Micheal O'Domhnaill

Musicians of Meath: (Courtesy of the Knotted Chord Archive, 2002).
PLUS: Info from ‘Nightnoise’ site (Dated).

Micheal O’Domhnaill (1950- ) singer, Guitar, keyboard/piano.

Born in Kells, County Meath, his father Aodh, who came from Rannafast, Co. Donegal, played flute, sang and collected songs for the Folklore Commission. His mother, Brid, a singer and melodeon player, was from Gurteen, Co. Sligo. His aunt Neili Ni Dhomhnaill(1907-84) was a renowned singer in Donegal and a great influence. He spent his childhood summers with the O’Domhnaill family in Donegal where his father taught in the Irish College. From the age of 6 to 16 he studied piano.

In 1970 Micheal along with sisters Triona, Maighread and Daithi Sproule formed the band Skara Brae and released 1 album in 1971 which has recently been re-released by Gael Linn.

Skara Brae broke up in 1972 and Micheal then played with Mick Hanly as Monroe.

Micheal played with the group Seachtar(again along with Triona), which was the forerunner of The Bothy Band. The Bothy Band were the first of the so called traditional ‘super-groups’ and lasted from 1975 to 1979 after which Micheal moved to the United States. Before he moved he recorded the album "Promenade" with fellow Bothy Band member Kevin Burke. Micheal was to spend the next 17 years in the United States. Initially he played extensively with Kevin Burke, both having settled in Portland, Oregon. They recorded another album "Portland" in 1989.

Along with Bill Oskey he formed Nightnoise, later joined by sister Triona and Johnny Cunningham. They toured all over the world and recorded 7 albums. He eventually returned to live in Ireland permanently in the late 1990’s. His latest album, "Reprise", on which he sings three songs, is with fiddler Paddy Glackin, an playing partner of old.

From the ‘Official’ site.

Childhood and youth

Born and raised in Kells, County Meath, Ireland, Mícheál Ó'Domhnaill comes from an interesting family background. His grandparents were from Rann na Feirste (in English "Rannafast"), a village in an Irish-speaking region (a "Gaeltacht") in County Donegal. They received a land grant in County Meath as part of an Irish government initiative to set up a Gaeltacht near Dublin by transplanting native Irish speakers to the area (Irish was, and still is, only spoken as their daily language by a minority of the people of Ireland, concentrated mainly in certain western areas of the country).

Mícheál's grandparents returned to their native Donegal after 15 years. However, in the meantime their son Hugh (to whom the tune of the same name by Tríona on the album "At the End of the Evening" is presumably dedicated) had married a Dublin woman, Brid Comber, and settled as a teacher in Kells, Co. Meath. His children, Mícheál, Tríona and Maighread grew up in Kells, spending their school holidays in Rann na Feirste. Hugh was also a musician, singer and collector of songs, and Brid was a choir singer, so the children grew up in a very rich musical environment. They received music lessons from an early age (Mícheál recalls receiving piano lessons from the age of six until he was sixteen - when he was able to focus on the guitar - his preferred instrument).

Summers in Donegal brought the siblings into contact with their aunt, Neilí, a renowned singer who had a vast reportoire of songs in Irish and English. Other acquaintances made in Donegal were Pól and Ciarán Brennan (members of Clannad), and Dáithi Sproule (long a member of Altan).

Skara Brae

Mícheál and Tríona came together with Dáithi when they went to University College Dublin in the late 1960s. They played gigs around Dublin and Mícheál and Dáithi spent a summer as the house band at Teach Hiudaí Bhig in Gaoth Dobhair (Gweedore), Donegal. Around 1970, the three siblings -Mícheál, Tríona and Maighread - teamed up with Dáithi Sproule to form Skara Brae.

Skara Brae produced an album of the same name in 1971, and broke up in 1972. The album (cover below) was re-released in 1998 by Gael-Linn

To be continued .....(to include The Bothy Band, Relativity and, eventually, Nightnoise).