Clannad & Moya Brennan News

As you all know, as well as posting regular news on Clannad, Moya Brennan and the family, we also post the odd piece of news about a related group/musician. We aim to showcase young innovative groups who are related to Clannad. We’ve had the pleasure of hearing The Broceliande Quartet over the past few months, and would like to tell you a bit about them, and their upcoming performance at the Sanchez Concert Hall, 1220 Linda Mar Blvd, California.

We’ve heard of so many bands who play early Renaissance music, and to be honest, neither of us have been great fans – in fact, we hated the music. But lately, a few great news groups have sprung to life in an attempt to revive Celtic and Renaissance music. We all know that it was Clannad who created the ‘Celtic’ sound in the way that we think of it today, but for the original Celtic sound, try listening to Clannad’s ‘Rince Briotánach’ (Clannad 2). Bare music, but very very strong.

The Broceliande Quartet’s harpist is Margaret Davis from Illinois who also sings and plays flute and recorder. Margaret has been part of some wonderful Celtic events, her ancestry being Scottish. We’re a massive Margaret fan here, so you must listen! She arranged the quartet’s beautiful bilingual version of ‘Dúlamán‘, and the Capercaillie classic ‘Tha Mi Sgíth‘. We urge you to listen – this group is such a reminder of the early Clannad, and it’s amazing to hear. Margaret was deeply inspired by Clannad, among other international Celtic artists, and those influences can be heard. The wonderful thing is that the Celtic-European cultures are so different, yet mix together so well in their sets.

For more information on their upcoming performance, read this article from The Pacifica Tribune.