Our Song of the Day is from Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (7 October 1951 – 7 July 2006) in the guise of Monroe, a duo with Limerick singer and guitarist Mick Hanly. Songbird (No Love is Sorrow) is taken from their only album Celtic Folkweave released on polydor in 1974.
Among those who played on the album were Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (Mícheál’s sister) on keyboards, Matt Molloy on flute, Tommy Peoples on fiddle as well as members of Planxty: Dónal Lunny on bouzouki and Liam O’Flynn on uilleann pipes. This was a great time for Irish traditional music which saw a wider exploration and fusion of other influences including Breton music. After Dónal Lunny left Planxty he went on to form the band Seachtar (seven) which included a number of players mentioned above including Mícheál and Tríona. Accordion player Tony MacMahon was also a member for a while but when he left to work as producer for the BBC the band’s name was changed by Mícheál to a name that many will be familiar with: The Bothy Band who went on to perform their debut on 2 February 1975 at Trinity College, Dublin.
Here they are performing one of their most popular songs Fionnghuala
Photo Credit: Greg Duffy