Liz Doherty facts for kids

Liz Doherty is a talented Irish fiddler from County Donegal. She is known for her amazing skills in playing traditional Irish music. Liz has performed and recorded with popular bands like Nomos and The Bumblebees. She also has a successful solo career.

Liz Doherty's Early Life and Music Journey

Liz Doherty was born in 1970 in Buncrana, a town in County Donegal, Ireland. She grew up as the oldest of four sisters. Donegal is famous for its lively music scene. Even so, Liz wasn't very interested in performing Irish music at first. She learned Irish traditional music and dance from a young age.

Everything changed for Liz in 1987. She went to a special Fiddle Week in Glencolmcille. This event was organized by Cairdeas na bhFeidléirí, which means "friendship of fiddlers." There, Liz truly fell in love with traditional music. She discovered how much feeling and expression could be put into the fiddle style.

Learning and Teaching Music

After high school, Liz moved to Cork to study music. She attended University College Cork and earned her music degree in 1991. She learned a lot from her teacher, Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin.

In 1994, Liz started teaching Irish Traditional Music at University College Cork. She taught there until 2001, sharing her knowledge with new students. Liz also taught as a guest lecturer at other universities. These included Cape Breton University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Marshall University in West Virginia, USA. In 1996, she earned her PhD from the University of Limerick. Her research was about the fiddle music traditions of Cape Breton Island.

Recording and Touring

In the early 2000s, Liz took a break from teaching. She wanted to focus on making her own music. She was one of the first members of the Irish music band Nomos. Liz also created a group of fiddlers from UCC's Music Department called Fiddlesticks.

She has recorded many albums with different groups. Liz also released two solo albums:

• Quare Imagination (2002)
• Last Orders (2005)

These albums feature a mix of her own songs and traditional Irish tunes. She also included tunes from Scotland and Cape Breton. These tunes are popular in Donegal and Ulster because of the close history between Scotland and Northern Ireland. This mix of Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton music is a special part of the "northern style" of playing.

Later Work and TV Appearances

Later in the 2000s, Liz returned to teaching. She joined the University of Ulster. She is also part of the Culture Ireland Expert Advisory Committee. This group helps advise on Irish culture. In 2013, Liz was featured on the TG4 TV show Glaoch An Cheoil, which means "The Call of Music."