Irish musician Dónal Lunny dies aged 79

Irish musician Dónal Lunny, a leading figure in the revival of traditional Irish music and a founding member of Planxty, The Bothy Band and Moving Hearts, has died aged 79, BBC News reports.

Lunny helped reshape traditional music through his playing, production and compositions. With Planxty, which he formed with Christy Moore, Liam O’Flynn and Andy Irvine, he played bouzouki, guitar, keyboards and bodhrán. The group recorded three albums between 1971 and 1973.

He founded Mulligan Records in 1973 and later produced 17 albums for the label. He joined The Bothy Band in 1975, and went on to work with contemporary artists including Kate Bush, Rod Stewart, Elvis Costello, Clannad and Mark Knopfler.

Lunny and composer Bill Whelan created *Timedance*, an interval suite for the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest in Ireland. Whelan later built on that work for the 1994 contest; the interval performance developed into *Riverdance*.

Lunny also produced and served as musical director of the 1992 television series *Bringing It All Back Home*, composed film scores and received lifetime achievement awards at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2018 and the RTÉ Radio 1 Irish Folk Awards last year.

Musician and composer Neil Martin, a longtime collaborator, described Lunny’s death as a “huge” loss and called him an “extraordinary figure”. The Irish Traditional Music Archive said his influence was “immense” and that he had opened “new harmonic and rhythmic possibilities”.

One of Lunny’s last public appearances was a performance at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Belfast in August. He is survived by his partner, Una O’Boyle, and children including Oisín, Cora Venus and Sora Chan.