CLANNAD, the Irish family group responsible for such timeless music as ‘Theme From Harry’s Game’, ‘In A Lifetime’, ‘I Will Find You’ and the sound track to the ‘Robin Of Sherwood’ TV series, will perform at the Alhambra, in Dunfermline, on 25th October.

The Alhambra venue is their only Scottish tour date so the Fife audience will have an outstanding opportunity to hear their sound.

Over the decades, Clannad have made music that entwines the traditional and the modern, the past and the future, with stunningly beautiful results. With their haunting songs, mesmerizing vocals, and captivating sound, Clannad have sold over fifteen million records worldwide.

So they will come to Fife ready to give the audience a real treat.

‘Game’, ‘In A Lifetime’, ‘I Will Find You’ and the sound track to the ‘Robin Of Sherwood’ TV series, will be among the numbers featured by Clannad.

Over the decades, Clannad have made music that entwines the traditional and the modern, the past and the future, with stunningly beautiful results.

With their haunting songs, mesmerizing vocals, and captivating sound the group has sold over fifteen million records worldwide.

The band first came to prominence in the UK in late 1982 when after the hard hitting drama ‘Harry’s Game’ was aired, their evocative theme song was propelled into the high reaches of the UK singles chart. This was no overnight success though, the band already had years of touring and six albums under their belt. Comprised of siblings Moya, Ciaran and Pol Brennan, along with their twin uncles Noel and Padraig Duggan, the band began life performing in the family owned tavern in a remote part of North West Ireland. After winning an established folk competition, of which the prize was a record deal with Phillips, they decided to go at it full-time. Their self titled debut album, Clannad, was released in 1973.

Their trademark sound began to develop over the course of these first six albums. Taking near forgotten traditional Irish songs, often in their native Gaelic language, bringing new arrangements to them, and creating a unique vocal harmony sound. Throughout this period they toured extensively across Europe.

Moving forward as a four piece, Clannad started work on a new album ‘Anam’. After the lavish production of Sirius, they approached this album as a much more simpler affair but also taking that unique vocal harmony sound they had created and building it to new heights. The formula seemed to work, especially in the USA, where the album became their biggest success to date there.

1993’s Banba, which marked their 20th anniversary, was another success at home and abroad. The album featured the song ‘I WIll Find You’ which featured as the Love Theme to the movie ‘Last Of The Mohicans’. This album also brought the band it’s first Grammy nomination.

This was followed in 1996 by the album ‘Lore’ and again mixed the traditional and the contemporary as only they could do best. This was another chart success for them and earned them a second Grammy nomination.

In 1998 they released, what was their last studio album to date. Landmarks was recorded in the middle of a forest in the Dublin mountains over a six month period. After two previous nominations this was the album that finally won them a Grammy.

There was never a conscious decision to stop recording or touring for such a long time, it just sort of happened that way. They had been working solidly as Clannad for over twenty five years at this stage and were to keen to take an extended break for some rest and relaxation and also to explore individual pursuits. In the best Irish tradition, one year led to another, and another. Being family they would still gather together on various occasions which would often end up in impromptu performances.

They came back together, professionally, in 2007 to be presented with a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ in Ireland’s version of the BRIT awards. Over the next few years they would undertake the odd concert or festival appearances.

In 2011 they were asked to perform a concert at Dublin’s historic Christ Church Cathedral. Being in such an intimate setting they chose for the programme to lean heavily on their early traditional material as the acoustic nature of these track would suit the surroundings well. With this in mind they invited Pol to join them for the shows which due to demand turned into three consecutive nights.

The concerts were a huge success and this step of ‘going back to go forward’ brought renewed enthusiasm for all of them to do more together. They undertook more festivals and shows together across Europe and the USA before beginning writing together for a brand new album.

The new album Nádúr, (Irish for Nature), will be released in September and will be their first album of new material since 1998. Following the release they will undertake an extensive world tour with the show comprising songs from right their 40 year career as recording artistes.

For this close-knit group, their musical journey is both remarkable in its personal accomplishment and historic in its contributions to Irish culture.

It is indeed fascinating to consider that what today is so widely regarded as Celtic music was first called “Clannad music.” There is perhaps no greater testament to the impact of this groundbreaking group than that.