Niamh Ní Charra

Niamh Ní Charra hails from Killarney, County Kerry in the south west of Ireland. Strongly influenced by a wealth of local Sliabh Luachra musicians, she started playing music at the early age of 4. A multiple award winner on both fiddle and concertina, she toured from 1998 to 2006 as a soloist with Riverdance, before returning to Ireland where she is now based. Her recently released 5th album “Donnelly’s Arm”, recorded under challenging circumstance during the Covid_19 pandemic and several lockdowns, has none-the-less received much critical and public acclaim. It was crowned Number 1 Trad Album of 2021 by Alex Monaghan, reviewer for several publications including Irish Music Magazine, Living Tradition and FolkWorld.

She is the recipient of several awards including “Instrumental Album of the Year” in 2014 in the Chicago Irish American News’ TIR awards for her previous album “Cuz”, “Female Musician of the Year” in 2012 and 2014, in the Live Ireland Music Awards, “Best Trad Music Act 2008” from UK publication The Irish World, and “Best Fiddle/Violin 2008” from the American based Irish Music Association. Her music also featured on the programme “Ireland in Song” which aired on Aer Lingus transatlantic flights.
Along with touring extensively as a solo artist and with her own band, Niamh has also performed and recorded with Galician piper and Sony artist Carlos Núñez, with The Chieftains, and in 2011 released an album “The Basque Irish Connection” in collaboration with Basque musician Ibon Koteron. She regularly gives workshops and masterclasses, has performed for several presidents and members of royalty and has additionally coordinated concerts hosted by Irish embassies abroad, on behalf of the Irish government.

Niamh is also a professional archivist and is currently project manager and project archivist for the Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) and Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner) collections in the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is also the Communications and Campaigns officer for the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, and regularly gives presentations on her work in this field. She is a founding member and archivist for the volunteer campaign group FairPlé established in 2018, which aims to achieve gender balance in production, performance, promotion and development of Irish traditional and folk music and is also cohost of the archives podcast series Archive Nation.