Donal Lunny
It is hard to imagine the playing and promotion of traditional Irish music without Donal Lunny. Born in 1947 in Tullamore, Lunny started his musical journey with the left-handed guitar. He moved to Dublin to study at the National College of Art, and found lifetime musical colleagues. He formed the group Emmet Spiceland, which won a ballad contest in their first year, 1967. The following year, their song Mary from Dungloe was at the top of the Irish singles' charts. After the group disbanded, Lunny began to play with Andy Irvine, who had recently returned from the Balkans, bringing a traditional instrument, the bouzouki, back with him. Lunny adapted the bouzouki and integrated it into the playing of Irish music, where it is now a central sound. In the seventies, Lunny brought Liam Og O Floinn and Christy Moore together with Andy Irvine to form Planxty, which helped revitalize Irish singing. His next band, Bothy, focussed on the music of Irish dance. Moving Hearts, his group in the eighties, fused rock and jazz with traditional music. In addition to Lunny's playing, he has also produced music for other artists, such as Bono, Kate Bush, Elvis Costello, Indigo Girls, Sinéad O'Connor, and Rod Stewart, often connecting their work to the traditional Irish sound.
