This was my first visit to the amazing Howard Assembly Room since June, and I couldn’t wait. Not only to see the concert but to meet up with the people who work there with whom I have become friendly over the years. Because quite a few of the front of house staff are students, there has been a bit of a change since my last trip but the new crop seem just as friendly as those who have moved to pastures new. I also managed a catch-up with the chaps on the lighting and sound mixing desks, whose station you have to pass en route to your seat, and with whom I usually exchange a few words. I was delighted to see that the doorman still wore his mile-wide smile as he greeted me. Like everyone else I meet in life, he probably wore an even wider one when I bade him goodnight and left!
The event I was here for was a programme of Irish folk music from Iarla Ó Lionáird, a performer I had not come across before. He has had a varied career in both Ireland and New York with the group Alarm Will Sound, a contemporary chamber music ensemble. He has been Grammy nominated twice and worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel, Nick Cave, Robert Plant and Sinead O’Connor as well as adding his singing voice to soundtracks of films as varied as Gangs of New York and Rwanda.
His style is more traditional than that of the more popular artists of the genre, such as The Clancy Brothers or The Dubliners so, should you turn up expecting, what the late, still sorely missed, Sir Terry Wogan, would call Hooligan Music, you will be disappointed. No Whisky in the Jar or Irish Rover here, but slow, sometimes mournful, tales from a long passed lifestyle of the Irish people. If I were to compare it to any modern artist it would be Clannad, although more basic.
Iarla Ó Lionáird with Cormac McCarthy, piano and Matthew Berrill, clarinets.
The artist was accompanied by two incredible musicians. The first was Cormac McCarthy, a pianist, composer, arranger and conductor from Cork. His skills were on show as he shone in his mastery of the beautiful Steinway in the hall, as well as utilising a small electric keyboard placed on top of it. This provided the atmosphere, as well as being played in a conventional way. He also acted as a sort of conductor as it was he to whom Mr Ó Lionáird turned when confirming the next item on the playlist.
Matthew Berrill made up the trio with his woodwind instruments; a bass clarinet and a more conventional version. This added depth and variation to the sound. He is from Cork and a member of many musical ensembles as well as a teacher in several music projects especially in his native Galway.
This is where things begin to pose a challenge insofar as the songs themselves are concerned, as they were all in Gaelic! There was one exception, but even that was bilingual. We were given the names in both languages and a chat about the content, which I must say, was done in a very disarming way, being both informative and humorous. For once, in a concert here, the delivery of the resumes was done very naturally and humbly, which summed the whole night up perfectly. I have witnessed some prima donnas who think that whatever they do or say is funny, no matter how banal.
After a couple of songs I realised that it was useless trying to listen intently to the lyrics, so I reverted to my old trick of sitting back, relaxing and letting the sound as a whole wash over me. Mr Ó Lionáird had told us that the theme of most of them was hardly upbeat and usually tragic, so I probably came out of the concert in a better frame of mind than had they been sung in English. Enya meets Leonard Cohen?
There was one mood breaker in the second half, which featured the two musicians. For once, they didn’t perform improvisational solos, but engaged in a masterclass of syncopation bouncing off each other in a very up tempo, jazz-like manner. Even a couple of feet began tapping in the audience, obviously out of time as usual.
Going back to the nature of the man, Iarla Ó Lionáird, like plenty of others who have graced this venue, commented on what a beautiful place it was, but he went further and said more or less what I did at the beginning of this article, that it was also a wonderful experience as a whole, in that the treatment he received was immaculate from his first crossing the threshold up until that moment. He went on to ask for a round of applause for, not only the technicians who did such a professional job, but also the front of house staff who contributed immensely to the evening. A first in my book – the praise from an artist, not the staff’s contribution.
Should you wish to sample what I did last night then please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqd647-THP8&t=61s where you will see the trio perform I’m Weary From Lying Alone, stick with it as this is the bilingual one.
To see Iarla Ó Lionáird in person the tour continues at Liverpool Tung Auditorium on 10th October and Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff on 12th, before ending in Dublin’s Pavilion Theatre on 17th November.
For details of other events at Howard Assembly Room have a look at https://www.operanorth.co.uk/event-tag/har/
Tyke It To The Limit 