His reputation was enhanced by a successful collaboration with master fiddler Kevin Burke, and his work with the Celtic groups Relativity and Nightnoise, which achieved significant commercial and critical acclaim.

In Donegal, Mícheál spent time with his aunt Neilí, a renowned singer who had a vast repertoire of Irish and English songs.

Mícheál, his two sisters, Maighréad and Tríona, and two brothers, Éamon and Conall, inherited a deep love and understanding of Irish culture from their parents.

[3] During these summers in Donegal, Mícheál and his siblings spent time with their aunt Neilí, a renowned singer who had a vast repertoire of Irish and English songs.

"[5] In the late 1960s, Mícheál and his sister Tríona began attending University College Dublin, where they met up with singer-guitarist Dáithi Sproule (future member of Altan) from Derry.

[3] In the summer of 1970, Mícheál and Dáithi performed as the house band at Teach Hiudaí Beag in Gaoth Dobhair (Gweedore), Donegal.

In 1973, while playing the club circuit in Ireland and still a student at University College Dublin, Ó Domhnaill met Mick Hanly, a Limerick-born singer, guitarist, and dulcimer player, and soon the two formed a duo called Monroe.

During this time, Brittany was enjoying a major folk revival, with artists like Alan Stivell, Tri Yann, and Sonnerien Du just emerging onto the scene.

[1] After graduating from the University College Dublin in 1973 with a degree in Celtic Studies, he took a position with the Irish Folklore Commission collecting songs in Donegal.

He played regularly at the Tabairne Hiudai Beag's and spent long hours with his aunt Neilí, learning and documented over 200 traditional songs she had collected and been singing for years.

[10] In 1974, when he was just twenty two years old, Mícheál became the first presenter of the RTÉ radio program The Long Note, which featured Irish traditional musicians, many of whom had never previously been recorded.

[1] In late 1974, Ó Domhnaill co-founded the very popular group The Bothy Band, along with Matt Molloy (flute and tin whistle), Paddy Keenan (uilleann pipes and tin whistle), Dónal Lunny (bouzouki, guitar, and production), Paddy Glackin (fiddle), and his sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (harpsichord, clavinet and vocals).

[11] Upon the dissolution of the Bothy Band, Ó Domhnaill and fiddler Kevin Burke formed a duo and recorded the album Promenade (1979).

[9] In contrast to the "propulsive power and bracing brinkmanship" produced by the Bothy Band, the duo set off on a different musical path that one reviewer from the Irish Echo called "soulful finesse".

[10] Ó Domhnaill's guitar playing and Burke's Sligo-style Irish fiddling achieved a "relaxed vitality" through "compelling melodies, pulsing Sligo rhythms, intricate variations, and vocal perfection".

[10] In 1982, they released their second album, Portland, on Green Linnet Records, which was received with equal enthusiasm by Irish traditional music critics.

Reviewers singled out the "tender, baring passion" of Ó Domhnaill's voice in his renditions of "Eirigh a Shiuir" and "Aird Ui Chumhaing".

His acoustic guitar playing was, like himself, unobtrusive yet intense, focused on gimmick-free impact and ever-mindful that it must support, not supplant, Burke's melodic fiddling.

[9]While touring in Portland, Oregon in 1980, Ó Domhnaill met a young American woman, Peg Johnson, and the two soon began a romantic relationship.

The album represented a real departure from Ó Domhnaill's Bothy Band roots, and the mellow, ambient instrumental style incorporating jazz and classical elements and forms full of spirituality almost defined what would be called New Age music.

[14] These albums received significant commercial and critical acclaim, and helped the group develop an impressive reputation touring the United States, Japan, and Europe.

[13] In an interview with Echoes, Ó Domhnaill spoke of the prevailing influence of his Irish heritage in the new music he was creating: We were pretty handcuffed and anchored by the tradition so we could still write music outside of the strictures of 6/8 time or 4/4 time, but they couldn't but sound Celtic because I'm Irish and whatever I write would have elements of the sum total of the listener experience I've had throughout my life.

The revamped Nightnoise went on to release the albums Shadow of Time (1994), A Different Shore (1995), and The White Horse Sessions (1997),[15] an album featuring three live concert performances from Málaga, Spain in 1995, and in-studio live performances recorded in the White Horse Studies in Portland,[16] with their Windham Hill colleagues as their audience.

In 2001, he teamed up with his close friend Paddy Glackin, the original Bothy Band fiddle player, and together they toured and recorded the album Athchuairt.

[17] On 11 July, a wake was held at the home of his sister Maighread and the following day a requiem Mass was said for Mícheál at the Church of the Holy Cross in Dundrum.

[9] The funeral was attended by numerous musicians from across Ireland, including the remaining members of The Bothy Band, piper Liam O'Flynn, accordion player Tony MacMahon, and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh.

"[19] On 24 May 2007, a remarkable gathering of Irish traditional musicians and singers came together at Vicar Street in Dublin to celebrate the life and music of Mícheál Ó Domhnaill.

[20] With Skara Brae With Mick Hanly With The Bothy Band With Kevin Burke With Billy Oskay With Relativity With Nightnoise With Paddy Glackin With other artists Compilation albums