From a Forgotten Corner of Ireland, Unforgettable Music

Donegal has been called Ireland’s forgotten county, and considering its spot on the map it’s not a surprising appellation. Facing the sea on the west and north, pressed against troubled Northern Ireland on the east, its only physical connection to the rest of the Republic of Ireland is its 10-mile border with County Sligo to the south.

County Donegal, a dramatic land of mountains, river valleys and rugged shore, has produced a music that might also be called forgotten.

Forgotten, that is, until the emergence of Altan, a youthful but tradition-minded outfit that has turned Irish ears to the northwest and its lilting, lyrical tradition, which draws from nearby Scotland as well as from the rest of Ireland.

A perennial favorite in Irish reader polls, dubbed by the Rough Guide to World Music as “the flag-bearers of traditional Irish music”--over the Chieftains--Altan is now poised for a larger international breakthrough.

The group is in the midst of its longest U.S. tour yet (due for a Tuesday stop at the Irvine Barclay Theatre) and has made the jump from tiny, Connecticut-based specialty label Green Linnet to powerhouse Virgin Records with its next album “Blackwater,” due for April release.

The building success is, however, tinged with a tragedy: the 1994 death of founding member Frankie Kennedy.

Altan has its quiet roots in an Irish-speaking region of Donegal, where group singer, fiddler and founder Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh learned fiddle from her father, tapping into the area’s rich music heritage at a time when it wasn’t quite fashionable to do so.

“It wasn’t the in thing to do when I was growing up,” Ni Mhaonaigh, 35, said in a telephone interview from a tour stop in Washington. “I was looked on as kind of an oddity.”

Growing up in a musical family, Ni Mhaonaigh and her siblings would play sessions at home, later graduating to local music pubs when she came “of age.”

After moving to Dublin to teach, she met Kennedy, a fellow teacher and musician from Belfast. They married and formed a musical partnership as well, concentrating on tunes from the north.

Donegal “has been a little isolated politically and, I suppose, emotionally,” Ni Mhaonaigh said. “The music is quite distinct. It has its own flavor.”

While “someone familiar with Irish music would know a Donegal tune,” she said, the music “hasn’t really been listened to outside Donegal.”

Although the musical side of her partnership with Kennedy started informally, the pair began to make a name in Dublin, and in 1987 recorded an album together, “Altan.”

That led to their association with Green Linnet and--when their duo-with-accompaniment became a full-blown group--the formation of Altan, and the beginning of their touring career.

Ni Mhaonaigh said their attitude was “ ‘Let’s see the world while we can.’ We never anticipated any success.”

But Altan gained acclaim with each album, culminating in accolades for “Island Angel” in 1993 and the release of last year’s career retrospective, the last of the group’s albums for Green Linnet. By then, however, Kennedy’s death had already darkened Altan’s triumph.

In 1992, a persistent neck ache led Kennedy to seek medical attention. The diagnosis was far worse than anyone anticipated: cancer. After a series of treatments, Kennedy died in late 1994.

After losing her partner in life and in music, the decision to continue with Altan “was really, really hard,” Ni Mhaonaigh said simply. In the end, there was no other choice: “He had put so much into building this band. It would be a total insult to his memory not to go on.”

Band members decided not to replace Kennedy, whose haunting flute had been an integral part of the group’s sound. In addition to Ni Mhaonaigh, Altan members are second fiddler Ciaran Tourish, accordionist Dermot Byrne, bouzouki player Ciaran Curran and guitarist Daithi Sproule.

Between record deals, the group convened in Dublin last summer to record “Blackwater” on its own, later signing with Virgin. The album was supposed to be in stores in time for the current tour, but was delayed (Ni Mhaonaigh said she doesn’t know why).

“Blackwater” is very much in line with earlier Altan albums, alternating instrumental numbers with songs featuring the ethereal voice of Ni Mhaonaigh, who sings primarily in Irish. The focus remains resolutely on the Donegal roots.

The Scottish elements came about because many Donegal men have worked seasonally in the potato fields of Scotland. “My own mother spent most of her youth working in hotels and great houses and sending the money back to her family,” Ni Mhaonaigh said. Altan’s repertory even includes mazurkas--introduced to Ireland, she believes, by British military bands.

The music of County Donegal, like all of Irish traditional music, was becoming neglected by the turn of this century. When the ‘60s U.S. folk revival helped spark an Irish equivalent--giving rise to such groups as the Chieftains and the Bothy Band--the music of the northwest remained largely obscure.

Ni Mhaonaigh learned from her father, and also from many of the amateur musicians who kept the tradition alive.

The singer and fiddle player said she anticipates no pressure to compromise the group’s sound, even with the Virgin partnership.

“The reason they signed us is because they see some kind of potential in what we do now,” she said. “We’re not under any illusions that they’ve asked us out of charity.”

The Chieftains have had a great deal of success recently through their high-profile collaborations with pop and country stars. While the members of Altan appreciate what Paddy Moloney and company have done in creating an audience, they don’t plan to follow in their countrymen’s footsteps.

“Because of their popularity, they’ve sort of paved the way. In the one way, they’ve done us a great favor,” Ni Mhaonaigh said. She added, though, “We’re kind of adamant about not diluting our music.”

That’s not to say the group’s members don’t appreciate other musical forms.

“I appreciate every kind of music,” said Ni Mhaonaigh, adding that the first album she ever bought was “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie. “The band as a whole listens to every kind of music--blues, jazz.”

But when it comes to playing, they believe in sticking to what they do best--and that’s exposing the music of County Donegal.

“I wouldn’t say we’re on a crusade or anything like that,” Ni Mhaonaigh said. “It’s just like playing Chicago blues or Delta blues. It can’t take away from the tradition. It can only enhance it.”