Máire Ní Bhraonain
A loss
The other day I realized I must have heard the Irish language for the first time in the voice of Moya Brennan, who died last week at her home in Crolly, not too far from us.
Moya was the voice of Clannad, whose music even have heard even if you don’t know the name, or how to pronounce it—something like CLAW-nawd.
The band started with traditional Irish songs, singing in Irish and English.
At the time traditional Irish bands with recording contracts sang Irish songs in English. Moya and her brothers and uncles who formed Clannad sang in their own language. Theirs was the first hit song in Britain with Irish lyrics.
They had another hit with this theme from Last of the Mohicans.
Here she is on the Late Late just “giving us a song.”
The BBC obit here emphasized the celebrities who came to her funeral, which isn’t what Moya was about.
Moya was class. Sure you can see the gold records on the wall at Leo’s but that’s where she organized a monthly showcase for upcoming local musicians. She’d always sing a song at the beginning of the show as the warm up act. The room would be packed, not to see her, but to see who she wanted us to support.
I can’t believe a world exists without her in it.
