Máire Ní Chathasaigh facts for kids

Máire Ní Chathasaigh (born 1956) is a famous Irish harpist, composer, and singer. She is known for her amazing talent and for bringing new life to traditional Irish harp music.

About Máire Ní Chathasaigh

Máire was born in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, into a family that loved music. She started playing the harp when she was eleven years old. She became very good at it, even creating new ways to play the harp that made its traditional sound even better.

Máire won many important harp competitions. She won the All-Ireland (Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann) harp competitions for players under fourteen and under eighteen. Then, in the mid-1970s, she won the Senior All-Ireland competition three years in a row! She also won the Pan-Celtic Harp Competition at both junior and senior levels.

In 2001, Máire received a very special award called TG4 Gradam Ceoil Musician of the Year. This award recognized her excellent music and how she helped the harp grow. It also celebrated her positive influence on young harp players.

In 1985, she recorded The New-Strung Harp. This was the first harp album to focus mainly on traditional Irish dance music. Her new playing styles made her very famous in the Celtic music world.

Musical Partnerships and Albums

In 1987, Máire started playing with English guitarist Chris Newman. They performed together for the first time at the Cambridge Folk Festival. Since then, they have toured as a duo all over Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan.

Their first album together, The Living Wood, was released in 1988. They have recorded six more duo albums since then. They also made a quartet album called Heartstring Sessions. For this album, they played with Máire's sister Nollaig Casey and Nollaig's husband Arty McGlynn. All four musicians also toured together as the Heartstring Quartet. In 2015, Máire recorded a trio album, Sibling Revelry, with her sisters Nollaig Casey and Mairéad Ní Chathasaigh. All of their albums have been praised by music critics.

Máire has been featured on the cover of books and magazines. For example, she was on the cover of Germany's Folk Magazin and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann's magazine, Treoir. She and Chris Newman were also featured on the cover of The Living Tradition magazine in 2021.

A TV show about Máire and her sister Nollaig was shown on TG4 in 2020. It was part of the 'Sé mo Laoch series.

Teaching and Education

Máire has been teaching masterclasses and sharing her ideas about harp playing since the 1970s. She has taught in Ireland, the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia. Her special harp arrangements have been published in two books called The Irish Harper Vols. I and II. Máire also has an honors degree in Celtic Studies from University College Cork.

Albums

• The New Strung Harp (Temple Records, 1985)
• The Living Wood (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)