page_title: Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
section_title: 2018–present: The SíFiddlers
hierarchical_section_title: Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh / Career / 2018–present: The SíFiddlers
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le groupe irlandais de musique traditionnelle Altan en concert lors des Mardis de Plouescat (Nord Finistère, Bretagne, France) le 23 juillet 2013. Français&#160;: Irish traditional group Altan in concert in Plouescat (Brittany, France), July 23, 2013
context_page_description: Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is an Irish fiddler and the lead vocalist for the Irish folk music band Altan, which she co-founded with her late husband Frankie Kennedy in 1987. Today, Mairéad is recognised as a leading exponent in the Donegal fiddle style, and she is often considered as 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, Mairéad released in February 2009 her debut solo album Imeall. After 29 years with Altan, Mairéad released in October 2016 her alternate band Na Mooneys' debut album Na Mooneys.
context_section_description: On 3 September 2019, the Donegal fiddle music band The SíFiddlers announced, via their Facebook page, that they are recording their debut album. The SíFiddlers are a group of 13 female Donegal fiddlers including Na Mooneys (indeed, "The SíFiddlers" can be translated from Irish to English as "The She Fiddlers") who first came together in Summer 2018 during the Earagail Arts Festival. Their performance at the festival was a huge success, concluding with upwards of 30 fellow female fiddlers from Donegal joining the SíFiddlers on stage for an epic finale celebrating the healthy state of female fiddling in Donegal at present. The 13 members are:
  Denise Boyle from Glenties
  Tara Connaghan from Glenties
  Liz Doherty from Buncrana
  Aisling Drost-Byrne from Glencolmcille
  Clare Friel (from The Friel Sisters) from Derrynamansher
  Claire Gallagher from Kilcar
  Brid Harper from Castlefinn
  Melanie Houton from Malin
  Theresa Kavanagh from Gortahork
  Eimear McColgan from Malin
  Roisin McGrory from Culdaff
  Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh from Gaoth Dobhair
  Clodagh Warnock from Moville
  On 1 July 2020, The SíFiddlers released (first, on digital format, for download only) their (12-track) debut album, simply entitled Donegal Fiddle. Physical copies are due to be available around the 5 July 2020.
  Siobhan Peoples (daughter of Tommy Peoples) warmly reviewed the album.
caption: Mairéad performing with Altan in 2013
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3100", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 (12.0x20100115 [20100115.m.998 2010/01/15:02:00:00 cutoff; m branch])  Windows", "Image DateTime": "2013:07:25 21:01:59", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "312", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "968", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1082", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7187", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "53/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Shutter Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "1600", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:07:23 20:47:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2013:07:23 20:47:42", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "24/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "40", "EXIF SubSecTime": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4608", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3072", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "936", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "60", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}