Celtic Music: Altan

The description above is what you'll see if you do a Google search for Altan's website. The group had its beginnings with fiddler and singer Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh from Gweedore in the far north and west of Ireland, and Frankie Kennedy, flute player from Belfast. Kennedy would travel to Gweedore in the 1970s to learn the Irish language and play music. He met Mairéad there and they began making music together. They were married in 1981 and released their album Ceol Anduaidh (Music of the North) in 1983. They were joined by Ciaran Curran and Mark Kelly on their second album, named Altan after a deep lake in Mairéad's home district. Altan became the group's name with the third album, Horse with a Heart.

Three more albums followed before Frankie, who was diagnosed with cancer in 1992, died in 1994. The title track of 1993's Island Angel was written by Mairéad for Frankie. Encouraged by Frankie, the group remained together and has released five more albums of new material along with several compilations.

Be sure to check out the Altan videos on Page 2 of this lens.

Photo of Altan by Niall More and used with permission granted by the GNU Free Documentation License.