Q&A:Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill and Moya Brennan, two of the four 'Donegal Divas' who've formed a new band,T with the Maggies, talk to EOIN BUTLER
WOMEN ALOUD Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill , Moya Brennan
All four band members trace their musical roots back to Donegal.
Moya: That's right, my father Leo's pub was in Ranafast so, back in the 70's, we all used to play together there. That's when we got to know each other.
Maighread: Tríona and myself grew up in Meath, but our father was from the Ranafast. So we spent summers, Easters, Halloween – every school holiday there. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is kind of the babby of the group, because we first knew her as this wee 12 year-old girl who would come along and listen to us play.
Who were your musical influences back then?
Moya:Well, on the one hand, there was all these great songs that surrounded us growing up. Songs we knew and loved. But there was also this wonderful music coming in from outside that we would listen to on the pirate stations.
Maighread: I was always trying to translate Beatles and Joni Mitchell songs into Irish.
Moya:The Irish language was a major influence too. Bhí muid ag caint i gcónaí le chéile.
Your professional careers took you in separate directions, but you kept in touch.
Moya: Sometimes not as much as we'd like to have. Tríona went off to America. Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh formed Altan with her husband Frankie Kennedy. Maighread played with everyone from Donal Lunny to Sharon Shannon. We would meet up occasionally and say, 'God, we must record something together some day'. But the years just pile on and you don't notice them go by.
In the end, it was a memorial service for Mícheál Ó Domhnaill that brought you together
Maighread: Yes, when my brother Micheal passed away four years ago, his old friends and colleagues gathered for his memorial. The four of us, with Mary Black, performed together. It was lovely. My other brother had died two years previously and my mother had passed away in between, so Moya and Mairéad had been in touch. They knew what we were going through.
Did the four of you click immediately as performers?
Moya: I'm not joking with you. Something magic happened. And it's still happening. None of us ever said, well, you should do this, because I want to do that. We've been in the business a long time, we've gone through it all and we're all equals. We're all willing each other on.
Maighread: Without thinking about it, we all just fell into a natural way of singing together. I was used to the whole sibling thing singing with Tríona. And I think a similar thing is happening with Moya and Mairéad.
We all have an idea of what four twentysomethings might get up to on tour. But what kind of things do four relatively mature women get up to?
Maighread: That was very nicely worded. Moya: We're just catching up now on all the boldness we used to get up to years ago.
Maighread:Except the priorities have changed. There's a little more emphasis now on finding a nice place to have a meal. We all enjoy a nice restaurant, we all enjoy a nice bottle of wine. We choose what nights to party, what nights not to party. We have to, for our health and all of that.
You’re like girls on a school tour.
Moya:We are. I've done albums all my life, and so have the girls. And there are mornings when you wake up and it's miserable. But for me at least, and I think this was the case for all of us, I'd get up each morning and feel as though I just couldn't wait to get in there. There's such a feel-good factor when we're together. We just laugh all the time. People probably think we're on something.
In your promotional material, you’re referred to as “the real Celtic women”.
Moya: When we're in America, we're often asked what we think, or what Irish people think, of Celtic Woman. I would tell them, that it's a band put together specifically for the American stage. It's a big production. A lot of the songs they sing they got from Skara Brae, the Bothy Band, Clannad and Altan. They're singing our songs. So by calling ourselves the 'real Celtic women', we're just saying that we're the source for all that.
You’re not trying to instigate a Celtic music ‘beef’ then?
Moya: No, no. Not at all. It's all tongue in cheek.
Finally, you’re playing a few gigs around Ireland in the coming weeks. What should fans expect?
Moya: A lot of fun. We're four women onstage and we're going to have a good time. You'll hear all our voices. You'll hear all the songs you've heard down through the years. There's not that many groups is four girls getting onstage and doing . . .
Maighread: Four women . . .
Moya: (they both laugh) I keep calling us girls, but that's what it feels like.
The T with the Maggies Irish tour kicks off on Thursday at the Forum Theatre, Waterford. For details of other tour dates, see twiththemaggies.com
