One of the wonderful things about my job is that I get to wake up every morning and do stuff I love doing and get paid for it. But another cool thing about the way my career has been panning out is that every gig seems to be completely different from the last - accompanying exams, directing choirs, playing gigs with bands - and this leads to very exciting musical opportunities, something I love and something which keeps my musical life consistently interesting.
I've just come home from a week on the road with a project called Island Air, an exciting show celebrating the musical heritage of Inisbofin, an island off the Connemara coast in County Galway. The brainchild of this show was a young singer-songwriter from the island, Peadar King, who I've started working with as keyboardist in his band. When I started rehearsing with him and the rest of his band in May, there was only one gig booked but promises of more. There was talk of a tour in August with this week earmarked for it. He was applying for a grant from Music Network and, as time went by, he was advised that to add some sort of a conceptual slant to the show would aid his chances in getting the grant and his mind turned to an idea for a show that had been percolating in his head for a while - a mixture of singers from the island of Inisbofin where he lives, maybe concentrating on his music but also bringing in the other singers - Andrew Murray, Dessie O'Halloran, Luke Murray and others - to sing at specific places in the show.
He didn't get the grant but by this time, the show and the plans for it had taken a different turn and an unstoppable momentum had begun. Peadar's band - myself, Cormac Dunne, Tom Portman and Fergal Gallagher - were hired to be less Peadar's band and more a house band while more islanders were drafted in to appear in the show. A small tour heading home towards the island - Galway, Clifden, Inisbofin - was lined up and people nominated songs to sing and trad tunes to play that they were already familiar with.
The itinerary had to be changed due to difficulties with schedules but it worked out very well in that we ended up starting at home - Inisboffin. The feel of the show was that of a session and tunes were alternated with songs to allow for variety throughout the evening. The ages went from 7-year old dancers to Dessie O'Halloran (69, I believe). Peadar, Andrew Murray and his son Luke performed songs with the band and Dessie closed the show with a rousing finale but now young and old performed together, sometimes in small ensembles, sometimes solo, sometimes as part of the Inisbofin Ceili Band. For this first night, everybody who plays music on the island - 25 musicians - was featured and it was incredible to be part of the spectacle, not as an audience member but as someone welcomed into the community to participate in the occasion. Although we had done some rehearsal with Peadar on Tuesday, new songs and tunes were introduced to the band at the soundcheck - chords feverishly scribbled down while the singers sang - and then performed on the night, something I'm able to do but also always adds an extra bump of adrenaline to the proceedings, great fun ensuing when you try to remember a song you've been sung for the first time 2 hours ago and draw a complete blank. However, everybody else was on home turf and so was very comfortable and relaxed with the occasion. The mood was so relaxed in fact that the concert took something over 3 hours to get through and left everyone exhausted. It was a hugely positive bonding experience for band and performers, community and visitors, organisers and audience. After two days of rehearsal, i was tired too but very pleased to be there.
On Thursday, we got the ferry to Cleggan and set up camp in the wonderful Crane Bar in Galway. Some lessons were learnt about the running order (particularly with regard to length) and the list of performers was shortened, partly due to availability, partly due to the size of the stage. The set was sized down to 2 hours !!! Usually a venue that holds sessions, The Crane was perfect for the occasion - up-close and personal for all concerned and everybody absolutely focused on putting everything they had into the music. Dessie, who had very carefully selected songs which Peadar had rehearsed with the band, decided to play a completely different song and everybody mucked in to give him the backing he deserved. The young trad ensemble played their socks off, particularly Liam King who was particularly exciting to watch playing the accordion. The band tipped along occasionally with this music too when we felt we weren't going to be stepping on any toes but everybody was open to musical ideas. I don't consider myself a trad player but I was able to busk the chords too and enjoyed it - John O'Halloran's small-box Dance Of The Honeybees was a particular favourite of mine. The addition of the interval to the proceedings was welcomed and gave everybody a chance to draw breath and grab another pint.
The final night in the Station House Theatre in Cliden had a different feel again - an enthusiastic audience but more of a theatre feel which can often deaden the interaction between the performers and the audience. This gig was good too nevertheless and the crowd came with us finally - everyone onstage comfortable by now with the music and each other's contributions to it. The stage, though not as big as Bofin was bigger than Galway and so some musicians omitted from the Galway list took the ferry to join us for this one too adding to the bonhomie on the stage. By the end, we were ready to sleep but more drinks were had first. The after-show sessions on the first two nights had run quite late - I have no reason to believe the last night was any different. Aware of ongoing commitments, I was in Galway and asleep within a few hours of coming off the stage.
New friendships - both convivial and musical - had been made and I look forward to playing with many of these musicians again. Luke Murray's concert debut as a singer and guitarist in this run of shows was extremely exciting as he bravely and convincingly tackled both Christy Moore's arrangement of As I Roved Out with the band and added his own tasteful and subtle characterisation to Paul Brady's arrangement of Arthur McBride solo. Being a city boy, I was thrilled to be hearing more traditional music in one week than I've probably heard in the last five years, and all magnificently played and sung by people who've been singing it all their lives. Peadar only ended up singing one song each night - I wish he'd sung more. He's an exceptional songwriting talent waiting to be discovered but I guess he felt it was about a lot more than just him by this point - a chance to really treasure the musical heritage of the island as a shared heritage, a community of people working and living together, and a chance to highlight lots of unsung talents alongside more well-known singers such as Dessie and Andrew, and in all that it certainly worked in a very moving way. It was a really beautiful experience for me. I've heard it may happen again. I hope it does. If it does, don't miss it.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Golden Music & Then Silence
Before today, I haven't sat still since in or around the 10th July. This year so it's no heroic feat but I'm talking 7-day weeks here. Of course, I do actually love being busy, especially if the work is invigorating, challenging and productive which the last month's stuff has certainly been.
There's stuff about the US trip in the last blog. The second half of the trip was very enjoyable too. I didn't continue the story because I had expended so much energy telling that much that I was left wanting when trying to decide how to follow it up. Saturday was the hotspot for the trip - literally. We went to Duardes (I think that's what it was called) where it got to 102 degrees F which really was way too hot for me and when the trip to the beautiful Getty Museum was spoiled for me by the fact that it was SO hot and SO bright (which led to me being barely able to open my eyes for the day), I realised that it was definitely time to go home. The trip home was very successful. I put on my shorts and headed with Hedda to drop the keyboard back to the rental place, drop the car back to the rental place and partake in the great rigmarole that is US Airport security. Many hours later and we were back on Plane 1 of 3. The I-Pod was a welcome friend.
I managed to make all connections this time and arrived back in rainy Ireland still in my shorts but certainly not cold the following morning. I seem to escape jetlag and this was no exception. Home for a 70th birthday party for my aunt (in fact 2 over 2 nights) - it was a terrific week but great to be home. Sometimes when you get tired of your family and your home, all it takes is a little time away and some perspective to realise how real their love is for you and how much you need them there.
As soon as the weekend of parties was over, I was off on my next project - this time to the house of the same aunt who had just had the party. My aunt Lorna is an extraordinary woman who has sculpted the most amazing garden out of the woodlands around her house. Since her husband died, she has built a second, smaller house further into the garden, designed to look like a glorified tree-house. Which leaves the first house empty for large chunks of time, punctuated by shorter periods where family come to visit or, since 2006, I bring groups of friends to rehearse, record, retreat and generally have a groovy time.
For the last week, a group of friends and I started work on the next Josh Johnston CD. I always like to have a working title - the next CD will most likely be called The Art Of Saving Lives and the drums and bass parts are now recorded, along with piano and guitar tracks which may be bettered or, if not, may be the final tracks. All of the songs are finished musically but quite a lot of them are not finished lyrically so I sang first verses and la-la-la'ed melodies to give the other musicians an idea of where the singer was going and then we worked up parts for everybody, rehearsed them and then put down tracks for 13 songs in 5 days. That's quite a feat and it was a whirlwind of work from Day 1. We worked from 10 to about 7, ate well, played cards in the evening and got some class of a holiday out of it too. A residential recording studio without the expense. I do feel blessed to have got the opportunity. The project is well and truly off the ground.
One final bowed cymbal and then it was back to Dublin on Saturday after a marathon tidy session in the evening. On Sunday, I was off to play piano for Stewart Agnew in Dundalk. Revitalised now and ready to put as much expertise as I have into Ronan Swift's marketing campaign for his debut CD which comes out September 17th. A few quieter days and then it's back up that hill with Peadar King next week. It's mad, exhausting and completely exhilarating. Oh God let me never be idle. Our lives are too short.
There's stuff about the US trip in the last blog. The second half of the trip was very enjoyable too. I didn't continue the story because I had expended so much energy telling that much that I was left wanting when trying to decide how to follow it up. Saturday was the hotspot for the trip - literally. We went to Duardes (I think that's what it was called) where it got to 102 degrees F which really was way too hot for me and when the trip to the beautiful Getty Museum was spoiled for me by the fact that it was SO hot and SO bright (which led to me being barely able to open my eyes for the day), I realised that it was definitely time to go home. The trip home was very successful. I put on my shorts and headed with Hedda to drop the keyboard back to the rental place, drop the car back to the rental place and partake in the great rigmarole that is US Airport security. Many hours later and we were back on Plane 1 of 3. The I-Pod was a welcome friend.
I managed to make all connections this time and arrived back in rainy Ireland still in my shorts but certainly not cold the following morning. I seem to escape jetlag and this was no exception. Home for a 70th birthday party for my aunt (in fact 2 over 2 nights) - it was a terrific week but great to be home. Sometimes when you get tired of your family and your home, all it takes is a little time away and some perspective to realise how real their love is for you and how much you need them there.
As soon as the weekend of parties was over, I was off on my next project - this time to the house of the same aunt who had just had the party. My aunt Lorna is an extraordinary woman who has sculpted the most amazing garden out of the woodlands around her house. Since her husband died, she has built a second, smaller house further into the garden, designed to look like a glorified tree-house. Which leaves the first house empty for large chunks of time, punctuated by shorter periods where family come to visit or, since 2006, I bring groups of friends to rehearse, record, retreat and generally have a groovy time.
For the last week, a group of friends and I started work on the next Josh Johnston CD. I always like to have a working title - the next CD will most likely be called The Art Of Saving Lives and the drums and bass parts are now recorded, along with piano and guitar tracks which may be bettered or, if not, may be the final tracks. All of the songs are finished musically but quite a lot of them are not finished lyrically so I sang first verses and la-la-la'ed melodies to give the other musicians an idea of where the singer was going and then we worked up parts for everybody, rehearsed them and then put down tracks for 13 songs in 5 days. That's quite a feat and it was a whirlwind of work from Day 1. We worked from 10 to about 7, ate well, played cards in the evening and got some class of a holiday out of it too. A residential recording studio without the expense. I do feel blessed to have got the opportunity. The project is well and truly off the ground.
One final bowed cymbal and then it was back to Dublin on Saturday after a marathon tidy session in the evening. On Sunday, I was off to play piano for Stewart Agnew in Dundalk. Revitalised now and ready to put as much expertise as I have into Ronan Swift's marketing campaign for his debut CD which comes out September 17th. A few quieter days and then it's back up that hill with Peadar King next week. It's mad, exhausting and completely exhilarating. Oh God let me never be idle. Our lives are too short.
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