b. New York, USA. MacKenzie began training as a concert pianist at the age of four, before her introduction to Gaelic music via the field recordings album, Heather And Glen. After graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with a degree in music history/ethnomusicology, she developed a course at Harvard University titled "Structure and Form in Music and Movement". She released an album with Boston-Irish group St. James Gate in 1985 and recorded her first solo album the following year. Shantyman, a collection of traditional maritime songs, was informed by her performances on square-rigged ships in the Boston harbour. In 1987 she moved to Scotland and enrolled on a course of Gaelic music and language studies at Edinburgh University, touring as a dancer and musician with the folk ensemble Drumalban. In 1988 she joined computer-programmer Martin Swan to form Mouth Music, the groundbreaking group fusing modern technology with the traditional Gaelic singing which gave them their name. However, despite critical acclaim she left that group when her partnership with Swan broke down. MacKenzie launched her debut solo album in 1993. Producers Iain McKinna and Chris Burkitt (best known for his work with Buffy Saint-Marie and Sinead O'Connor) provided the music, though this was downplayed to leave MacKenzie's voice centre stage. This was not singing as such, but the use of the voice as instrument, moving from percussion to harmony and melody, imbuing each phrase with a wide range of shading not restricted to the framing of words. As well as original compositions ranging from the unaccompanied "E H¢ Hi" to the spiritual "Uamh An Oir', MacKenzie also revisited material from her time with Mouth Music. The album was funded by the Arts Council as part of Riverboat Records" Women Of The World series, though given adequate airplay and distribution there was no reason why it could not have prospered in a purely commercial environment. MacKenzie was subsequently profiled in Lucy O'Brien's book She Bop in a chapter addressing "Women In World Music", and toured Europe with her own band.

Listen to Talitha Mackenzie at Finetune.

• (1996)  Spiorad (Spirit)

• Theid Mi Dhachaigh
• Fear A' Bhata
• Fair - Shoulders
• Fill Iu O
• The Boatman

• Loreena McKennitt
• Capercaillie
• Clannad
• Altan
• Mary Black
• Enya
• Natalie MacMaster
• Solas
• Arcady
• The Belfast Harp Orchestra
• Seamus Egan
• The Irish Philharmonia
• Noirin Ni Riain
• Mary Jane Lamond
• Cathie Ryan
• Dagda
• Karan Casey
• Nightnoise
• Shanon
• Dick Gaughan

• jbsnow
• mdlowry
• nhborn57
• midnightsymphony