Dáithí Sproule

Guitarist, singer and teacher Dáithí Sproule is a native of Derry in the north of Ireland and has lived for many years in Minnesota. He was a member of the seminal group Skara Brae with Maighread and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and their brother Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, with whom he was one of the first people to introduce the guitar tuning DADGAD into Irish music, and he has recorded and performed around the world with many of the greats of Irish traditional music, including Trian (with Liz Carroll and Billy McComiskey), Fingal (with James Keane and Randal Bays) and, for more than thirty years, with the Irish band Altan. Other musicians with whom he has performed include Tommy Peoples, Seamus and Manus McGuire, Peter Ostroushko, James Kelly, Laura MacKenzie, Dolly Parton and Minnesota blues great Dave Ray. His compositions have been recorded and performed widely.

Dáithí Sproule has also had a life-long commitment to Irish language and culture. His studies on Early Irish poetry and history have been published in the magazine Comhar and in Ériu, a journal of the Royal Irish Academy.  His collection of short stories in Irish, An Taobh Eile, was published In 1987. Dáithí has taught Early and Medieval Irish at University College Dublin and courses on Celtic culture, mythology and history at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota. He has been a teacher at the Center for Irish Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, since 2006.