Clannad & Moya Brennan News

David Ross, known as Nassau Royal, will be releasing his debut album in May. As he posted earlier on MySpace the album will be called Breath of the Universe. Several album launches have already been announced, one in Germany and one in The Netherlands.

German Album Launch: Kulturkeller, Engen, Germany – May 28th and May 29th, 2010
Dutch Album Launch: The Tara, Amsterdam, The Netherlands – June 26th, 2010
Spanish Album Launch: Rock Island Bar, Fuerteventura, Spain – Juny 7th, 2010

A tracklist hasn’t been posted yet, but there is a preview song on his Myspace, called Astoria Dreams.

Nassau Royal provided the lead single with Moya Brennan a few years ago for the Sanctuary album. The song was called Stars Are Made For The Sky. Click here to listen to the song on YouTube.

Moya Brennan will be performing at a live showcase aimed at promoting tourism in Donegal. The county, known internationally for its music and culture (as the home of Clannad, Enya, Altan and many more) will be shown in its true light throughout the day, on 16th May 2010 in Dublin’s cultural quarter, Temple Bar. The music begins at 1pm and will also feature Altan (singer Mairéad is also a member of T with the Maggies!), Aoife Ní Fhearraigh, An Crann Óg, Mickey Jo Harte, The Henry Girls and the Donegal Youth Orchestra! For more information, check out Donegal Live.

Moya Brennan and Cormac de Barra will be releasing a new album, called My Match Is A Makin’, during the Dutch Spring Tour 2010. An album focused mainly on the harp it will feature some Clannad songs as well as Irish traditionals. For the time being this album will be only available at the Dutch Spring Tour, but rumour has it that the album will also be available world wide soon (or at least in Ireland).

The following tracks will appear on the album:

1. Tá mo Chleamhnas á Dhéanamh / My Match is a Makin’
2. The Streets of Derry
3. Crann Úll
4. Carolan’s Concerto
5. She Moved Through the Fair
6. An Seanduine Dóite
7. Bean Dubh a’ Ghleanna
8. Longing to See You
9. Taim Breoite go Leor
10. Mo Mhian.

As the album will only be available in The Netherlands for the time being, the places to get the album are:

April 14 Vlaardingen, Stadsgehoorzaal
April 15 Purmerend, Purmaryn
April 16 in Leiden, Stadsgehoorzaal
April 17 in Kerkrade, Parkstad Limburg Theater
April 18 in Alkmaar, Theater De Vast
April 20 in Breda, Chassé Theater
April 21 in Eindhoven, Eindhoven Airport Zaal
April 22 in Hengelo, Rabotheater
April 24 in Wageningen, Theater Junushoff
April 25 in Hoogeveen, Theater de Tamboer
April 27 in Tiel, Schouwburg Agnietenhof
April 28 in Cuijk, Schouwburg Cuijk
April 29 in Laren, Singertheater

For more information on the Spring tour 2010 visit Moya’s Live Page.

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!

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.

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 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

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! (:

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.

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!