Naisrín Elsafty (born 1989) is an Irish-Egyptian singer and surgeon. She is notable as a distinguished exponent of

sean-nós singing singing ( , ; Irish language, Irish for 'old style') is A cappella, unaccompanied, Irish traditional music, traditional Irish vocal music usually performed in the Irish language. singing usually involves very long melodic Phrase (music), phr ...

, an unaccompanied and heavily ornamented style characteristic of the Irish-speaking area where she grew up.

Early life and career

Naisrín is one of the younger daughters of Treasa Ní Cheannabháin, a native of

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

and a fine singer in the sean-nós tradition, and Saber Elsafty, an Egyptian doctor. She was raised with her sisters and her twin brother in the Conamara

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

in the West of Ireland. Naiseín is the sister of

Róisín Elsafty Róisín Elsafty (born in Connemara, Ireland) is a singer in the Sean-nós singing, sean-nós tradition. She is a native speaker of Irish language, Irish. She comes from a musical family, being the daughter of Treasa Ní Cheannabháin, one of th ...

. Naisrín grew up in a multicultural and multi-religious household, celebrating both

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

and the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

festival of

Eid ul-Fitr Eid al-Fitr () is the first of the two main festivals in Islam, the other being Eid al-Adha. It falls on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the Islamic calendar. Eid al-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims worldwide because it marks the ...

(the end of

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

). Her parents had met while working in Denmark and eventually married in the Conamara parish of Cill Chiaráin. The children attended local schools and grew up multilingual in Irish, English and Egyptian Arabic. Naisrín and her family retain links with the Middle East, and in 2008 she and her mother were detained for a time in Gaza after slipping across the border from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

while carrying money collected in Ireland for

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

families. Elsafty qualified as a doctor at the

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) is a not-for-profit medical professional and educational institution, which is also known as RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. It was established in 1784 as the national body ...

in 2012, and works as a

specialist registrar A specialty registrar (StR), previously known as and still commonly referred to as a specialist registrar (SpR), is a doctor, public health practitioner or dentist who is working as part of a specialty training programme in the UK. This is known ...

otorhinolaryngology Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the surgical an ...

Music

Naisrín comes from a family of musicians, and has performed widely in Irish at festivals and gatherings. A number of her performances have been recorded on

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

and can be accessed via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. She has not yet released a CD of her own, but does appear on a CD of new and traditional material released by her sister

Róisín Róisín, sometimes anglicized as Roisin or Rosheen, is an Irish female given name, meaning "little rose". The English equivalent is Rose, Rosaleen or Rosie. People * Roisin Conaty, English comedian * Roisin Dunne, guitarist in the group 7 ...

.Róisín Elsafty - ''Má Bhíonn Tú Liom Bí Liom'' CD http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7370079/ Accessed 7 July 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elsafty, Naisrin 1989 births Living people Irish people of Egyptian descent Sean-nós singers 21st-century Irish women singers