The enchanting voice of Cavan’s Aoife Murray never fails to captivate an audience, making her live performances a joy for all. On stage, Aoife’s ability to woo her listeners and generate that all-important, infectious feel good factor makes her singing a great experience for fellow musicians as well. Hailing from picturesque Stradone, just outside Cavan town, Aoife Murray has from an early age been recognised as one of Ireland’s finest exponents of traditional song.
Aoife is the holder of many All-Ireland titles and awards in both English and Irish language traditional singing, as well a sean nós singing and lilting, and following these successes she found herself performing regularly on the Irish music circuit both at home and abroad. She has appeared at festivals like the Button Factory County Sessions in Dublin, Corofin Trad Festival, the All-Ireland Fleadh and of course Cavan’s homegrown Nyah Festival. Further afield, Aoife has flown the flag at Scotland’s Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow, at Irish music festivals in Tesserete and Locarno in Switzerland, and at a special event in Japan in 2005, where she performed at the invitation of the country’s prime minister.
She has appeared on television
shows like Fleadh Cheoil (RTÉ) and Mass on Sunday (RTÉ), and has
also featured on RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, BBC Radio Ulster and
Shannonside/Northern Sound. Aoife has played
support for artists including fiddler Zoë Conway and singers Seán Ó Sé and Andy
Irvine among others, and she has also participated in the ‘Macalla na hÉireann’
Comhaltas Concert Tour of Ireland.
Her recording career dates back
to 2001, where she sang and lilted on A
Call from The Musical Heart of Cavan. She also appears on Seamus Fay’s Cavan’s Lilter (2003) and Martin
Donohoe’s 2006 CD Blúiríní Blasta (Tasty
Touches). More recently she performed on the collection A Song for the Road, brought out by the
Ulster Traditional Singers group.
With a BA in Irish Traditional Music and Dance from the University of Limerick and a Higher Diploma in Arts in Primary Education, Aoife in her role as a primary teacher is doing her bit to ensure that children are exposed to Irish music and song from a young age. She is also passing her skills and knowledge on to young people through her work and as a member of Cavan’s All-Ireland Fleadh committee. It was fitting,
therefore, that Aoife’s role as a teacher and performer in her local community
was saluted in 2009 when she was awarded Cavan’s REHAB’s ‘Young Person of the
Year’ accolade.