Month: July 2012

Sept 11th/Oct 9th, 30th/Nov 20th/Dec 4th
Whelan’s Of Wexford St
Doors 8pm

Sept 11th ‘Water Off A Duck’s Back’
Oct 9th ‘Last Mile Home’
Oct 30th ‘Play Days’
Nov 20th ‘Tonnta Ró’
Dec 4th ‘Tiptoe’

Rónán Ó Snodaigh – A Perspective is a series of of five concerts being held between September and October in Whelans, Dublin. Each show will see Rónán take one of his five wonderful solo albums and reunite the musicians who played on the recordings. In all, thirty six different musicians will share the stage with Rónán over the course of the 5 nights. Each evening will be filmed and released afterwards and once the run is complete Rónán will record his sixth album.

A founding member of Ireland’s most celebrated World Music band Kíla, Rónán Ó Snodaigh is recognized as one of Ireland’s best and most innovative bodhrán players and a highly original singer songwriter. Described by John Walsh (Hot Press) as ‘the living embodiment of Turlough O Carolan and Bob Marley’, and by a fan as ‘…The Jimi Hendrix of Bodhrán’!

Rónán mixes the Irish Language, which is his first language of song writing , bluesy grooves with wild percussion to create his unique organic sound. Rónán has released five solo albums to date, 2010’s Water off a Duck’s Back was recorded with musical legends Liam Ó Maonlaí, Steve Cooney and Myles O Reilly (aka Juno Falls), the album is a beautiful collection of upbeat, nearly spiritual songs, set to a stunning musical backdrop. Rónán has also released four other solo albums: The Last Mile Home (2007) The Playdays (2005), Tonnta Ró (2004) and Tip Toe (2001) as well as nine albums with Kíla. The most recent Kíla album being Soisín launched January 2009.

Rónán has composed music for TV and Film including working on oscar nominated film The Secret of Kells, and three nature documentaries for RTE TV produced by award winning Crossing The Line film makers.

In 2003, Rónán’s first book Luascadán was published – a stunning collection of his Irish language songs to date. This was followed a year later by the publication of his book of English song lyrics entitled ‘Songs’. The Garden Wars, his first full volume of poetry, was published December 2007 to critical acclaim.

Why not let the man himself explain to you exactly what this run of shows is about…

“Today we make a pact that we will provide five fabulous gigs to celebrate five fabulous albums from the past eleven years. We are going to return to a few rare treasures from my recent past and spend a little more time working on and enjoying them! Sometimes the past moves too fast,and sometimes with the help of a few friends we can stop the clock and make time stretch to last that bit longer.

This is what we will be doing in Whelans, starting September 11th. Starting, stopping and stretching time with selection of songs that i left behind. I’ve done five albums, quite different. Different musicians, different engineers, different points of view and different arrival points. I’m going to do each one of the albums and try and the band like in ‘The Blues Brothers’ – reform the bands for each of the albums. All of them are quite special events and hopefully everyone involved will be as excited as me.

I’m going to gig the albums. Each night will be very particular, each night will be dedicated to whichever album with those musicians involved. I’ll probably do some of them better than before, some of them we won’t do better. To me it’s like swimming, there’s a point at which you run off a pier and you dive and you hit the water and as soon as you hit there you’re in a different world. You’ve completely taken on another thing and you’ve got to deal with boats, jellyfish, people, depth, breathing, your body, cold, muscles, blood circulation. You’ve to deal with a whole new set of things when you’re in there and there’s only a second in mid air between a completely different set of what you need to be thinking about to what you need to be thinking about. It’s hard to be saying what I’m going to be doing in there because it’s completely different, a different world from where I’m in now but as soon as I get in I’ll get in” – Ronan O’Snodaigh

Tickets €14 advance(inc booking fee), €16 on the door or €55 (inc booking fee) for all 5 shows. All tickets available to buy online from www.wavtickets.ie or call the WAV Box Office [Lo-call 1890 200 078]. All supporters who purchase a 5-night ticket through WAV or Fundit will also receive access to footage from all 5 shows, a download code for a Ronan album of their choice and a download code to an exclusive Ronan O’Snodaigh compilation! You can also support this very special run of shows here – http://www.fundit.ie/project/rnn–snodaigh—a-perspective

Paddy Casey returns with a new single Wait, which will be out this month.

It is taken from the forthcoming album, which Paddy plans to release in the Autumn.  A date has just been announced for the Olympia, Dublin on 15th November.

http://paddycasey.ie/

The best way to sum-up an artist who combines so many different styles is with the person themselves – hence the reason for self-titling her new upcoming album. A musical magpie whose mature, self-affirming songs display an unusual emotional breathes, Wallis defies categorization. The Irish artist has paid her dues, shredding her fingers and breaking string after string from the sheer force of playing on stages small and large across Europe, and throwing her entire soul into each performance with a level of energy that makes her an unassailable force of nature.

Wallis Bird cannot and should not be pigeonholed easily. Capable of the delicate, gossamer-thin ballads that her tiny 5ft2 frame would suggest, she can also summon up a whirl wind of passion and rage in the blink of an eye. Her performances can transition seamlessly from the defiant anthems that can motivate thousands of festival goers into a rousing sing-along, to the most hushed and fragile ballads that can captivate an audience into a spellbound silence.

‘Wallis Bird’ was written and recorded in 3 places that, while geographically separate, were all deliberately chosen to impose their unique atmospheres onto the songs. From the communist broadcasting station in Berlin, of the former GDR where the government broadcast it’s propaganda until the Berlin wall came down, to an isolated ghost ridden cottage on a godforsaken cliff edge in Ireland during the worst snow storms in 30 years, to her own flat in Brixton South London. The result is a record that strives to make sense of the chaos around us all!

This is Wallis’s third Album which follows her debut ‘Spoons’ and 2009’s ‘New Boots’, both of which saw her garner critical acclaim. A double meteor award winner in Ireland, it’s not surprising she has played at some of the biggest festivals in Europe.

*** ‘The sheer visceral energy of Wallis Bird could kick-start an entire economy’ – The Irish Times.

Wallis Bird has something special, she has ability to mystify and captivate her audience. Her music is unpredictable and exhilarating while also being emotive and touching.

See Wallis Bird live @ Whelan’s October 24th, tickets €19 incl booking fee

http://www.wallisbird.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/wallisbird

The Cast of Cheers’ new album Family is out now on School Boy Error. The band have announced a national tour September including a date at Whelans, Dublin on July 19th.

Bell X1 will release Field Recordings, 21 songs and photographs from their 2010 North American and European tour recorded by Phil Hayes, on 20 July. The tour, which commemorated the 10 year anniversary of Bell X1′s first release ‘Neither Am I’, features stripped down versions of songs recorded live.

Field Recordings will be available as a double CD or a limited edition (400 only, numbered) 40 page hardback photobook with CDs from the Bell X1 online shop <http://main.bellx1.com/the-shoppe/> and from iTunes / digital retailers.

You can listen to a selection of songs from the album here – http://main.bellx1.com

IMRO member Vincent Kennedy has been shortlisted for the Jim McNaughton Perpetual Award for Best Commissioning Practice as part of the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2012 for his composition The Kilcormac Cantata.  The Allianz Business to Arts Awards seek to recognise the importance of arts and business organisations working together. The Kilcormac Cantata was commissioned under the per cent for Art scheme by Offaly County Council who is also nominated.

The Kilcormac Cantata combines choral, solo singing and instrumental music along with poetry and narrations, all inspired by stories, events and history of Kilcormac, County Offaly.  The world premiere took place in November 2011 and involved 120 performers comprising young people from three local schools (primary and secondary), the local church choir, local musicians and poets and a band of professional musicians.  The Cantata begins with references to the ancient history of Kilcormac where the oldest human remains in Ireland have been found and to the bog which is all around. It includes a middle section inspired by the story of the 500 year old wooden Pieta of Kilcormac that was hidden in the bog by six local men in safety from Cromwell’s advancing army. There it lay covered in peat until the last person who knew its location was carried on his deathbed aged 90 to the bog.  When he pointed out where he and others had buried it 60 years earlier the people dug down and re-discovered the Pieta perfectly preserved.  It is venerated to this day in the parish church of Kilcormac.  The final section has references to modern day Kilcormac.

The CD of The Kilcormac Cantata was launched by the Minister for Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, TD on 25^th June. The shortlisting for the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2012 is further recognition for this beautiful composition.  

For further information on the Allianz Business to Arts Awards 2012, including the complete list of nominations, see http://www.businesstoarts.ie/News-Events/index.php

“Her spectacularly limber voice is just the start – Miss O possesses a keen ear for a summery refrain…. Throw in a heart-stopping live show and we’ve got everything we look for in an Irish rose.” – Celine Murphy , Hot Press ‘Ones to watch 2012’

“Róisín O‘s vocal is pristine in clarity with the distinctiveness of her accent curling around the ends of her lyrics. However by the end of the track she has let rip into a Florence-esque roar. ‘Here We Go’ is every bit the catchy tune that makes you feel excited about life, it’s no wonder that the single was dreamt up by the singer-songwriter following a weekend at Electric Picnic. This is one you can look forward to dancing and singing along to”.- musicscene.ie

“‘Here We Go’,the ballsy lead single from her forthcoming debut album. With Grammy-winning producer Dave Odlum pressing all the important buttons, Ms. O has come up with a stirring, confident piece of folk pop that instantly brings to mind the event which inspired it – none other than our very own Electric Picnic.” Hot Press review (31 May, 2012) 

Her first single ‘Here We Go’ taken from the album, is available for download now and is an enticing taster for fans ahead of the album release on 3ú Records. Róisín and her band have been crafting this album for the last year and are currently in producer David Odlum’s studio in France putting the finishing touches to the much anticipated recording.Performing and writing since she left school, Róisín added musicians Alan Tully (guitars and vocals), Brian Murphy (bass and vocals) and Ruth O’Mahony Brady (keys and vocals) to her act, and together they have honed the Roisin O acoustic-rock sound.

The busy 23 year old can boast support slots with The Coronas, Imelda May, Mary Black, Brad Paisley and Robert Cray on many of Ireland’s biggest stages, and was invited to perform live on the Pat Kenny Show on RTE 1 and Ireland AM on TV3 among others. She has recorded with Paul Brady and Mary Black and her song ‘Drifting’ was chosen for the latest ‘Woman’s Heart Now’ compilation, alongside Lisa Hannigan, Wallis Bird, Cathy Davey and many more; still her powerful vocals were not overshadowed in the company of these excellent, established female singers.

Don’t miss Roisin O live @ Whelan’s September 21st, tickets €12 incl booking fee on-sale Thursday July 19th, 9am.

www.roisino.com