Hello All - I have seen the term “nyah” bandied about in several threads.
I get the general sense that it means something to the effect of the “feel” or “aire” of the music being played.
But, I’ve done a search on the forums and even gone to several on-line celtic language translators and have yet to find anything definitive on the subject.
Help appreciated.
LEE
Not necessarily so easy to define as demontrate.
Plenty of “nyah” here, especially in the first tune:
It means talent.
Actually, no, it doesn’t. It’s a quality in the playing. When some one says “s/he’s got (the) nyaah”, what’s being referred to is not talent per se, although no doubt talent will play its part.
More “nyah”:
It is more a style of playing, the “lift”, “lilt” or “swing” (choose your favourite adjective) that sets Irish trad music apart from others, gives it life, sets the room to dancing, makes you want to jump up out of your wheelchair, regrow your hair, etc.
djm
The trad equivalent of “soul” or “groove” in jazz or blues, that comes out in the “lift” and spirit of one’s playing.
That gutsy upsliding into a note has a lot to do with it, too. Also, really digging in to a note for sonority.
Take my diddly of “Farewell to Erin”, for example:
NYAAH de Dum deedle Diddly-idle eedle-idle NYAAH de Dum diddly Up-a-dydle eedle um.
Like that. 
Can a banjo have “nyah” at all?
'bout as much as cow bell 
Heh. Although on further reflection, I must say that I once heard a kitchen recording of a woman playing a reel on banjo that came pretty darned close to the “nyah” factor. It was dark, deliberate, inexorable, and, surprising to me, full of emotion. Sheer mastery. I’d never heard a banjo played quite so…um…thoroughly, before. Quite the eye-opener, it was.
So yeah, in the right hands, I’d say it’s possible.
I saw this term being used by Paddy Moloney in annotations to Chieftains’ 5th (?) album, describing some Derek Bell’s ornamentations in “Tiompan Reel”
When you’ll get your nyah, i think, you’ll notice it=))
Nyah is notes that make you stretch your neck when playing or listening - bending notes or perfect phrasing. Key or mode changes also give a lot of nyah.
In my book, Tiarnan Ó Duinnchinn has to be the current king of nyah.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8blbyNHgpO8&feature=related
Mukade
Or “duende” in Flamenco, “sodade” in Fado, etc.
~~
Literally, it’s an onomatepoeic term for sliding into a note; one of many ways that ITM has of accentuating important notes. Figuratively, it’s a term describing the property of music (or the player) in which the important notes have been identified and accentuated correctly, adding immensely to the emotional impact of the preformance.
Yep. Well put. Thanks. I also think Mukade’s mention of key changes contributing to “nyah” has merit, too. Also, “odd” notes, such as the Fnat as often played in An Buachaill Dreoite, have the potential for “nyah”, but it’s all in the playing. A MIDI file won’t have it even if the notes are there.
It’s not just one thing. But when you hear it, you know it.
“NYAH” = the opposite of “BLAH.”
Ahhhhh…so, it’s basically when one opens up their ITM can-of-whoopass
That may not be so different from a toddler with a loaded gun, in some cases, so I have to say I have some reservations about your colorful analogy. 
Indeed. A constant barrage of whoopass can get monotonous after a while, too.
On this page
http://www.tastytouches.com/pressrelease.html
In the last article, which seems to be authored by Sinead Hogan, she was writing about Martin Donohoe and the Nyah festival in Cavan, and mentioned this as a definition for nyah-
(an old Irish word meaning lift or soul in music)
That’s the only place I’ve ever seen it in writing but its as MTGuru says of course. 
Hey, I got it right! A lucky guess!