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Ireland’s Gift to the World: The Celtic Masters of AltanCelebrate a Quarter Century of Tradition and InnovationThe Sydney Opera House and the mist-strewn heather of Donegal. Jigging Japanese and Bill Clinton.Lonely lighthouse keepers and Dolly Parton. The roar of the Celtic Tiger and eerie fiddle tunesinspired by forest birds.These moments and milestones capture the quarter century-long journey of Altan, one of Ireland‟smost striking and reputable groups. Leaping like their homeland from earthy and moving tradition toworld-wide notoriety, the acclaimed sextet celebrates a quarter century with Altan: 25 th AnniversaryCelebration (Compass Records), a new recording of lush, sensitive orchestrations by renownedIrish composer Fiachra Trench performed by the RTE Concert Orchestra, as well as a spring tour ofNorth America.It all started when singer and fiddler Mairéad Ni Mhaonaigh was still in the cradle in her stronglytraditional native region of Donegal, listening and trying desperately to sing to the songs her parentsused to soothe her. Her family‟s home was a hub for poets, musicians, and writers who would sharetheir work into the wee hours. “People would come and stay at our house and tell stories and playsongs,” Ni Mhaonaigh recalls fondly. “Sometimes it would end up like a party, with people playingoutside the house until late at night. We were in the country, though, so we weren‟t botheringanybody.”The homes, fields, and forests all around were populated by traditional singers—and traditional