Winner of Gradam Ceoil TG4 2025’s Musician of the Year Clare fiddle player Siobhán Peoples says the honour has come as a “massive shock”.
Speaking to The Clare Champion she reveals that when she first heard a number of weeks ago she would be receiving the prestigious award, “I had palpitations for three days, it’s a huge honour”.
While the award is a prestigious distinction in itself, the Musician of the Year title has a particularly touching meaning for Siobhán as her late father, Tommy Peoples won the very first one back in 1998.
“He passed away in 2018 during lockdown, and I got to do a lot of grieving so I thought I had dealt with a lot of it. But not being able to ring him was a big thing when I found out,” she said.
“I was thinking, I’d love to be able to ring dad. It kind of brought it back a bit. It was poignant for a short moment. But I’m sure he is smiling away anyway.”
While this father–daughter win is a first for these awards, Siobhán tells us she believes it won’t be the last with plenty of families involved in traditional Irish music throughout the country.
Despite her many years of being immersed in traditional Irish music, including dedicating herself to teaching, playing a pivotal role in revitalising the Ennis Trad Festival and winning the MÓRglór award in 2023, the modest 53-year-old says she was surprised to be named Musician of the Year.
“It’s a shock because you always think you are younger than you are. Outside of not thinking you could be in line for this, definitely you think you are too young. I was chatting to Maighréad Ní Dhomhnaill, herself and [her sister] Tríona would have received plenty of awards in their time. She said to me, ‘You know you’re the older of the younger crowd now, and it’s a huge honour to be acknowledged’. And she was correct. But I do feel like I’m playing the Fleadh every time I take out the fiddle now because I feel I have to stand up to the mark.”
She continues, “There’s a bit of imposter syndrome I suppose, like, Jesus what am I doing. But I like playing traditional music. For us, it’s like eating your dinner. It’s just something I always did from a very young age and it’s a huge part of my life.”
Siobhán is now preparing for the upcoming award ceremony in University Concert Hall on May 4 which will be broadcast live on TG4 and worldwide via the TG4 Player.
With rehearsals and the ceremony itself that would already be an exceptionally busy weekend for her.
However, she will also be travelling to Galway for an event organised as part of Project Kenbiki 2025, which is backed by a number of high profile Irish musicians.
This research project is aimed at exploring if the ancient Japanese method Kenbiki can help with Focal Dystonia.
This neurological condition affects the muscle or groups of muscles in a specific part of the body during specific activities causing spasms and abnormal postures.
Siobhán herself has the condition which resulted in her having to adopt her signature style of playing with two fingers. She explains, “The condition is quite prominent in musicians. It causes a curling in the fingers so they curl down into the palm. I played most of my life with two fingers instead of the full four, which was another reason I was very surprised [about the award]. I was sure I can’t play because I have to work around it a lot.”
On May 3, Project Kenbiki 2025 will welcome to Galway Akinobu Oguchi and his team from Japan for a presentation and demonstration of the therapy.
And on the same day of the Gradam Ceoil awards ceremony Siobhán, along with Harry Bradley and Enda Scahill will be hosting a fundraising masterclasses for Project Kenbiki in Galway from 11am to 1.15pm in the Atlantic Centre of Education.
“I’ll be up and down from Galway to Limerick, so there is a lot of driving in my future,” she says.
Siobhán has been a dedicated tutor at the University of Limerick for over two decades and enjoys teaching throughout Ireland and Europe. Her commitment to education has inspired many musicians locally, nationally, and internationally.
She says that being “not really a career musician” is another reasons she was surprised to learn she had won the award. Siobhán isn’t the only Clare based winner in this year’s award with Dublin born Áine Hensey who lives in Miltown Malbay announced as recipient of the ‘Outstanding Contribution’ awardee.
Áine began her broadcasting work in 1979 with RTÉ Radio 2, followed by periods working with Radio 1 and Clare FM. She joined Raidió na Gaeltachta in 1995, where she produced and presented numerous programmes, most recently Binneas Béil and An Ghealach Ghorm. Beyond broadcasting, she has been involved in events such as Slógadh and Éigse Mrs Crotty and is currently co-director of Consairtín, the national concertina convention. She has also served as cathaoirleach of Gael Linn and is currently chairperson of the Irish Traditional Music Archive.
In 2012, she earned a PhD in early modern history from Maynooth University.
Siobhán has high praise for her fellow awardee saying, “She is an incredible woman who has done so much around traditional music in her lifetime.”
She recalls, “On Clare FM she started five nights a week of live traditional music shows, which people thought would never work, and it became the poster boy for other radio stations. She created a lot of exposure for traditional musicians that wasn’t there before because trad is very neglected in the mainstream in this country.
“I don’t know if it’s our genetic inheritance that we shy away from things Irish sometimes and think it is less than. But Áine did incredible work bringing that on, creating a place for people to perform, going in recording live performances. People that would never have been heard all were on Áine’s programme and this award is hugely deserved.”
Now in its 28th year, Gradam Ceoil TG4 continues to honour the absolute best in performance and cultural impact across seven categories.
The TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2025 Awards Concert takes place at the University Concert Hall Limerick on Sunday, May 4. Tickets are available from uch.ie. It will also be broadcast live on TG4 on the night from 9.30pm