IMRO

Distribution & Membership Department / Public Relations

Eoin Colley
Director of Distribution
& Membership

IMRO continued its very active music sponsorship programme in 2001 with a wide variety and number of projects receiving support from the organisation during the year. Projects covering just about every aspect of music creation such as performance, production, educational and cultural where the recipient of IMRO funding or sponsorship in kind. Amongst the many projects supported by IMRO were:

IMRO Award 2001- Bill Whelan

In March at a prestigious black tie ceremony held in Dublin Castle renowned Irish Composer, Bill Whelan was presented with the IMRO Award by An Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern.

On making the presentation Mr. Ahern spoke of the enormous influence Bill Whelan and his peers have had on Irish Music and its traditions both domestically and internationally together with the tremendous breadth of Bill’s musical activities stretching over the last 20 years.

The IMRO Award is a rare honour to receive. Only once before has this honour been bestowed. Mike Hanrahan, Chairperson of IMRO echoed Mr. Ahern’s words when speaking of Bill and asked, “May I say that he was the unanimous choice?” and went on to list some of Bill’s achievements in his amazing musical career to date:

He has received a Laurence Olivier Award Nomination for his adaptation of Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore which ran in London, Sydney and Melbourne. In 1989 he was appointed composer for the WB Yeats International Festival. Compositional work in International films include Lamb, Some Mother’s Son and Dancing At Lughnasa. Riverdance - The Show has performed live to a world-wide audience of nearly 12 million with television audiences to date in excess of 1.2 billion people. Bill has also been awarded Freedom of the City of his hometown Limerick.

In essence Bill’s track record in the Irish Music Industry leaves no doubt as to why he would be the unanimous choice for an award such as The IMRO Award for contributions to the Irish Music Industry.A large number of colleagues and friends from the worlds of show business, politics and the media attended the prestigious event to congratulate Bill and help him and his wife Denise celebrate.

Amongst those present were former American Ambassador to Ireland, Jean Kennedy Smith, Andrea, Jim and Caroline Corr, U2 Manager Paul McGuinness, Paul Brady, Jim Sheridan, Brian Kennedy, Ronnie Drew, Donal Lunny and Maire Breatnach. Bono was amongst those to send video tributes.

IMRO Showcase Tour 2001

IMRO's Annual Showcase series of gigs took place between March and April, with the Tour consisting of 12 regional showcase performances followed by a best of Tour concert in Vicar Street in May. Over 50 bands where showcased, representing some of the very best of emerging talent from throughout the country. The 2001 Tour was endorsed by 2FM through the Dave Fanning Radio Show. Many of the bands showcased had their first national broadcast on Irish radio and some have subsequently gone on to record a coveted 'Fanning Session'. As a follow-on from the Tour itself four bands that featured on the Tour were selected by IMRO to perform at the prestigious In The City music convention, one of Europe's largest annual music conferences which was held in Manchester in September. 'For those of you who think showcases are a waste of time .. think twice, the IMRO showcase tour was a fabulous opportunity for us to perform live to new audiences, we even had the bonus of picking up some record company interest along the way' Stephen Reddy, DaCapo

RTE Concert Orchestra/IMRO Scoring for Film Workshop

At the end of July 2001 IMRO and the RTE Concert Orchestra (RTECO) began working on an exciting new collaboration project, whose aim was to bring together the very best of emerging film makers and movie/TV soundtrack composers in a workshop setting. The focus of the project was a workshop involving the RTE Concert Orchestra performing and recording original scores for short film submissions received from emerging film makers throughout Ireland. Various film-training administrators, film production companies, film industry bodies and third level colleges were contacted over a 2 month period to solicit quality short film nominations from emerging film makers for inclusion in the workshop.
In tandem with seeking submissions from film directors IMRO also sought applications from interested composers wishing to participate in the project. Applications were solicited from within the membership of IMRO and from a wide range of other music bodies such as the Contemporary Music Centre (CMC) and Association of Irish Composers (AIC).

5 successful composers and film maker applications were chosen at the end of October. Subsequent to this individual film makers and composers were paired off randomly to begin working on their projects. Completed scores were then submitted to RTE. The format of the workshop itself took the form of two 3 hour recording sessions, with each composer receiving an hour slot to rehearse and record their film scores, which ranged from 5-10 minutes in duration.

In attendance at the workshop were a number of observers from film and music industry bodies in Ireland who attended during the workshop sessions to observe proceedings.
This project offered emerging film makers and composers a valuable opportunity to enhance their skills with hands-on experience of a vital aspect of film post-production. It was also a rare opportunity to have a score composed for full orchestra.

SongSchool

IMRO continued its sponsorship and endorsement of the Song School initiative in 2001. Since beginning in Cork in 1998 "Song School" has come a long way in a very short period of time. Initially designed as Songwriting Workshops for local Transition Year Students the word has now spread nationally.

First year bookings came in from as far afield as Limerick, Mayo and Dublin. With a lack of equipment and only one tutor, resources were stretched for the fledging enterprise. IMRO came to the rescue with equipment and other tutors came on board which meant that in their second year the number of schools doubled and included a Juvenile Correction Centre, a school in Northern Ireland, and the Glen Action Project in the Republic of Ireland.
To date the workshops have achieved tremendous results with limited resources. Successes include a number one single in Ireland (Candle for Kosovo 1999) and victory in the prestigious Song for PEACE competition (Believe 2000). These songs were written in actual workshops by students.

2001 saw the workshops grow even further with the development of a special 'peace and reconciliation' workshop with Co-operation Ireland that took place in November. Other projects include a 'hands across the water' workshop with students in Australia that will take place later in 2002.

Success can also be measured in the response received from students who participate and Song School organisers regularly receive enquiries and follow-ups from students who want to pursue their song writing. The course is unique because it offers first hand insight into life as a professional songwriter / musician. The workshops are delivered by tutors who are IMRO members and who make their living as full or part time musicians and/or songwriters

For further details visit www.songschool.ie

TG4 Traditional Music Awards 2001

In November the Cork Opera House played host to the TG4 National Traditional Music Awards 2001. The Traditional Music Awards now in its 4th year was extended to include four new specialist awards embracing all aspects of the Irish Traditional Music Industry. The recipient of the Gradam Ceol TG4 for 2001 was harpist and composer Maire Ní Chathasaigh. The young musician of the year was piper Conor Mc Keon.

The recipients of the new and extended awards were:

Musician of theYear - Maire Ní Chathasaigh.
The TG4 Young Musician Award - Dublin Piper Conor McKeon
Composer of the Year - Paddy Fahy.
TG4 Band of the Year - Altan.
Traditional Music Singer - Ciarán Ó Gealbháin of the band Danú.
Life Achievement Award - East Clare fiddler Paddy Canny.

Both Musician of the Year and TG4 Young Musician of the Year Awards were sponsored by IMRO. Máire Ní Chathasagh received a cash prize from IMRO and a specially commissioned piece of sculpture by artist John Coll. Máire has been described as one of Ireland's most important and influential traditional musicians and the most interesting and original player of the Irish harp today.

The Award winners were joined by a host of special guests at the televised concert in the Opera House which included Liz and Yvonne Kane, Mairtin O Connor and Band, Danú , flute players Eamon DeBarra and Brian Duke, pipers Gay and Sean Mc Keon, young Dublin fiddler Liam O Connor, Kieran Hanrahan, Sliabh Notes, from Cork, the "3 fivers" and guitar player Chris Newman.

IMRO International Songwriting Workshop 2001

Following a well-received event in August 2000, IMRO hosted its second Writers' Week in NUI Maynooth last Summer. One hundred songwriters gathered for the most comprehensive songwriters' workshop ever undertaken by IMRO. A fresh feature of this event was the presence of a small number of writers from overseas societies. The atmosphere was decidedly cosmopolitan with writers from Sweden, Greece, Belgium, Spain, England, Scotland, U.S.A. and South Africa in attendance. And as over 70% of the writers attending had never been at an event like this before, a tangible buzz of expectation, excitement and ultimately achievement was in evidence throughout the week.

The "three-ring circus" format of IMRO Writers' week is by now well established. The three dimensions to the week's activities are firstly the craft of songwriting and co-writing; secondly, is always a focus on education through a series of elective seminars and thirdly providing a professionally managed stage environment for showcasing newly written material.

As the event is residential, writers assemble each morning to have a songwriting partner for the day allocated to them by a random draw coordinated by Keith Donald who once again acted as Event Facilitator for the weeks' activities. The "random draw" system was made compulsory for the first half of the week and in the second half, writers were free to make their own co-writing arrangements.

The afternoons were devoted to panels, seminars and debates on music industry related themes. The subjects were "Producing Independent Records", "Music in films", "Getting your songs played on Irish radio" and "The role of the Media, PR and Publicity". A cross-section of professionals, commentators and interested parties from several strands of the Irish Music Industry generously gave their time for free and dispensed views and advice liberally. A highlight was the panel on getting radio play which is often an emotive subject for struggling writers in a radio environment increasingly dominated by Top 40 format broadcasters. This panel was made up of broadcasters Ian Wilson (2FM), Jim O'Neill (Today FM), Jon Richards (Galway Bay FM) with Johnny Lappin and Jackie Hayden representing "Fairplay for Airplay" which provides recognition to those previously unsung heroes of Irish broadcasting who make a special effort to give new Irish songwriters an audience.

Everybody remarked that the quality of songwriting output was very high and was a testament to the esprit de corps that developed over the week that volunteer accompanists, backing vocalists and percussionists were always readily available. One of many extraordinary live highlights was the musical collaboration between the Dubliners' John Sheahan on fiddle and Yannis Saoulis from Greece on bouzouki.

A special treat for the participants was the nightly guest appearance slot. Over the course of the week a veritable who's who of Irish songwriting talent arrived in Maynooth GAA club to perform their own original works to a highly appreciative audience. IMRO Chairman Mike Hanrahan headed a stellar cast that included Paul Brady, Mick Hanly, Donagh Long, Mundy and Damien Rice.

ASCAP's Ralph Murphy, a stalwart of the Nashville scene, remained on-hand for the week to offer his unique and valuable song-critiquing service to all co-writers who wished to avail of it.

  Irish/Australian Songwriting Collaboration Project

Over the Bank Holiday weekend in August, Dublin played host to some of the finest songwriters from Australia. They were over as part of the inaugural Australia Festival and included names such as Neil Murray, former Weddings, Parties, Anything lynchpin Mick Thomas and the incredibly talented Kavisha Mazzella. The Festival was organised by The Australian Embassy and Jimaru Touring Agency.

To make the most of a unique opportunity IMRO members were to invited to take part in some songwriting sessions with Neil Murray.

Neil was part of the legendary outback rock outfit The Warumpi Band, probably best known here as the band that took Midnight Oil on the outback tour that inspired the song 'Beds are Burning' and the album 'Diesel and Dust'. Neil's songs have been covered by Powderfinger, one of the most popular bands currently in Australia. Neil also wrote 'My Island Home' which was Australian Song of the Year in 1995. This song was featured in the 2000 Olympics closing Ceremony and performed by Christine Anu. She has recorded several of Neil's songs to date and it was her version of 'My Island Home' that was a hit. The same song was recently included in the All Time APRA Top 30. (APRA - Australian Performing Rights Assoc.)

So an apartment in Temple Bar was booked and several IMRO members responded to an email enquiry. They included Ray Heffernan, Niall Toner, Sean O'Neill and Declan O'Rourke. Some songs were started, several workshopped and a few were completed. All writers taking part enjoyed themselves and benefited greatly from the experience.

Garageland Gigs

IMRO continued its support in 2001 for the Garage Gigs series run by Garageland. The gig series which recently celebrated its 200th showcase performance has provided a large number of emerging acts with an excellent opportunity to showcase to industry figures over the last couple of years. The weekly Garage Gigs are run in Eamonn Dorans' and The Isaac Butt every Wednesday and Sunday and there are now plans afoot to move the event out into other regional centres.

Glinsk Song Contest

The Glinsk Song Contest is devoted to new and emerging talent in Ireland but the word has spread beyond the Irish shores with previous finalists travelling from the UK and Australia, with a recent entry from as far away as Japan. The Song Contest has gained much recognition since it began back in 1988 with many of its finalists going on to achieve Eurovision stardom: Niamh Kavanagh, Charlie McGettigan and John Farry have all graced the Glinsk stage. IMRO has a long association with this event, from an adjudication and financial support perspective.Composers in the Classroom Scheme

Initiated in 1998 by the Cork International Choral Festival and the Arts Officer of Cork Corporation and Cork County Council, Composers in the Classroom is designed to offer music students and their teachers the opportunity to work, in their own classrooms, with professional composers throughout the school year. The scheme is designed to complement the general music studies curriculum at senior cycle and has proved of special interest to students taking the higher elective in composition in the new Leaving Certificate syllabus. Students are required to listen to a wide range of music, analysing and discussing various elements. For the teacher, this residency provides an opportunity to work alongside a professional composer, discussing and developing approaches to creative composition in the classroom. The residency culminates in a seminar held as part of the Cork International Choral Festival. Since 2000, the scheme has been directly grant aided by IMRO.

Baltimore Fiddle Fair

IMRO once again supported the Annual Baltimore Fiddle Fair in 2001. The event which is held during May each year attracts audiences from around the globe to the remote village of Baltimore located in West Cork and 2001 was no different. The fair featured special performances by Altan, Paul Brady and Christy Moore. The fair has now firmly established itself as one of the premier opportunities to help encourage and develop the talents of budding fiddle players from Ireland and abroad.

Awards Received by IMRO Members In 2001

Irish Music and Irish Artists and songwriters' domination of the international music market continued in 2001 and this is represented by the large number of Awards received by IMRO member in 2001. Click HERE for Awards