Máire, the eldest member, who had learned the harp and could play 'holy songs and Brian Boru', was elected lead vocalist. The five young musicians made their live debut in 1970 at a music competition held during the inaugural Slógadh Youth Festival in Letterkenny. Their children performed there together and developed their own act, with Ciaran and Pol Brennan on bass, vocals and bongos, Padraig and Noel Duggan on guitars, and elder Brennan sister Moya on harp and vocals.

In 1968, the Brennan and Duggan fathers bought and restored a dilapidated old tavern in nearby Meenaleck and ran it as a music bar called Leo's Tavern. They were raised as a Roman Catholic family of musicians: the Brennans' mother, Máire 'Baba' Brennan (née Duggan), the daughter of the local headmaster, was a music teacher and their father, Leo Brennan, who played saxaphone and accordion, was a member of the Slieve Foy, an Irish showband that had toured Scotland and Ireland. They grew up in Dore, a remote parish in Gweedore, County Donegal in north-western Ireland, a Gaeltacht region where Irish was the main spoken language. History Formation Leo's Tavern in Meenaleck, County Donegal, the pub owned by Leo Brennan where members of Clannad first performedĬlannad was formed by siblings Ciarán, Pól, and Máire Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan. They are widely regarded as having brought Irish music and the Irish language to a wider audience, and were often more popular abroad than in their native Ireland. They have recorded in six different languages and scored eight UK top 10 albums. Ĭlannad have won numerous awards throughout their career, including a Grammy Award, a BAFTA, an Ivor Novello Award, and a Billboard Music Award. Pádraig Duggan died in 2016, leaving the group to embark on their farewell tour in 2020 as a quartet. In 2013, Pól rejoined and they released their first studio album in fifteen years. The band regrouped in 2007 as a four piece with Moya, Ciarán, Noel and Pádraig and completed a world tour in 2008. In 1997, after 15 albums, they took a break and pursued solo projects. They experimented with New Age and pop-influenced sounds in the 1980s and 1990s and their music came to be defined as almost purely Celtic, making them innovators of that genre. In 1982 they gained international attention with their single ' Theme from Harry's Game'.

From 1980 to 1982 they operated as a six-piece with their sister and niece Eithne ( Enya). By 1979 they had released three albums and toured Europe and the US. Initially known as Clann as Dobhar (Irish for 'Family from Dore'), they shortened their name to Clannad in 1973 after winning the Letterkenny Folk Festival. They have adopted various musical styles throughout their history beginning as an acoustic folk group mainly performing rearranged traditional Irish songs in Gaelic, they expanded their sound with original songs in English, vocal harmonies, electronic keyboards, and elements of rock, Celtic, new age, smooth jazz, and Gregorian chant. Clannad ( Irish pronunciation: ) are an Irish band formed in 1970 in Gweedore, County Donegal by siblings Ciarán, Pól, and Moya Brennan and their twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan.

Clannad band video