Hailing from Cois Cladaigh, Gaoth Dobhair (Gweedore), in northwest Donegal, MAIRÉAD NÍ MHAONAIGH (pronounced 'MA-RAID Nee WEE-nee") received her early training in music from her father, Proinsias, and later from Shandrum Fiddler teacher Dinny McLaughlin. Besides the five albums with Altan and the two with Frankie Kennedy, Mairéad appears on Albert Fry (Gael-Linn); Mná na hÉireann (Gael-Linn) by the all-women ensemble Macalla, of which she was a member; In Full Flight (Germany's Joke Records) by the Wild Geese; Fiddle Sticks (Nimbus), a live recording of Donegal and Shetland fiddlers; The Holy Ground (Dara) by Mary Black; and, with Altan, Heartsongs (Columbia) by Dolly Parton.

From Buncrana, County Donegal, CIARÁN TOURISH took up the fin whistle at age six and later the fiddle, on which he learned from Dinny McLaughlin, who also instructed Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. A highly versatile fiddler with diverse musical interests, Ciarán has played bluegrass and old-timey music with Ireland's Snug Band and has also guested with De Dannan, Dolores Keane, and Máirtín O'Connor. Ciarán's first album as a member of Altan was 1992's Harvest Storm, and he has appeared on a number of other recordings, including Fiddle Sticks, Brendan O'Regan's A Wind of Change (Mulligan), and, with Dermot Byrne, both Tommy Sand's The Heart's A Wonder (Green Linnet) and A River of Sound (Hummingbird).

Born in Kinawley, County Fermanagh, CIARÁN CURRAN has been a member of Altan from the outset and is recognized as one of the premier players of the bouzouki, cittern, and bouzouki-guitar, an instrument specially made for him by famed Northumberland luthier Stefan Sobell. Playing music since his early teens, Ciarán has recorded with County Antrim singer Len Graham on the latter's Do Me Justice (Claddagh) and with Ben Lennon, Seamus Quinn, and Gabriel McArdle on Dog Big and Dog Little (Claddagh).

DAÍTHÍ SPROULE (pronounced "DA-hee Sprole') was born in Derry City but now lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Since his preteen years he has played everything from rock to folk to traditional music, in which he established an enviable reputation for singing and acoustic-guitar playing. Daíthí is a former member of the groundbreaking Irish vocal quartet Skara Brae, featuring Ó Domhnaill singing siblings Mícheál, Tr&/acuteiona, and Maighréad, and also the Irish trio Bowhand, who included fiddler James Kelly and button accordionist Paddy O'Brien. When not on tour with Altan, Daíthí performs solo and also tours and records as a member of Trian, featuring Liz Carroll and Billy McComiskey. Among Daithfi's many recording credits are albums made with Skara Brae, Trian, Carroll, Kelly and O'Brian, Tommy Peoples, Séamus and Manus McGuire, and his own solo release, A Heart Made of Glass (Green Linnet).

Like Ciarán Tourish, DERMOT BYRNE comes from Buncrana, where he first learned music from his melodeon-playing father, Tomas. In the forefront of all young Irish box players today, Dermot has recorded with County Down-born concertinist Terry Bingham and, on videocassette, with De Dannan fiddler Frankie Gavin, and he has also played in concert with Sharon Shannon and Donal Lunny. His first solo album, Dermot Byrne (Hummingbird, 1995; Green Linnet, 1996), is a brilliant showcase of his skill on the button accordion and single-row melodeon.

"Altan is one of the preeminent Irish bands in the world today,' wrote Earle Hitchner in The Wall Street Journal. Their upcoming new album and Virgin Records debut, Blackwater, "is the Irish musical tradition at its unadulterated best, spurred by dazzling instrumental playing, memorable singing, and deft arrangements,' added Hitchner.

The word 'best' has often been applied to Altan, a 'supergroup [that) has set new standards for Irish music,' according to Billy Altman of The New Yorker. The band was named "Best Traditional Act' of 1994 at Ireland's National Entertainment Awards and 'Best Traditional 'or, Folk Act' in the 1993 readers' poll of Hot Press magazine, the Irish equivalent of America's Rolling Stone. Both Altan and The Red Crow were chosen as "Roots Album and Band of the Year" in 1990 by London's highly regarded Q magazine. The last three studio albums Altan made for the independent Green Linnet label -- The Red Crow in 1990, Harvest Storm in 1992, and Island Angel in 1993 -- were each picked as the 'Celtic/British Isles" album of the year by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors & Manufacturers. No other Celtic band in NAIRD's 24-year history has ever won more awards.

Altan's commercial success has paralleled their critical success. In 1992-93, Harvest Storm remained on Billboard magazine's 'Top World Music Albums" chart for 12 weeks. In 1993-94, the strong sales of Harvest Storm were surpassed by those of Island Angel. It stayed in the chart's top 15 for eight months, prompting Billboard to cite Island Angel as one of the "Top World Music Albums' for all of 1994. Over the past nine years, the appeal of the band on tour has similarly grown from being featured at festivals to headlining them, and from playing small folk clubs to performing mostly in large concert halls and theaters.

'The strength of Altan's appeal stems from their exceptional personnel and repertoire. In 1983, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her late husband, Belfast-born flutist Frankie Kennedy (1955-1994), both of whom were teaching primary school in Dublin, released the album Ceol Aduaidh (Gael-Linn), meaning "Music From the North". Featuring such studio guests as citternist Ciarán Curran and keyboardist Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, who would later be known worldwide as Enya, it was a dazzling duet album that sparked tremendous interest throughout Ireland in the rich musical tradition of its northern counties, especially Donegal. Four years later, the success of Mairead and Frankie's second duet album, Altan (Green Linnet), sowed the seeds of a full-time band, eventually allowing them to quit teaching and guide Altan to their present position as 'traditional music superstars,' asserted Luke Clancy in The Irish Times. The memory of founding member Frankie Kennedy, felled by cancer at age 38, continues to be a source of inspiration for Altan today.

A who's-who lineup of top-flight musicians, all five touring members of Altan hail from Ireland's North. Blessed with a magnificently expressive voice, Donegal's Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh is widely recognized as one of the finest singers in Ireland, while her fiddling bears the stamp of her home county's celebrated style, forceful and fiery. The other two Donegal members of the band -- Ciarán Tourish on fiddle and tin whistle and Dermot Byrne on button accordion and melodeon - rank among the most accomplished Irish instrumentalists anywhere in the world. And Altan can likewise boast of one of the best traditional rhythm sections in Irish music today: Fermanagh's Ciarán Curran on bouzouki and specially hand-crafted bouzouki--guitar, and Derry's Daíthí Sproule on guitar. The latter's outstanding talent as a singer, both lead and harmony, adds yet another dimension to Altan's irresistible musical mix.

The name of the band comes from Loch Altan, a lake near Gweedore, an Irish-speaking, area in northwest Donegal that is the birthplace of lead singer Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. Her father, Proinsias Ó Maonaigh, is a leading figure in preserving and promoting- Donegal fiddle music, which Mairéad and the rest of Altan have helped popularize around the world. The traditional sounds of Donegal have a distinctive Scots flavor, the result of both Donegal and Scots workers historically migrating back and forth and intermingling musically. Many of the strathspeys from the Scottish tradition are played as slightly faster highlands in the Donegal tradition, which also features mazurkas and Germans (barndances performed at roughly the tempo of hornpipes). Much of Altan's repertoire flows from the amazing wellspring of tunes performed by such celebrated Donegal musicians as James Byrne, Vincent Campbell, and Tommy Peoples as well as the late Con Cassidy, John Doherty, and Mickey and Francie 'Dearg' O'Beirne. The quick, single-stroke bowing and staccato triplets favored by Donegal fiddlers lie at the heart of the propulsive twin fiddling by Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Ciarán Tourish. That core Altan sound, in turn, is enhanced and fleshed out by the subtle, surefire accordion playing of Dermot Byrne and the highly dynamic rhythm accompaniment of Ciarán Curran and Daíthí Sproule on bouzouki -and guitar, respectively. Together, they embody the depth, strength, and beauty of the northern Irish tradition, taking it to new heights.

Energy, passion, virtuosity, and impeccable taste: Altan has them all in abundance, and all can be heard on Blackwater, their latest album and first for Virgin Records. It comprises jigs, reels, hornpipes, and a strathspey played with astonishing power and precision, while the five songs sung in Irish and in English set into relief Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh's glorious voice. A further measure of this Dublin-based band's stature can be gauged from the superb guest musicians who appear on the new album including Nightnoise and former Bothy Band member Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, her sister Maighréad Ní Dhomhnaill, Planxty and Bothy Band alumnus Dónal Lunny, harmonica ace Brendan Power, and percussionist extraordinaire Jimmy Higgins, the last of whom will be sitting in with Altan on many of their 1996 U.S. winter tour dates.