Albums
Nightnoise
Something of Time
At the End of the Evening
The Parting Tide
Retrospective
Shadow of Time
A Different Shore
The White Horse Sessions
Books
Music of Nightnoise
Group members
Micheal O'Domhnaill
Billy Oskay
Triona Ni Dhomhnaill
Brian Dunning
Johnny Cunningham
John Fitzpatrick
Join the Nightnoise mailing listand get the latest news!
This page is where news items go when they get a bit stale
October 1999. It's official. Nightnoise have not broken up. In fact, there is a new album on the way, plus a tour, some time next year. In the meantime, to get an idea of what they are up to, the group has quite a few tracks on the Windham Hill's forthcoming Celtic Christmas V album (no release date yet). Also, Tríona and her sister Máighréad are releasing an album next week (see below) - presumably an Irish music album rather than a Nightnoise-style offering. Also, a jazz album recorded 20 years ago by Brian Dunning has been re-released on CD. Gael-Linn informs me that the album by Mícheál with Paddy Glackin has no release date yet but that it "may show later in year\early next year." This will presumably be similar in style to the Portland and Promenade albums Mícheál made with fiddler Kevin Burke in the early 1980s. For more details, see below.
Celtic Christmas V: The Millennium Edition
Released 14 September 1999, this is number 5 in the series produced by Mícheál Ó'Domhnaill for Windham Hill. This one features two tracks by Nightnoise plus four more tracks by individual members of the group (including one by new fiddler John Fitzpatrick). The Nightnoise tracks should give some idea of what we can expect from the new album due in 2000 (see next news item). For more details and a track listing, click here. Or order it directly at Amazon (this link takes you straight to the right page).
Nightnoise album "in the works."
The Windham Hill page for Nightnoise was updated 31 August - it says that there is a new album in the works with a release date pending.
Christian Weyers of A-Train (the company which manages Nightnoise) says: "The Nightnoise album is due for release next year, the date is pending. Meanwhile Nightnoise is heavily featured on the forthcoming Windham Hill Celtic Christmas release." 31 August 1999
New album by Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill
From Carmen Rodríguez, our Dublin correspondent. 10 September 1999
Tríona and Maighread Ní Dhomnaill´s new album will be released on September 17th (Gael Linn/Humming Bird). The Album is called "Idir an dá Sholas" and will feature nine songs in Irish and three in English. This is the first time Tríona and Maighread issue a record together. Among the guest musicians are Sharon Shannon, Máire Breatnach, Seán Mac Searraí and brother Mícheál Ó'Domhnaill. I just can´t wait until next week!
Brian Dunning album "Alone Together".
We now have details of the recently-released album CD called "Alone Together", a recording of a week-long series of lunchtime concerts by Brian Dunning with guitarist Louis Stewart recorded 20 years ago at Dublin's Peacock Theatre. (Thanks to Jennifer O'Grady for the contact details. Check out her Flutes are Fun page.) 30 August 1999.
A-Train, Nightnoise's management company, recently registered the Internet domain names nightnoise.com, nightnoise.org and nightnoise.net.
Billy Oskay tells how Nightnoise was formed and talks about what he is doing at present.
New photos. Some photos contributed by Ken Hite and Juan Carlos Martínez López.25 August 1999. Limited re-release of the original Nightnoise album in Spain (and elsewhere, perhaps?). As Spaniards return to reality from their summer holidays, publishers are releasing a spate of collectible and part-works. Prominent on news-stands nationwide is a collection of New Age CDs ("Lo mejor de la música New Age" - RBA). The launch offer is 2 CD for Ptas 1.600 (about $11), one of which is "The Parting Tide", by Nightnoise. The most interesting aspect of this is the price, as "The Parting Tide" is still widely available.
However, even more interesting is the fact that number 14 of the 16-disk series is the original "Nightnoise" album by Mícheál Ó'Domhnaill and Billy Oskay (now unavailable via standard channels). This album will presumably become available by order at news-stands in Spain in late November (to judge from the advertised sequence of disks).
This is an all-Windham Hill offering, suggesting that it might be running parallel in other countries too. Has anybody seen this anywhere else? Reply.
TV appearance by Mícheál with Paddy Glackin and Tríona. 16 August 1999. They were on Rogha Cois Locha, a re-run of a Teilefís na Gaeilge (TnG - Ireland's Irish-language TV channel) traditional music program. (Mícheál and Paddy are currently working on an album expected to be released in the spring of 2000).
Here is the set list of Paddy Glackin and Mícheál's TV appearance...with a surprise: Tríona appeared in the third theme!!!
The first two pieces were two instrumental tunes, amongst them "The Mist Covered Mountains" composed by Junior Crehan.
The third piece was a wonderful vocal piece, "Calum Sgaire", included on the Bothy Band album "Old Hag You've Killed Me". In this one Mícheál and Tríona sang together. Wonderful!
Then two jigs "The Butterfly" and "The Promenade", followed by a reel from Sligo, "The Laurel Tree", I believe.
The sixth number was "Airdí Cuan", which Mícheál sang accompanied with his guitar. This piece was included in last year's Windham Hill Celtic Christmas IV, produced by himself. (I haven't heard the Airdí Cuan on Celtic Christmas IV but there are previous versions of this song: "Airdí Cuan" on "Skara Brae" and "Aird Uí Chumhaing" on the "Portland" album by Micheál Ó'Domhnaill and Kevin Burke. - John)
And then we came to the end with "Fionnghuala" (no instrumental accompaniment at all), followed by an instrumental theme.
Carmen Rodríguez
TV appearance by Mícheál and Tríona. (Thanks to Carmen Rodríguez for this information.) On 11 August 1999, Mícheál and Tríona appeared in a re-run of Sult on Teilefís na Gaeilge (TnG - Ireland's Irish-language TV channel). They played two songs: The first one was 'Is Trua Nach Bhfuil Mise in Éirinn", which translates as "It's a pity I'm not in Ireland" and dates from their Bothy Band times. For the second (and last song) they joined their sister Miaghread Ní Dhomnaill.
A-Train, Nightnoise's management company, recently registered the Internet domain names nightnoise.com, nightnoise.org and nightnoise.net.