Every week we take a look in the RTÉ Guide archive, finding out what made its glossy pages in years gone by. This week, we're taking a closer look at one of the ads that graced its pages.
The legendary Clannad frontwoman Moya Brennan died last week. Forty years ago this week, she appeared in an ad in the RTÉ Guide singing the praises of her favourite pint. Dressed in black and leaning against a juke box, the harpist and singer declares, "I'm often asked how it feels to be the only girl in an all male band. Well, the short answer is - it feels great, so long as the band is Clannad!"
In fact, more of the ad text was devoted to Brennan's music than her favourite tipple. "Basically, we're all pretty easy-going people so there's very little friction between us," she's quoted as saying. "Of course, being family helps. And the fact that were all into the same kinds of music - in different ways, true, but that's what makes the band so good to play with. There's a terrific creative buzz, a curiosity about what we're going to do next. Clannad have never gone in for formula music, if you know what I mean. We want to make it new, original, something unique to us and us alone. It's really a process of discovery, of pushing back the limits. And everyone has something to contribute: there's no room for "shapers' or prima donnas in this band!"
Brennan's family owned a pub, so perhaps her particpation in this ad shouldn't be surprising. "When I was growing up in Donegal, more or less everyone drank Guinness," she says in the ad. "So I suppose I was bound to try it myself sooner or later. I must say I was a bit cautious at first, not knowing what to expect. But it didn't take me long to lose my shyness! ... One way or another, Guinness is just my kind of drink. And that's the way it's going to stay."
Moya Brennan died on April 13th 2026, at the age of 73.
