Dónal Clancy is regarded as one of Ireland’s finest guitarists. He is the son of the world renowned singer Liam Clancy, of “The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem” fame. Since the death of his father, Dónal has focused his attention on the family repertoire of songs that he grew up with, while keeping the Clancy tradition alive with his solo performances.
Donal spent his early childhood in Canada and US before his family settled back in An Rinn, Co Waterford in 1983. His father gave him his first guitar at the age of eight and he was playing professionally by his early teens. A founding member of the group Danú, Dónal left to join a trio with his father Liam and cousin Robbie O’Connell. Their debut tour of 1996 took them across the US from the Santa Anita Race Track in Los Angeles to Lincoln Centre in New York. They continued to tour together for a couple of more years and recorded two albums before they disbanded in the early noughties. In 1998, Dónal moved to New York where he toured and recorded with Riverdance fiddler, Eileen Ivers and was a guest with The Chieftains on their Tears of Stone Tours in Japan and the US. He has also been a member of the Irish American super group Solas and contributed to the soundtrack of Ric Burns’ award winning documentary film New York.
Dónal’s latest album “On the Lonesome Plain” features a mix of seven vocal tracks and six guitar instrumentals, including two of his own compositions “A Strike for Victory” commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising and an instrumental piece entitled “Máirdeáil na Conrach”, preceded by “The Green Fields of Canada”, which is a particular highlight and showcases Dónal’s fingerstyle playing to great effect. Other standout tracks are “Open the Door Softly” from the pen of Scottish Fold legend Archie Fisher and the classic ballad “Reynardine”. Most of this recording happened surreptitiously in the Spring of 2015, while experimenting with various microphones and guitars.
Admission: €12.00/€10.00 Concession
Tickets are available online at The Mall Arts Centre and/or telephone 087 9593276 and/or Crees Card Shop, North Main Street, Youghal or at the door on day of the performance.
