Bush Foundation Fellowships

Dáithí Sproule

2009 Bush Artist Fellowship
Minnesota
www.daithisproule.com

Career Field: Traditional and Ethnic Performing Arts
Secondary Field: Music

Dáithí Sproule (West Saint Paul, MN) is a traditional Irish singer, guitarist and teacher, originally from Derry in the North of Ireland and a resident of the Twin Cities for most of the last 30 years. He has recorded and performed with many of the greats of Irish traditional music including Liz Carroll, Tommy Peoples, the Chieftains, Paddy O’Brien, James Kelly, Randal Bays and James Keane, and the Ó Domhnaill family of Kells and Donegal. He tours all over the world with the Irish band Altan, as well as playing nearer home in Minnesota with such musicians as Laura MacKenzie, Ross Sutter and Peter Ostroushko. Sproule’s compositions have been recorded by the Bothy Band, Liz Carroll and Aoife Clancy, among others. He is a scholar of Gaelic and Celtic culture, and has published articles on early Irish history, mythology and poetry, as well as a volume of short stories in the Irish language.