Clannad & Moya Brennan News

Leo's Tavern

Leo’s Tavern’s official website is now online. There is still more to be added, but in the meantime you can check out the website, read some news and join the mailing list! There are also cool photos of Leo’s, including instruments Clannad, Moya Brennan, Enya and of course Leo Brennan have played over the years and some beautiful day and night time shots of the place and surrounding area. For more go to LeosTavern.com!

NEW CLANNAD T-SHIRT!

Clannad must be working on something! Their NEW website store has gone live with new official t-shirts!! The store is powered by Backstreet Merch, which the big labels use… excitement! Check out the three beautiful new Clannad t-shirts on their official website store.

The book and albums are no longer available and the ‘buy’ links for them have been removed, so hopefully they will be made available again. Go to Clannad website.

Children of Haiti

Moya Brennan will take part in a very special event in New York to support the Haitian people after the devastating earthquake that hit the densely populated nation. Joining Moya are Ashley Davis (whose new album was recorded in Moya’s home), Academy Award-nominated director and writer Terry George, Black 47, Jameson’s Revenge, Creole Jazz band Mozjaik, Clay Ross & Matuto, Seanchaí and Unity Squad, as well as a Haitian band Brother High Kanaval. Readers will include National Book Award winner Colum McCann, the amazing Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, Malachy McCourt, T.J. English, Michael Patrick MacDonald and others.

The event, called “Relief for Haiti: Island People Supporting Island People” will take place on Wednesday, February 24th (7:00 pm sharp) at Klub 45, the music venue above Connolly’s Pub on West 45th Street near New York’s Times Square.

Proceeds from the event will support the Haitian relief efforts of Concern Worldwide, the international humanitarian relief agency that was founded in Ireland 41 years ago.

T with the Maggies

T with the Maggies is now online! The band featuring Moya Brennan, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill have put tracks up on MySpace and are also on Facebook and Bebo! What a supergroup, T, the M’s and no doubt a hint of Clannad, Altan, Bothy Band and of course Manus Lunny! Check the pictures and stuff out on their website: TwiththeMaggies.com

I love the red

Joe Girardi will be delighted to know that a brand new Enya thingy has been added to her official store: the baseball cap! I’m terrible with sports, but the caps are actually cute! They have the logo in yellow and red. More of a Tweet than a blog I suppose, but they really are cool. Is this the first ever official Enya clothing item? Let us know by commenting below, or give us your opinion! (:

Killing Time EP

Moya Brennan band member Yoshi Izumi (bass, guitar, vocals) and his band UFEARI release regular free downloads! We’ve just discovered his band, which has been going for a while now! His easy listening/blues music if available to download from the UFEARI blog on their MySpace page. It’s amazing to see other sides to the Moya Brennan band members, they all have so many projects going, and Moya herself barely gets time to sit down! Check UFEARI out on the UFEARI MySpace page.

© Mella Travers

You can check out a new portrait of Moya Brennan from the ‘Music of Ireland: Welcome Home’ series on WLIW’s press section,! The photo, by the one and only Mella Travers (who photographed Moya’s ‘Signature’, ‘An Irish Christmas’ and Ciarán Sweeney dress pictures), is really cool! You can also check out a picture of Moya recording for the show, and a collage of the ‘Music of Ireland: Welcome Home’ series from the official programme website. Click on the left for a medium version of the portrait, or click here for the montage. Gah, we can’t wait for this to come out! You can pre-order the album from Barnes & Noble with US national and some international shipping. We hear Amazon’s coming soon, but only the CD/DVD combo, watch this space!

Also, check out Music of Ireland on FACEBOOK!

Cat cuddling a teddy bear - click!

Hey everyone, happy V-day from Northern Skyline! I hope you all got cards. As for me, today I shall buy myself a card, a huge amount of chocolate, a bottle of wine and a few black and whites. Bliss… haha. Hope you all have a lovely day and smile, cause you’re all amazing! Happy cuddling, daydreaming, smiling, inspector-day day! And remember, we love you lots x

All Dressed In Yellow

Fionán de Barra’s Shetland trad band Fiddler’s Bid has been nominated for a Spiral Award for their new album ‘All Dressed in Yellow‘. Fiddler’s Bid have been going for a more than a decade now and are the forerunners of Shetland music. Voting closed yesterday, but we are very confident from votes that they’ll win!! The new album is amazing, you can buy it from the newly-designed official Fiddler’s Bid website along with a few specialities… make sure to keep an eye out for their EU tour schedule!

Two thirds of Luna

Fionán de Barra and his wife of almost one year, super-singer Shannon Lambert-Ryan (you’ll LOVE her voice) performed last night in Titusville Falls with their new band Runa (which is keeping Fionán very busy!). Fionán, who is a member of the Moya Brennan band and Clannad’s live big-band had a wee story in Irish Philly, here. As posted on our old site, their début album, ‘Jealousy’ is available now from their official website. Fionán is quite busy stateside, as well as in Europe with Moya’s band and his other band, Fiddler’s Bid, whose new album ‘All Dressed in Yellow’ has just been released. A portion of CD sales from Luna’s album will go to Haiti relief projects.