Brian Ó hAirt (Portland) is a master musician, singer, and dancer from the Irish tradition. He is deeply involved in the preservation of Irish cultural practices and especially the Irish Gaelic language. He attended university and was mentored by tradition bearers in Ireland before moving to Oregon to work as a community educator and organizer around cultural practice and language. Since 2006 he has facilitated workshops throughout North America at various cultural gatherings, festivals, summer schools, and weekend Irish Gaelic language intensives.
Bio
Brian Ó hAirt (Portland) was exposed to the Irish language in his early teens through listening to public radio in Saint Louis, Missouri where he was born. As a result, he began exploring the rich musical traditions of Ireland in the urban communities of the Great Lakes and lower Midwest. This newfound diligence led him to explore his own family's ties to Ireland via Appalachia and the upper Ohio regions, which saw Irish and Ulster Scots arrive as settlers as a result of displacement caused by the colonization and subsequent plantation of Ireland. As a young adult he began building a relationship with Áine Nic Dhonncha, a native Irish speaker and singer from Cinn Mhara, County Galway living in Chicago, Illinois. He learned much of her repertoire, which elevated his language and singing skills considerably, earning them the distinction as the first American and youngest singer to win the All-Ireland traditional singing title at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2002. Thereafter, he had the great fortune of being mentored by celebrated singers, Eilís Ní Shúilleabháin from Cúil Aodha, County Cork, and Len Graham from Glen Arm, County Antrim, with whom he toured and recorded for well over a decade. Ó hAirt has earned several academic degrees and has spent considerable amounts of time living in some of Ireland’s richest cultural communities. After returning to the U.S. he moved to Portland, Oregon in 2009 as a musician and language educator and has since focused on enriching the Irish cultural communities of the Pacific Northwest through ongoing cultural programming, collaborative performances, and language activism.
