A week after the world said goodbye to Moya Brennan, her daughter Aisling has paid tribute to her as “an absolute icon”.
Aisling Jarvis, a guitarist, vocalist and producer, has proudly shared many stages with her mother throughout the years.
She said she counts herself blessed to have toured with her mother and the family band Clannad, and said the outpouring of love for Moya, from all four corners of the world, made her “so unbelievably proud to be her daughter”.
“What has struck me most is that while she was known for her voice and her music, every single person I spoke to or read a tribute from talked about how kind, generous, and humble she was,” wrote Aisling.
“It was her character that people remembered. And it made me so happy to know that people saw her the way I always did. She was an absolute icon, but she saw every single person on earth as her equal. And that was how she always wanted to be seen, as kind.”
Moya (née Máire Ní Bhraonáin) passed away on Monday 13th April following a period of illness. She had been living with a lung condition called pulmonary fibrosis for a number of years.
Aisling said the family’s precious final weeks together became some of the most difficult, but also most meaningful, moments of her life.
“Getting to spend time with Mum with no other priorities or agendas, just being together as a family, talking, laughing, singing, it was nothing short of magical,” she said.
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“She was an incredible Mum, born to be a typical irish mammy I would say, and an amazing Granny to Eden. She did everything in her power to provide and look after all of us,” Aisling adds.
Moya Brennan and husband Tom Jarvis with daughter Aisling and son Paul, as she was announced as the Donegal Person of The Year 2023. Photo by Eoin Mc Garvey
Thanking all those who wrote about Moya, celebrated her life and came to the wake and funeral, Aisling said the family had been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love over the past week.
She said Moya herself could never have imagined the scale of the reaction, but that it was “absolutely what she deserved”.
Aisling added that while she will miss her mother so much, she still feels her energy with her and believes “she won’t ever truly be gone”.
Moya Brennan was laid to rest in Magheragallon Cemetery on Friday 17th April, following a Funeral Mass full of powerful music and words in honour of a woman who brought joy and inspiration to so many.