Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh

Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh (pronounced [ˈʃoːɾˠʃə]; born 17 June 1946) is an Irish singer, guitarist, composer, record producer, painter, writer, and publisher.

Story-telling, folklore, and history was transmitted through his father George O'Doherty (the name is an anglicization of his own), while music, and particularly singing, was passed on by his mother, Bridget (née Toner) who hailed from County Armagh.

Ó Dochartaigh has taught art full-time in a number of places including Crossmaglen, County Armagh (1971–5); St Louise's Comprehensive College, Belfast (1975–7); and Scoil na Mainistreach (Abbey Vocational School), Donegal town (1977–2001).

The first of Ó Dochartaigh's studio recordings, Slán agus Beannacht (1988) received moderate airplay in Ireland, Germany, and the United States, with encouraging reviews.

About the album Bláth Buí (1992) a critic remarked that his voice had "the uncanny ability to tap the essence of a traditional song while investing it with new spirit and, at times, a good bit of fun.

Nuala O'Connor in The Irish Times, described them as "a confident, imaginative reworking of traditional songs, some well-known, others local to Ó Dochartaigh's home in the Donegal Gaeltacht.

He is attracted by the local landscape and its flora: his paintings are replete with heather, fern, gorse, blackthorn blossom, bog cotton, in a multi-coloured abstracted form.

[14] A 2008 exhibition at Fort Dunree, County Donegal, is his artistic response to the Ten New Songs album by Leonard Cohen, expressing his belief "that feelings can be transcribed into colours to reveal the human condition".