By Kevin Mullan

Copyright derryjournal

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Francie’s daughter, remembers listening as two giants of the Donegal fiddle dualled in her childhood home in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht. “Back then in the early 1970s there weren’t that many sessions really. They were just starting off everywhere at that time. “Dinny used to come up and stay with us the odd weekend. We started going in to Hiúdaís [the famous Teach Hiúdaí Beag music pub in Bunbeg]. People heard about the sessions and that’s how we made so many friends over the years,” she says. Thus were sown seeds that would years later germinate as one of the most influential traditional combos of the modern era. Formed in 1985, Altan began with the unique musical bond between Mairéad and the Belfast-born flautist Frankie Kennedy, who she met at one of those sessions. “Out of that I met my late husband Frankie Kennedy, who came from Belfast and spent a week in Gweedore to learn Irish. That was the genesis of the band, I suppose.” The ‘Journal’ caught up with the maestra fiddler from Gweedore ahead of a much-anticipated homecoming concert of sorts in Derry’s Guildhall next week. Incredibly, the group, whose current line-up includes Mairéad (vocals and fiddle), Ciaran Curran (bouzouki), Mark Kelly (guitar), Martin Tourish (accordion) and Clare Friel (fiddle and vocals), is celebrating its 40th anniversary. “It makes me feel old!” laughs Mairéad. “I can’t believe it is 40 years but it is and more but we are still going and still relevant and still working very hard. We are off to France in the morning [October 2] and after we do the Irish tour we head off to Austria and Switzerland and Germany.” Over the years Altan has featured some of the finest musicians in the world of traditional Irish music including Buncrana’s Ciaran Tourish and Dermot Byrne, Derry’s Dáithí Sproule and Dubliner Paul O’Shaughnessy. It was the late Frankie Kennedy, who died tragically young in 1994, who provided the initial impetus for the band’s phenomenal global success. “Frankie had such a vision. The rest of us were just playing music and having the crack but he said, ‘you know, there is a product here’. “He really had a vision for the band and that’s how we were able to get record companies like Virgin in London. They signed us. We were the first ever Irish traditional band to be signed to a major record label,” says Mairéad. Despite the interest of a music industry giant Virgin on whose imprint their 1996 album Blackwater appeared, there was never any pressure to waver from their Donegal roots. “We didn’t really cross over at all because we kept playing Donegal tunes and singing in Irish. Part of the contract was that we had total control over the music and they left it at that. “A lot of young people were listening to us so they liked that and it opened all sorts of doors for us. Our audiences became that much bigger. It was a great time.” Altan’s rise was meteoric and the band went on to perform for US Presidents including Bill Clinton. They accompanied Irish Presidents on official state visits. The loss of Frankie was a huge blow but his spirit is ‘still very much a part of everything we do’ and his legacy will be to the fore at the anniversary concert next Friday, says Mairéad. It always is. Hugely influential, Altan are another example of the outsized cultural influence Gweedore, the Rosses and Cloughaneely have had on music nationally and internationally. The ‘Three Parishes’ have produced acts such as Clannad, Enya, Altan and Na Casaidigh, and greatly influenced bands as diverse as Skara Brae, The Bothy Band, Planxty and Ye Vagabonds. “It’s amazing. I was told by somebody in Údarás na Gaeltachta that if you go in a radius from my own house of ten miles around, you are talking about millions of albums by people who are playing music professionally. “You are bringing in Enya there and Daniel O’Donnell as well. You are talking about millions and millions of albums and that is just the people who are professional. “There are so many young people playing music, fantastic singer-songwriters, fiddle players and pipers. It’s a really thriving community at the moment.” Over the past four decades, Altan have graced some of the world’s most prestigious stages: Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Grand Ole Opry, Glastonbury Festival, Festival Interceltique de Lorient, TradFest Temple Bar, and many more. Their international appeal has earned them collaborations with artists such as Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs, and The Chieftains, while their sound remains unmistakably rooted in Donegal. Being on the road, however, can be tough. But the band have a huge following in North America and across Europe, in particular, where they regularly play to large audiences. “The irony of playing Irish traditional music in a pure form is that you have to leave the country. We have to go to Europe, we have to America, we have to go to Japan, we have to go to Australia, to make a living,” she says. As someone who has been torchbearer for both the Irish language and traditional music for decades Mairéad believes the culture is in a state of rude health, not least thanks to a renaissance among young people particularly. “I think the likes of Kneecap have done so much for the language. It has catapulted it into the 21st century. They are talking about young people’s issues and it’s great. “It’s in a fantastic state. Just the other day I was talking to my daughter and they are all talking about going up to the Oireachtas in Belfast.” Altan play Derry’s Guildhall on Friday, October 10. Grab tickets while you can at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/altan-40th-anniversary-concert-derry-tickets-1253743664049