Saileog Ní Cheannabháin is a musician, singer and composer. A native Irish speaker (Connemara dialect, Iorras Aithneach), who grew up in Dublin, her sean-nós singing style is mainly influenced by singers from Iorras Aithneach in the Connemara Gaeltacht, where she spent a lot of time over the years. Her father Peadar is a sean nós singer from Aill na Brún, Iorras Aithneach, her mother Úna Lawlor (a fluent Irish speaker) is a classical violinist and her siblings Eoghan and Muireann are also singers and musicians.
She plays Irish traditional music on fiddle, piano and viola, having taken fiddle lessons from various teachers at Craobh Naithí CCÉ and at the Willie Clancy Summer School and Joe Mooney Summer School at a young age.
Saileog also studied classical piano for over twelve years at
DIT College of Music (now called TU Dublin Conservatoire), mainly with Shirin Goudarzi-Tobin.
She continued to take piano lessons at University College Cork, with Andrew Zolinsky and Tra Nguyen.
Her traditional piano playing is self taught, with many influences from various traditional instruments and approaches.
She has been playing viola since 2010, as a result of a viola being given to her mother Úna by cellist, luthier and family friend Peter Healy (R.I.P. 2016).
Saileog studied many genres of music and explored various approaches to music during her time at UCC - academically, with regard to composition, and in a performance context.
Having graduated with a BMus (2009), UCC awarded her the Seán Ó Riada Prize, for a study of the Songs and Singers of Iorras Aithneach.
She has performed at various festivals and venues in Ireland, France, Scotland, Wales, England and Italy, and has also featured on music programmes for TG4, Raidió na Gaeltachta, Lyric Fm, RTÉ Radio 1, BBC Alba, and BBC Northern Ireland (forthcoming in 2024).
In 2012, Saileog released her first album, I bhfíor-dheiriú oidhche, which consists of sean nós songs which she learned from Seamus Ennis' collection, from various singers in Iorras Aithneach, Connemara. The songs were collected in the early 1940s, and are a combination of songs that are no longer sung and unusual versions of more well known songs, chosen from the collection.
Saileog also features as a guest on Ensemble Ériu's debut album (2011), on the Tunes in the Church compilation album (2013) and on the Rogha Raelach Volume 1 compilation (November 2020).
In 2014, she did archival research work for the project Amhráin Ó Iorrus, a compilation album of songs from Erris, North Mayo, which were collected at the beginning of the last century from emigrants from Erris who were based in Chicago. The project was initiated by Séamas Ó Mongáin and Síle Uí Mhongáin.
Saileog's second album is Roithleán (released October 2016), an album of Irish traditional music and sean nós songs, produced by Jack Talty, and released on the Raelach Records label. The recording also includes some of her own tune compositions. It features solo piano, fiddle, viola, and sean nós singing, as well as tracks with guest musicians Muireann Ní Cheannabháin, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Jack Talty, Marie McHugh, Tim McHugh and Eoin Ó Beaglaoich.
Roithleán was awarded Albam Thraidisiúnta na Bliana - Traditional Album of the Year by Nós Iris (Nós Magazine) in 2018.
Saileog also recorded a track for the 2020 Rogha Raelach Volume 1 compilation.
Saileog has taught classical and traditional piano, traditional Irish fiddle and sean nós singing since 2009. She has also taught privately and has given occasional workshops at traditional music festivals since 2010.
Saileog participated in an outdoor production of Shakespeare's The Tempest, singing and playing music for St. John's Mill Theatre Company, Co. Kerry, in 2013.
She sang as part of a dance performance called The Wake, choreographed by Sarah Dowling, for the Dublin Dance Festival in 2012.
In the summer of 2018, she composed, arranged and performed original music, in collaboration with Maitiú Ó Casaide, for the play Baoite, written and directed by Darach Mac Con Iomaire. Some of the music was composed between both musicians, and other parts in collaboration with sound designer Steve Lynch. Baoite was commissioned by the Abbey Theatre, and performed for ten days in An Taibhdhearc, as part of the Galway International Arts Festival 2018. In 2019, the play was commissioned by the Abbey Theatre and performed again for several nights in the Peacock Theatre, Dublin.
In February 2020, Saileog participated in Úna Monaghan's Aonaracht 1 project at the National Concert Hall in Dublin, performing a piece for piano and electronics. The piece features on Úna's 2023 album, Aonaracht.
Saileog was 2021 sean nós singer in residence at NUI Galway, at the invitation of NUIG. Due to pandemic restrictions at the time, all the singing classes were held on Zoom, and in person concerts were not organised, as they had been in the past.
However, the classes were attended by people both within Ireland and in other countries, and were held weekly for several months.
One of Saileog’s most long term projects was arranging sean nós songs from Connemara and Rinn Ó gCuanach, as part of a trio with Ailbhe Nic Dhonncha from Rinn Ó gCuanach, Co. Waterford, and uilleann piper Pádraic Keane from Oranmore, Co. Galway. Between 2017 and 2019, they performed at various events and venues, including Féile Traidphicnic, Féile Nioclás Tóibín and The Cobblestone venue.
From the end of 2021 - mid 2023, they worked on more arrangements, some of which were recorded independently.
The trio recorded with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in 2022. Saileog arranged string parts for two sean nós songs, to be performed for a St. Patrick's Day programme. The recordings for this programme can be listened to in the audio and video section of this website, as well as several other audio and video recordings of the trio.
She is currently working on some new solo compositions, to be released on another album.