5th Day of Christmas

As mentioned elsewhere you won't know which concert you'll be seeing today until you tune in.

It may be the legendary Altan founder members Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh & Ciarán Curran, or then again maybe its not

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is the queen of Irish traditional music. A native of the Donegal Gaeltacht of Gaoth Dobhair, her first language is Gaelic and she has learnt many of her songs from family and neighbours as well as sourcing older material from archive facilities. She is renowned as one of the leading exponents of Donegal fiddle music and likes to promote the music which she has inherited from her late father Francie, whenever possible. She is a founding member of Cairdeas na bhFidléirí, which was set up 25 years ago to preserve and facilitate the development of the Donegal fiddling tradition for future generations.

Ciarán Curran is a native of Kinawley, Co.Fermanagh, an area rich in music, song and folklore and brings his strong family musical tradition to bear on an instrument relatively new to Irish traditional music - the bouzouki. He has developed a unique, personal and subtle style on this instrument, using counter harmonies and melodies that let the music breathe and show its most melodic strengths without conflicting with the essence of the melody.

Both are founder members of Altan, one of the all-time great acts of Irish music and have been traveling the world spreading the gospel of Donegal music for about 500 years.