Méav Ní Mhaolchatha never imagined that music could take her this far. “Ire… Read Full Bio ↴Méav Ní Mhaolchatha never imagined that music could take her this far. “Ireland has changed a lot in the few years since I graduated from university” she says. “There was no sign of the Celtic Tiger and I presumed that music for me would simply be a passionate hobby”.

Instead she has surpassed all of her dreams. Méav has toured the world as sole vocalist with the RTE Concert Orchestra, as a principal soloist with the Celtic Choral group Anuna, as Erin the Goddess in Lord of the Dance, in the London and Dublin productions of Riverdance and as a soloist with the Irish National Chamber Choir. She has headlined a festival as part of the Korean World Cup celebrations, performed at a prestigious Celtic Festival in Tokyo and sang in the Beo Festival of Irish Music at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. She has also recorded two solo albums which have been very successful worldwide and particularly in the USA, Japan and South Korea. In the last twelve months, Meav has also received two gold discs as one of the five featured soloists in ‘Celtic Woman’, whose highly successful DVD and CD released by EMI topped the World Music Charts for over a year. Meav’s solo compilation album Celtic Journey also debuted in the Billboard World Music top ten on its release in February.

Méav was raised in a home steeped in classical and Irish traditional music and she studied singing, harp and piano from an early age. “Music was just a natural part of my life growing up, but I wasn’t always sure I wanted to pursue it as a career” she says. Méav followed in her brother’s footsteps and went to law school at Trinity College Dublin. The flexible timetable also left a lot of time for singing with various musical groups and ever since graduating from law school, the music has been gradually taking over.

Méav is best known for her classical and traditional singing, but she cites a broad range of musical influences, among them Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. “I think they’re amazing,” she explains, “because of how they tell a story.” As a fluent Gaelic-speaker, Meav’s other major influence has been traditional Gaelic music which she learned from her Gaelic-speaking father and her school where she was educated in Gaelic.

She gained valuable experience while working with Ireland’s two most prestigious choirs, Anuna and the National Chamber Choir – Ireland’s only full-time professional choir. Through Anuna she had the opportunity to perform with a wide variety of performers including Elvis Costello, Brian Kennedy and The Chieftains. “There’s always a bit of excitement about working with someone who comes from a different style,” she says. “I suppose you just bring whatever you have to the table and see what comes out of it.

This blending of styles is part of what excites her about the Celtic Woman project. “In Ireland, I’m considered between two different styles. There has always been a divide between the traditional and the classical musical scenes but I felt comfortable enough in both because that’s where my family came from. I was delighted when Sharon Browne of Celtic Collections and David Downes came up with the idea of Celtic Woman because it seemed to combine those two elements by taking songs; some traditional and some contemporary, and giving them an orchestral treatment. It sounded like a good fit for me and I was pleased that they brought singers of different styles together.”

Some of the songs that Méav sings in the show are standards, such as ‘Danny Boy’. It can be challenging to perform these standards in a new way. “You have to sing it as if you’ve never sung it before and as if the people who are listening have never heard it before,” Méav explains. “I was lucky that our arrangement was deceptively simple which brought out the feeling of the song. You hear a song so often it can switch you off, but I think the melody of Danny Boy is so lovely that it’s worth doing - even though we’ve all heard it a hundred times in Irish bars across the world,” she laughs. “It’s a question of stripping it back to its essence and trying to find what it was that made it appealing to people in the first place.”

One aspect of her career that has surprised Méav has been her success in Asia where her singing falls into a category called ‘Healing Music.’ “I suspect that people leading an increasingly urban life want to go back to a simpler style of music. In the States, the romantic idea of Ireland is certainly part of the appeal,” she continues. “Even though the place that they’re thinking of may be fast disappearing in modern Ireland, it’s still part of our folk memory. Everybody has a desire to escape to somewhere in their mind that is simpler and slower-paced. Also, the songs are about universal themes. You don’t have to be Irish to make that connection.”

As she always has, Méav continues to draw on the influences around her as she progresses through her own career. The opportunity to sing with an orchestra in “Celtic Woman” has made her want to use lusher orchestrations in her solo work and she wants to continue singing a repertoire rich in both contemporary and traditional pieces.

2005 was a momentous year for Meav in more ways than one and she is delighted to be back on tour with Celtic Woman after spending the first year at home with her new baby daughter. “Music is part of what I am” she says “and it’s a thrill to be performing again for our loyal fans”.
More information about Méav can be obtained on her website www.meav.com.

Away In a Manger
Meav Ni Mhaolchatha Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Away in a manger,
No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head

The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus

Asleep on the hay

The cattle are lowing
The Baby awakes
A little Lord Jesus
No crying He makes

I love Thee, Lord Jesus
Look down from the sky
And stay by my side,
'Til morning is nigh.

Be near me, Lord Jesus,
I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever
And love me I pray

Bless all the dear children
In Thy tender care

And take us to heaven
To live with Thee there

Overall Meaning

The song "Away In A Manger" has become a Christmas classic, often sung in schools, churches, and homes during the season. This traditional Christmas carol sets a peaceful and tranquil mood, with its gentle and soothing melody. The first verse recalls the birth of Jesus as told in the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament. Mary and Joseph, travelers from Nazareth, arrived in Bethlehem and found no room in the inn. As a result, they laid the newborn in a manger, or feeding trough, meant for animals. Despite the humble surroundings, the baby Jesus was greeted by angels and shepherds, who witnessed his birth. In the song, the second verse notes how the stars shining in the sky marked the location of the manger where the baby lay. The image of the Holy Family with Jesus lying in a manger surrounded by the light of the stars is a powerful one. The third verse is full of childlike wonder, featuring a peaceful and contented baby Jesus, who does not cry. This imagery conjures up the infant as divine, holy and pure, while also portraying a human child that any parent would love to have. The fourth verse is a personal prayer from the singer, expressing the love and closeness they feel with Jesus. The fifth verse extends this prayer to others, especially children, asking Jesus to bless and protect them. The song closes with a request to be brought to heaven, to live with Jesus forever.

Line by Line Meaning

Away in a manger,
In a stable for animals far away, unseen,

No crib for His bed
There was no ornamental bed suitable for the Lord Jesus,

The little Lord Jesus
The small Lord Jesus,

Laid down His sweet head
He placed His head gently and comfortably to sleep,

The stars in the bright sky
The gleaming stars high above,

Looked down where He lay
Watched over Him where He rested,

The little Lord Jesus
The small Lord Jesus,

Asleep on the hay
Slept peacefully on the bed of grass used for animals,

The cattle are lowing
The cows are making soft moaning sounds,

The Baby awakes
The infant wakes up,

A little Lord Jesus
A small Lord Jesus,