{"id":235092,"date":"2026-04-17T15:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/moya-brennan-remembered-as-first-lady-of-celtic-music-at-funeral\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:00:10","slug":"moya-brennan-remembered-as-first-lady-of-celtic-music-at-funeral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/17\/moya-brennan-remembered-as-first-lady-of-celtic-music-at-funeral\/","title":{"rendered":"Moya Brennan remembered as 'First Lady of Celtic music' at funeral"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Moya Brennan has been remembered as the \u201cFirst Lady of Celtic music\u201d \u2013\u00a0with mourners told \u201cshe may be gone, but the voice will remain\u201d as she was laid to rest in her native Donegal.<\/p>\n

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Moya Brennan has been remembered as the \u2018First Lady of Celtic music\u2019 \u2013\u00a0with mourners told \u2018she may be gone, but the voice will remain\u2019 as she was laid to rest in her native Donegal<\/p>\n

The musician and songwriter who performed with the Grammy award-winning group Clannad, died peacefully earlier this week aged 73, and her farewell took place on Friday (17.04.26) at St Patrick\u2019s Church in Meenaweal, Crolly, attended by family, friends and prominent figures from music and public life. <\/p>\n

Among those present were members of U2 \u2013 Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton<\/a> and Larry Mullen Jr, 64 \u2013 alongside Daniel O\u2019Donnell and his wife Majella O\u2019Donnell, as well as Andrea Corr. <\/p>\n

Moya\u2019s sister, Enya also attended. <\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s president, Catherine Connolly and taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin were represented at the service.<\/p>\n

\nFather Brian O Fearraig led the funeral, telling mourners that, following Moya\u2019s death, \u201ca sacred silence descended for a while\u201d. <\/p>\n

\nHe said: \u201cIn these past few days, grace and grief, stood side by side, embraced and danced to the beautiful music, as memories were shared through tears of sadness and sorrow and tears of joy and gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nA guard of honour formed outside the church included local primary school pupils, a musical marching band and community centre staff. <\/p>\n

\nAs the coffin entered, the song Peacemakers, featuring the voice of Moya\u2019s son Paul as a child, was played. <\/p>\n

\nPersonal items placed at the altar included her harp, a lanyard from her final performance and a Donegal GAA jersey.<\/p>\n

\nFr Brian added: \u201cShe knew that her gift was from God, and she used that gift faithfully and well, allowing her voice and harp to harmonise and become instruments of beauty, peace, and blessing for the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

\nHe also said: \u201cIt has been said that, through her voice and her gifted playing of the harp, Maire carried the rugged beauty, that quiet strength, the ancient timeless mystery, and rich soul of Donegal to audiences right across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nQuoting fellow musician Mair\u00e9ad N\u00ed Mhaonaigh, he added: \u201cShe may be gone, but the voice will remain.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nMaya\u2019s reclusive sister Enya shielded her eyes behind sunglasses at the service.<\/p>\n

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17 April 2026 Moya Brennan has been remembered as the \u201cFirst Lady of Celtic music\u201d \u2013\u00a0with mourners told \u201cshe may be gone, but the voice will remain\u201d as she was laid to rest in her native Donegal. Moya Brennan has been remembered as the \u2018First Lady of Celtic music\u2019 \u2013\u00a0with mourners told \u2018she may be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":235093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7726,14850,5869,14853,14852,14857,5295,14851,14856,10151,14854,14849,13098,14847,14855,14848],"class_list":{"0":"post-235092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-adam-clayton","9":"tag-andrea-corr","10":"tag-bono","11":"tag-brian-o-fearraig","12":"tag-catherine-connolly","13":"tag-celtic-music-artists","14":"tag-daniel-odonnell","15":"tag-enya","16":"tag-irish-musicians","17":"tag-larry-mullen-jr","18":"tag-mairead-ni-mhaonaigh","19":"tag-majella-odonnell","20":"tag-micheal-martin","21":"tag-moya-brennan","22":"tag-paul-brennan","23":"tag-the-edge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}