Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
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Muireann was born in 1978 and spent the first seven years of her life living on small islands off the coast of Ireland. Her father was manager of the island co-operatives on Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran islands off Co. Galway on the west coast of Ireland and also on Cape Clear off the coast of west Cork. Both of the islands are Irish-speaking and she spoke Irish as her first language.
Muireann began playing the fiddle and piano, like her father and her first musical outings were to accompany him to various sessions. It was here she heard a wealth of songs, mainly in the Irish language Sean-Nós (Old way) style and began to absorb the island musical culture.
When the family finally settled in Dún Chaoin in the west Kerry Gaeltacht, Muireann attended Siamsa Tíre, the national folk theatre of Ireland.