Biography
Born on August 29, 1963, in Glasgow, Scotland, this Gaelic singer, composer, and clàrsach player earned recognition in her generation as a leading interpreter of Gaelic music and song. As the daughter of Flora MacNeil, the renowned traditional singer whose lineage traced back through generations of Barra vocalists, she absorbed the island’s rich singing heritage from childhood and drew most of her repertoire directly from her mother. Hearing Breton harpist Alan Stivell’s landmark recording Renaissance of the Celtic Harp prompted her, at age twelve, to begin playing the clàrsach.
While still a teenager she met prominent figures in Glasgow’s folk community, among them George Jackson of Ossian, and formed a close friendship that led to their joint 1984 release Cairistìona. She later appeared onstage with Ossian as well as with the groups Fuaim and Eclipse First.
Following years of concert work, MacInnes issued her first solo album, Eilean Mara, in 1998; Dougie MacLean produced the set for his Dunkeld label. Its strong reception across the folk world encouraged her to establish the Marram imprint for future projects. On the subsequent recordings Spiorad Beatha (2001) and Talamh Sitheil (2004) she continued mining the Barra song tradition while introducing a distinctly modern production sensibility.
Commissioned in 2004 to create a work for the Celtic Connections festival, she composed the extended piece Òran na Mnà, which celebrates women’s contributions to Gaelic culture through combined vocal and instrumental forces. Its impact helped secure her the Gaelic Singer of the Year honor at that year’s Scots Trad Music Awards, and the piece appeared as her fourth album in 2007.
The acclaim surrounding Òran na Mnà generated further requests for original scores, resulting in two BBC documentary soundtracks: An Traigh Mhòr, which portrayed Barra Airport’s beach runway, and A Fàgail Mhiughalaidh, which examined the 1912 abandonment of Mingulay—an island to which MacInnes felt a personal tie because her maternal relatives had once lived there before resettling on Barra. The 2009 album A Fàgail Mhiughalaidh combined that documentary music with traditional songs from the island.
While still a teenager she met prominent figures in Glasgow’s folk community, among them George Jackson of Ossian, and formed a close friendship that led to their joint 1984 release Cairistìona. She later appeared onstage with Ossian as well as with the groups Fuaim and Eclipse First.
Following years of concert work, MacInnes issued her first solo album, Eilean Mara, in 1998; Dougie MacLean produced the set for his Dunkeld label. Its strong reception across the folk world encouraged her to establish the Marram imprint for future projects. On the subsequent recordings Spiorad Beatha (2001) and Talamh Sitheil (2004) she continued mining the Barra song tradition while introducing a distinctly modern production sensibility.
Commissioned in 2004 to create a work for the Celtic Connections festival, she composed the extended piece Òran na Mnà, which celebrates women’s contributions to Gaelic culture through combined vocal and instrumental forces. Its impact helped secure her the Gaelic Singer of the Year honor at that year’s Scots Trad Music Awards, and the piece appeared as her fourth album in 2007.
The acclaim surrounding Òran na Mnà generated further requests for original scores, resulting in two BBC documentary soundtracks: An Traigh Mhòr, which portrayed Barra Airport’s beach runway, and A Fàgail Mhiughalaidh, which examined the 1912 abandonment of Mingulay—an island to which MacInnes felt a personal tie because her maternal relatives had once lived there before resettling on Barra. The 2009 album A Fàgail Mhiughalaidh combined that documentary music with traditional songs from the island.
Albums
