Entertainment
Sublime Mark Geary for Monroe’s show
Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell
The sublime songwriter Mark Geary makes a welcome return to Monroe’s Live this Friday, May 22. When he takes the call for this interview, Mark is recording an album he plans to release in the autumn. His process is a little unusual, even risky, in that he goes into the studio without having any songs prepared.
“That’s kind of how I’ve done it on the past couple of records, almost wilfully have no songs and just create around the musicians, write on the fly – it’s awful!” he laughs. “But the creative brain starts to commit, it starts to make decisions. You have to believe what you’re singing about.”
It’s a gamble that’s paying off and Mark has hit a creative purple patch.
“This whole week I’ve been in Westmeath, and it’s the third day I’ve woke up with a new song,” he says. “They’re really the gifts. It’s usually 90% perspiration, 10% inspiration but to wake up with a fully formed, written song, that’s what you wait for.”
In 1992, Mark moved to New York to cut his teeth as an artist. The Dubliner appeared alongside the upcoming Jeff Buckley and made the city his home. A few years ago, he decided to return to Ireland and began to put a band together.
“When I came back from New York, I was looking for a band that I could hang with and sit in with, that would know my back catalogue and add something to it,” he says. “In my head, I wanted singers, as well as bass players and keyboards. I wanted loads of harmonies, because that’s my favourite part of music. The Everly Brothers, The Beatles, Fleet Foxes . . . killer harmonies, it just feels so intuitive to me.”
He placed an ad in Hot Press and began the search. In a world far removed from the callousness of the X-Factor, the auditions were ‘very mellow, a cup of tea and a chat’,
“I was looking for intuitive musicians, not a super group,” Mark says. “Sometimes it can be a bit too session-y. My New York band, a lot of those guys could be playing in ten bands.”
This search yielded a gem when Gráinne Hunt walked into the room. Adding nuance and texture to Mark’s songs, Gráinne is a gifted singer who will soon be releasing her own EP.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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