Biography
Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
Musician and singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh grew up in Ireland’s Gaeltacht, in Dún Chaoin on the Dingle Peninsula and on the islands of Inis Oírr and Cape Clear Island. Irish was her first language, and the rich traditional culture she grew up immersed in deeply influenced her later musical output. Her father, Feargal, was a fiddle player, and she played piano and fiddle as a child. Later, she moved on to the whistle and the flute. She participated in the Siamsa Tíre folk theater for six years before moving to Dublin, where she attended the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology to study fine art. She followed this with a master of arts in traditional music performance at the University of Limerick and began recording in the sean nós style she had been raised with.
In 2003, Nic Amlaoibh joined Danú, a traditional Irish musical group. She released six albums with them over the next 12 years, including The Road Less Travelled, Up in the Air, and When All Is Said and Done. She recorded a 2018 electronica album, Fís, with Pádraig Rynne under the band name Aeons. She has released many additional albums of solo work and collaborations, ranging from traditional Irish to classical and world music. Her most recent album is 2022’s Róisín ReImagined with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, mixing sean nós with new orchestral arrangements. In 2022, she was selected as RTÉ Radio 1’s Folk Singer of the Year.
Nic Amhlaoibh has performed widely on Irish and Scottish television, including on The Highland Sessions, The Late Late Show, Amuigh Faoin Spéir, and many more programs. On the radio, she has appeared on RTÉ’s Rattlebag and The Late Session with Áine Hensey, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta’s An Saol ó Dheas, and RTÉ Radio 1’s Folk on One, which she hosted.
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Photo by Matthew Thompson.