**** Sorry for our appearance! Please be aware this website is in the process of being updated****

Hi folks,

Niamh has been busy over the last few months working on various projects and performing at several festivals, and it is great to see things slowly returning to normal. There is still a way to go, with musicians and festivals alike having to deal with funding issues and a two-year backlog, but we are embracing the light on the horizon, and the chance to finally perform material from Niamh’s latest album, which continues to get lots of airplay and great feedback (check out the press page).

It is timely then to update you all on some of this work! First up is the news that Niamh was the Irish traditional Music Archive’s composer of the month for June, as part of their Saothar series. Now in its second year Saothar is building a collection of contemporary compositions in partnership with composers. Each composition is available as a complete & free learning package, including interactive scores and recordings. Niamh’s contribution which went live at the end of June, can be found here .

Niamh and her band are back gigging again and have performed at festivals including TempleBar TradFest and Swaledale Folk Festival where they invited to celebrate the festival’s 50th anniversary as one of its most popular acts. And…Hot Off The Presses! – An upcoming tour of the Midwest of America is also in the works for next October, which will include a spell teaching and performing at the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Texas. More tour dates to be added!

In the meantime, we hope you are all finally getting the chance to attend and enjoy live music events near you, and you are all minding yourselves and each other. </p>

We’re delighted to report that Niamh’s latest album Donnelly’s Arm, is released, is receiving great airplay and is now available on her bandcamp page, along with all previous releases.

Check them out here.

The latest album from Niamh, “Donnelly’s Arm” goes on sale Friday 4th of December – just in time for that Christmas stocking!

The album, a large part of which was created during the Covid-19 lockdown is a wonderful mix of old and new, of local and international, of poignance and appreciation. Alongside Niamh’s regular sidekicks Kevin Corbett on Guitar and Dom Keogh on bodhrán, Niamh is joined by several guest artists, all bringing something special to the recording.

The album and all previous releases are available from here, or through Niamh’s bandcamp page.

Hi folks,

We hope this finds you all safe, well and healthy in these strange times. We’re posting this update to let you know what has been going on behind the scenes over the last while.

Firstly, as some of you may already be aware, Niamh qualified as a professional archivist a few years back and has been working on some amazing collections ever since. While it initially resulted in a deliberate reduction of International touring, we’re happy to report that she kept her musical toes in the water and a new album is in the works.

Niamh had always intended to release her 5th album this year, but understandably the Covid_19 pandemic has resulted in delays and additional costs, as she ensures the safety and well-being of her fellow musicians and engineers. Her new album, “Donnelly’s Arm”, now has an ETA of early November 2020. We will be announcing a crowdfunding campaign to get the album over the line, since we won’t be able to do any physical launches for a while, so please keep an eye out for details of that.

Work has also commenced on a new-look website so feel free to have a final sentimental browse of this one before it disappears!

In the meantime take care of yourselves and each other,

Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine

Hi folks,

Niamh has been very busy lately between performing and teaching, including at the wonderful Haapavesi Festival, Finland in June, and at the Munster Fleadh Cheoil in Ennis in July. She has also been much in demand as an adjudicator at many recent Fleadh competitions all over the country. August looks set to be just as busy with The Niamh Ní Charra Trio preparing for a trio of festival gigs in Spain and Portugal during the upcoming August Bank Holiday Weekend, consisting of Festa da Carballeira de Zas, A Coruña, Galicia (3rd August), Festival Intercéltico de Sendim, Portugal (4th) and Festival Intercéltico Occidente, Asturias (5th). Niamh will also be performing closer to home at Scullys Fest in Newmarket, County Cork on Saturday 11th August.

In addition, Autumn will see Niamh teach and perform at the annual O’Flaherty Irish Music retreat in Texas, and as part of a wonderful line up in the National Concert Hall, Dublin at the end of October. We will have more news on the concert in Dublin shortly.

In the meantime, Niamh has also been very busy in her work as an Archivist, and is currently very honoured to be project managing and archiving the Conradh Na Gaeilge Collection at NUI Galway. Conradh, also known as the Gaelic League and responsible for promoting the Irish language, celebrate 125 years in existence this year.

We hope you continue to follow Niamh’s work and please make sure to check out the updated tour page.

See you on the road!

Hi folks,

It is a busy time for Niamh and her band at the moment, as they gear up for their first ever tour to India. A blitz visit that takes in three cities (Mumbai, Chennai and Kolcata) in 4 days, it is the perfect introduction for the band to India, and for the locals to authentic Irish music on what is a very important weekend in the Irish calendar.

This follows a lovely concert in Galicia organised by the Festival of Ortigueira. For the first time ever, they have started hosting concerts outside of the festival dates in the summer, and Niamh and her band were chosen to open the new monthly series. Following the very successful evening the band are looking forward to the next time they get to set foor in lovely Galicia again.

Niamh has also been in demand as an adjudicator for several competitions, and this year is the head judge for Gael Linn’s annual Siansa competition. This involved listening to all of the entries last December and reducing them down to 32 groups. Those groups chosen then attended workshops over four days in February where Niamh along with a second judge, Declan Masterson, gave advice and listened to live performances before choosing 8 finalists. These finalists will get to perform live in The National Concert Hall, Dublin, next month. This annual competition has produced some fantastic music and is conducted entirely through Irish.

More concerts are coming up for the band over the next few months so be sure to check back here soon!

Hi folks. It has been a little while since we posted, so we would like to wish everyone a belated Happy New Year!

2015 was another successful and busy year for Niamh which saw her performing all over the world, and meeting some fantastic people along the way. It ended with perhaps one of Niamh’s career highlights, that of performing with her band at the International Folk Festival, Dhaka, Bangladesh which had an attendance of over 120,000 people. This was Niamh’s first time performing in Bangladesh and it was an incredible honour and amazing experience, in particular as Niamh and her band were the only European band to perform there.

Apart from being a highly acclaimed performer and recording artist, Niamh is also much sought after as a judge, and has been busy traveling all over Ireland listening to young music groups who qualified for the semi-finals of the Siansa competition, run by Irish language and culture promoter Gael Linn. She will reprise her role as judge along with two others for the final which will take place in the National Concert Hall in April.

Niamh has also been busy recording for a new Irish language music programme, Mná an Cheoil, which will be broadcast in the near future. Covering women in Irish music, each of the six programmes will feature players of a particular instrument, performing and chatting and Niamh is delighted to be taking part in two of these.

We will be bringing more news on this as details are announced.

Hi folks,

Greetings from a weather battered Dublin where Niamh is gearing up for another busy year. After a little bit of well earned quiet time, the year kicks off with a concert in Ballyvourney’s beautiful Ionad Cultúrtha, in West Cork. This is followed by some work on a soon to be announced project, which we’re very excited about – more about that in the coming months. You will just have to check back soon to see!

In the meantime check out the tour page, where we have updated the gig listings. It includes an upcoming tour of Germany where Niamh, along with musicians from Armenia, Finland, Holland, Iceland and Germany, will tour as part of Akkordeonale, a World Accordion festival.

Happy browsing!

Hi folks,

It has been a while since we posted news from the road, mostly due to the fact that it has been a hectic few months. May and June saw Niamh and the band tour China for the first time. This was a very successful tour and we are looking forward to returning in the near future. July, August and September took us to Spain, France, Portugal, Germany and England as well as Canada where we played to fantastic audiences everywhere. Niamh also visited Canada accompanied by Daoirí Farrell where she represented Ireland at the World Accordion Festival in Montmagny. This was a wonderful experience and Niamh met musicians from all over the world playing in many different styles.

The band has returned to Germany where we are on a 15 concert tour, which also takes in Switzerland for 2 concerts. This will be followed by a week in Texas where Niamh will be teaching at the O’Flaherty Retreat. For all of these and more dates, please check out the tour page.

Hope to see you on the road 🙂

Following a busy March which saw Niamh and her band tour New England, USA and Madrid and the Basque country in Spain, meeting lots of wonderful fans of Irish music along the way, April was a slightly quieter month, spent working on all the behind-the-scenes preparations ahead of a summer, jam packed with tours and travel.

Niamh still found time to take part in Gael Linn’s annual Siansa final in the NCH, Dublin, as one of three judges given the very hard task of picking a winning group out of 8 excellent acts from all over the country. A rundown of the acts can be found here. A fantastic experience, and an honour to be part of, it was also lovely to see the very strong talent coming up in the next generation.

Also in April, Niamh was one of six Irish musicians featured in the April/May edition of Cara, the in-flight magazine available on all Aer Lingus flights. The article, written by Irish Times Music Journalist, Siobhán Long, can be seen here, from page 44.

Next up is an exciting tour of North East China, covering the Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces. A first for the Niamh Ní Charra band, it is also one of the first tours by any Irish band to this region. Along with the usual line up of Niamh, Éamonn Galldubh, Dom Keogh and Paddy Kerr, and with regular addition, dancer Shane McAvinchey, the group will also be joined by another award winning dancer Paula Goulding for this special tour.

We will be keeping you posted from the road as usual through facebook and twitter, so if you haven’t already, give Niamh’s social media links, found on the left of this screen a follow!