Mairéad Ní Mhaoinigh and Mark Kelly

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is a native of the Donegal Gaeltacht of Gaoth Dobhair. Her first language is Gaelic, and she has learned many of her songs from family and neighbors as well as sourcing older material from archive facilities. She is renowned as one of the leading exponents of Donegal fiddle music and likes to promote the music, which she has inherited from her late father, Francie, whenever possible. She is a founding member of Cairdeas na bhFidléirí, which was set up 25 years ago to preserve and facilitate the development of the Donegal fiddling tradition for future generations. Mairéad's musical inspiration initially came from her family and neighbors, her father being a great fiddle teacher with a wealth of unusual local tunes, many learned from his mother, Róise. She also received tuition and inspiration from Buncrana fiddle player Dinny McLaughlin, who was a frequent visitor to her home when she was growing up. Mairéad founded Altan along with her late husband, Frankie Kennedy; from humble beginnings they brought their music to the world arena without compromising the deep musical tradition they loved. Mark Kelly’s earliest musical inspirations were rock and jazz. Born and raised in Dublin, his mother was a jazz singer. Like all the other members of the band, Mark listens to a wide range of music, especially Steely Dan, rhythm and blues, and country. Mark brings more of those subtle and sometimes adventurous influences from other traditions to his work on guitar arrangements for Altan. Not a man to rest on his laurels, he has turned his attention to studying classical guitar in recent years.