Clannad - Biography
Though Clannad are today one of the most successful Irish folk bands in the world, their beginnings were humble. Ciaran, Paul and Moya Brennan were three children in a large family in remote Gweedore (Gaoth Dobhair), County Donegal, Ireland. Their mother, Baba, was a music teacher. Their father, Leo, was in a band that played traditional and popular Irish music in the ‘50s and ‘60s. In 1968 he opened a pub (Tábhairne Leo) in Donegal where he played traditional music to lure new customers and entertain older fans who knew him from his band days. He also began impromptu lessons for his eight children using the instruments he’d retained after the breakup of his band. One night he took Ciaran, Paul and Maire to the pub and told them to back him up while he sang. Within a month the trio was holding their own, playing a set every night while still going to school by day.
The Brennan children grew up without a TV, speaking Irish, and singing old ballads and folk songs as entertainment at a time when the Irish language was in danger of dying out. One night the still unnamed trio sang an old traditional song. The tourists clapped whereas the locals sat in stony silence. Ciaran took this as a challenge and responded by filling their repertoire with Irish folk music. The trio’s mother and grandparents had all been amateur folklorists and had written down the lyrics to hundreds of traditional tunes. These songs would form the backbone of their stock of songs. They slowly built a following, with increasing numbers of elder folks coming to the pub to listen and share the songs they’d collected. Paul, Máire and Ciaran weren’t very proficient on their instruments when they started playing but they could sing complex harmonies which mimicked the drone normally supplied by Uilleann pipes. In the process, those harmonies became a signature part of their sound. They also adapted the method of ballad singing to their arrangements by playing without a set meter. As they began to draw bigger crowds they were joined by their uncles Padraig and Noel who were musicians in their own right.
When the band were offered a slot at the Letterkenny Folk Festival in 1972, they needed a name and Máire came up with Clann As Dobhar, meaning “the family from Dore.” The group, thinking it too unwieldy, shortened it to Clannad. Clannad won first place, garnering them a recording contract. However, they weren’t to record for over a year because of their insistence on singing in Irish against the label’s wishes. The first two albums Clannad (1973 Gael-Linn) and Clannad 2 (1974 Gael-Linn/Shanachie) showcased the band’s nascent blend of Celtic folk, pop, jazz, new age and light rock. They continued to hold day jobs until 1976 when they committed themselves completely to the band after being encouraged after receiving a standing ovation while on tour.
One of the Brennan sisters, Eithne Ni Braonain (later known as Enya) provided vocals on the song “Gathering Mushrooms” for the album, Crann Úll (1978 Tara). She stayed on as keyboard player and vocalist and they began adding lush synthesizer textures to the music. Fuaim, (1982 Atlantic) their first set with Enya, showed off their new expansive sound. The material, still mostly traditional, did well enough for RCA to sign them. Ciaran, Paul, and Máire were also starting to write their own tunes. When they were asked to supply music for a BBC mini-series about “The Troubles,” they offered the “Theme from Harry’s Game.” Suddenly, after ten years on the road, they became an overnight success. Released as a single, “Harry’s Game” shot up the charts and became the only British hit ever sung in Irish to be performed on Top of the Pops. Its attendant album Magical Ring (1983 RCA) achieved gold status and remained on the charts for six months. The band next did the soundtrack for the TV series Robin of Sherwood. That album, Legend, (1984 RCA) was another huge success. Macalla (1985 RCA) featured guest vocals by U2’s Bono on “In a Lifetime.” (U2 used “Theme From Harry’s Game” for the exit music on their War tour through the first leg of The Joshua Tree Tour).
For Sirius (1987 RCA) the band was flown to LA to record with session heavies. It featured contributions from Bruce Hornsby, Steve Perry, and J.D. Souther. But Clannad felt that the label was pressing too hard for a pop hit and left. They subsequently signed with Atlantic, who promised to give them more creative control. Paul left shortly after Sirius, and Ciaran Brennan produced the next three Clannad albums Anam (1990 Atlantic), Banba (1994 Atlantic), and Lore (1996 Atlantic) with the help of Máire, Noel, and Padraig. It wasn’t until 1992 that a Clannad album was released in the US, which came after “Harry’s Game” was featured in a Volkswagen ad that brought them another massive breakthrough. Landmarks (1998 Atlantic) was another success and won the best New Age Album Grammy in 1998, but the band announced they were going on hiatus shortly thereafter.
In 2005, Noel and Pádraig, began recording as The Duggans. The following year Máire toured solo. Then, after a lengthy hiatus, the original members of the band performed at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glascow in January of 2007. In 2008 they embarked on their first UK tour in 12 years.
