irish Harper'' (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2)

References

External links

Máire Ní Chathasaigh
official solo site
Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman
official duo site
The Casey Sisters
official site for Máire's trio with her sisters Nollaig Casey and Mairéad Ní Chathasaigh
The Heartstring Quartet
official Heartstring Quartet (with Chris Newman, Nollaig Casey & Arty McGlynn) site
Old Bridge Music
official label site {{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Chathasaigh, Maire 1956 births Living people Irish folk singers Irish folk harpists 20th-century Irish women singers Irish women harpists Musicians of New College, Oxford 21st-century Irish-language singers 21st-century Irish women singers People from Bandon, County Cork Musicians from County Cork 20th-century Irish harpists 21st-century Irish harpists Alumni of University College Cork Academics of Leeds College of Music