Maeve Donnelly

Maeve Donnelly is one of the top Irish traditional fiddle players known for her unique style within the traditional Irish music genre.

Life and education Donnelly was born near Kylemore Abbey in Loughrea in eastern County Galway, Ireland. She now lives in Quin, County Clare. She has been playing music since she was a child and won her first All-Ireland Fiddle Competition when she was nine despite her parents not being musicians. However her family has developed a musical tradition, with her three brothers playing the accordion, banjo, and fiddle. She tours and records, and tutors in music, as well as working as a teacher.

She won two further All-Ireland fiddle titles in the 1970s, and the National Slogadh Competition for Solo Fiddle and The Stone Fiddle Competition in County Fermanagh in 1981. She toured the US for the 1976 Bicentennial celebration, and again in 1978 and 1983.

Discography

Sailing Into Walpole's Marsh - Mairéad Ní Domhnaill, Sean Corcoran, Eddie Clarke, Maeve Donnelly - 1977 Moving Cloud - Paul Brock, Manus McGuire, Kevin Crawford, Carl Hession, Maeve Donnelly - 1995 Foxglove - Moving Cloud - 1998 Her Infinite Variety - Celtic Women (compilation album) - 1998 Éigse Dhiarmuidín - Live recordings in concert (compilation album) - 2001 Maeve Donnelly - Maeve Donnelly - 2002 The Thing Itself - Maeve Donnelly, Peadar O'Loughlin - 2004 Flame On The Banks - Maeve Donnelly with Tony McManus - 2008 Musical analysis of album contents at irishtune.info