In the 1980s West Cork native Máire Ní Chathasaigh pioneered a modern traditional music style on the harp, introducing the dance music repertoire, rhythm and ornamentation associated with fiddle, pipes and flute to her instrument and helping to explode the stereotype of the Irish harpist as a gowned performer of semi-classical parlor music. She found a musical and life partner in the massively talented English guitarist Chris Newman. Together they have created a unique string duo sound that combines traditional melodic roots and a modern musical sensibility.
