Mac Innaighneorach is one of the earliest recorded Irish professional musicians. The
Annals of the Four Masters call him the chief
ollamh of Ireland in harp-playing but provide no other details of his life.
The existence of his
obituary is thought to denote his profession's newly acquired respectability, as there are very few direct references to professional musicians in Ireland prior to his lifetime. Nevertheless, musicians would never hold the same esteem as
poets,
lawyers and
historians in
Gaelic culture.
Ann Buckley: "Musical Instruments in Ireland 9th–14th Centuries: A Review of the Organological Evidence", in: Musicology in Ireland (= Irish Musical Studies vol. 1), ed. G. Gillen & H. White (Blackrock, Co. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1990), pp. 13–57.
Ann Buckley: "Music and Musicians in Medieval Irish Society", in: Early Music 28 (2000) 2, pp. 165–190.
Ann Buckley: "Music in Prehistoric and Medieval Ireland", in: A New History of Ireland vol. 1, ed. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 744–813.