String Sisters | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Ireland, Norway, Sweden, United States, Scotland |
| Genres | Folk, Irish traditional, Celtic |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | Grappa (Norway) Compass Records (USA) |
| Members | Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh Annbjørg Lien Liz Knowles Catriona MacDonald Liz Carroll Emma Härdelin |
String Sisters (or The String Sisters) are a folk supergroup made up of six of the world's leading female fiddlers. [1]
In January 1998 at the world-renowned Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, Scotland, Shetland fiddler Catriona MacDonald was commissioned to assemble the world's leading female fiddlers. Macdonald brought together friends and collaborators from Ireland, United States, Norway and Sweden to perform the festival's biggest concert of that year. Catriona arranged the concert set with fellow fiddle players Annbjørg Lien, Liz Knowles, Catriona MacDonald, Liz Carroll, Emma Härdelin and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, who also provides vocals for the group. [2] [3] [4]
It was not until 2005 that the name String Sisters was penned. Until then, the group members could not be together at once due to their solo careers, Mairéad's work with Altan and Liz Carroll's work with John Doyle. Thus, only almost seven years after their début concert, the group commenced a Norwegian tour, recording their début album and DVD simply entitled Live.
In 2009, String Sisters were working on a new album, yet to be released. The band toured throughout 2009 and in 2010.
String Sisters performed on 25 August 2016 at the Tønder Festival in Tønder, Denmark, their first show as a band since 2010. [5]
In 2018 was released Between Wind and Water, the band's second album and debut studio album.
The Donegal fiddle tradition is one of the distinct fiddle traditions within Irish traditional music. The distinctness of the Donegal tradition developed due to the close relations between County Donegal and Scotland, and the Donegal repertoire and style has influences from Scottish fiddle music. For example, in addition to the ”universally known” standard Irish dance tunes, there is an added volume of Scottish and Nova Scotia tunes played, with even some tunes from Shetland and Orkney. This includes standard tune types such as double jigs, slip jigs, reels, and hornpipes. It has been claimed that Donegal musicians play more slip jigs than any other region of Ireland. This is potentially due to the geographical borders/mountains keeping Donegal's repertoire more locally-known for decades. There is also a prevalence of mazurka playing. Mazurkas are historically mainland-European tunes very similar to a waltz, in its 3
4 meter, though generally livelier and with more emphasis being placed on the second beat of each measure. Another uniquely Donegal tune is called the barndance, stemming from the Germanic schottische, also similar to the Norwegian reinlander. The barndance is very similar to a hornpipe, but slower than a reel; typically they are played with less of a hornpipe's “swing” and more of the “drive” of a reel.
Emma Härdelin is a Swedish musician. She is a violinist and lead singer in folk-rock band Garmarna, which she joined in 1993 for their first album, and also lead singer for the folk band Triakel.
A Hardanger fiddle is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings and thinner wood. The earliest known example of the hardingfele is from 1651, made by Ole Jonsen Jaastad in Hardanger, Norway. Originally, the instrument had a rounder, narrower body. Around the year 1850, the modern layout with a body much like the violin became the norm.
Altan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. The group were primarily influenced by traditional Irish language songs from Donegal and have sold over a million records.
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish folk music band Altan, which she co-founded with her husband Frankie Kennedy in 1987. Ní Mhaonaigh is recognised as a leading exponent in the Donegal fiddle tradition, and she is often considered one of the foremost singers in the Irish language, her native tongue. She was part of the Irish supergroup T with the Maggies who performed in January 2009 at Temple Bar TradFest in Dublin their first ever two concerts under that name and who released in October 2010 their debut album. After nearly 22 years with Altan, on 28 December 2008 Ní Mhaonaigh premiered in Gweedore her debut solo album Imeall which was later released worldwide in February 2009. After 29 years with Altan, in October 2016 Ní Mhaonaigh released her alternate band Na Mooneys' debut album Na Mooneys.
Another Sky is the seventh studio album by Irish traditional band Altan. It was released in February 2000 on the Narada Productions label.
Proinsias Ó Maonaigh or Francie Mooney was a fiddler from Gweedore, County Donegal, Ireland. He is known for his distinguished fiddle playing and his unique and vast contribution to Irish music and culture. He is the father of Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and grandfather of fiddle player Ciarán Ó Maonaigh.
Annbjørg Lien is a Norwegian musician, playing the hardingfele, violin, and nyckelharpa.
Blackwater is the fifth studio album by Altan, released in April 1996 on the Virgin Records label. Three of the songs are sung in Irish. "Ar Bhruach Na Carraige Baine" is sung partly in English and in Irish. "Blackwaterside" is sung in English. It was the first album released by the band since the death of founding member Frankie Kennedy two years earlier. The final track on the album is a tribute to Kennedy and was written by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh herself.
Runaway Sunday is the sixth studio album by Altan, released in July 1997 on the Virgin Records label.
Ceol Aduaidh is the first studio album by Frankie Kennedy and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, originally released in 1983 on the Gael-Linn Records label. It was reissued in 1994 by Green Linnet Records and a remastered edition was issued in 2009 by Gael-Linn.
Liz Carroll is an American fiddler and composer. She is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship Award. Carroll and collaborator Irish guitarist John Doyle were nominated for a Grammy Award in 2010. She is considered one of the greatest contemporary Irish fiddlers.
Chris Stout is a Scottish fiddle/violin player from Shetland, now based in Glasgow. Stout grew up in Fair Isle and lived there until 8 years of age before moving to Sandwick on the Shetland Mainland, then on to Glasgow in the 1990s.
Catriona Macdonald is a musician, composer, researcher and lecturer from Shetland and is considered to be one of the world's leading traditional fiddle players.
Imeall is Irish musician Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh's debut solo album, self-produced on her own label "Moon" and released physically as a (numbered) limited edition in late 2008 / early 2009 and digitally available through her official website.
Live is a live album from the international music group String Sisters. The CD/DVD was recorded on the group's Norway tour in 2005/6 and was released in November 2007. Live features traditional and newly composed sets arranged and written respectively by the band members.
Baba Yaga is the fourth studio album by Norwegian fiddler and multi-instrumentalist Annbjørg Lien, released on 1 November 1999 by Grappa Music (GMCD 4158). In somewhat of a departure from her previous albums, which contain a broad mixture of both traditional tunes and modern pieces, Baba Yaga is composed primarily of Lien's own works, set against lush, evocative arrangements by longtime collaborator Bjørn Ole Rasch, of Bukkene Bruse, and Roger Tallroth, guitarist of Swedish group Väsen.
The Widening Gyre is the twelfth studio album by Irish folk music group Altan and their eleventh studio album of original material, released in February 2015 on the Compass Records label. It was released to critical acclaim.
Na Mooneys is the debut (eponymous) self-produced album from Irish folk music band Na Mooneys, released in October 2016.
Na Mooneys are an Irish folk music band from County Donegal, formed in late 2013 / early 2014 by Altan's Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her family.
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