New album shows the power of collaboration

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

John Feeley was long gone from his native Ballinasloe when singer Eleanor Shanley settled there five years ago, but the internationally renowned classical guitarist retains strong family links with the area. And when he was giving a concert there in Gullane’s Hotel in 2016, Eleanor, a fan, was in the audience and “was blown away” by his performance, she recalls.

John was already a fan of the Leitrim singer’s voice and, during the 1990s when Eleanor was touring with De Dannan, they’d had a chance meeting in London’s Liverpool Street Station. So, when they connected again after his show in Ballinasloe that night, they had lots to discuss.

They struck up a friendship out of which emerged a series of performances marked by wonderful music and song with lots of banter in between.

Their first concert together was at Clifden Arts Festival in 2017 when they performed Jung: Symbols and Songs the The Soul, with Eleanor’s partner Brendan, a psychotherapist.

They’ve also played the Seaview Sessions and the Unitarian Church in Dublin as well as concerts in Ballinasloe’

“You paid me a lot of money to play with you,” John quips.

Now they’ve recorded an album, Cancion de Amor, which is being released this weekend. And while the jokes fly during their interview ahead of the launch, the quality of the 13-track album, recorded in the 15th Century St Francis’s Church in Meelick, Eyrecourt, shows how seriously they take their work.

There’s a deceptive simplicity that lets both voice and music shine through – some of the tracks are new and others are more familiar, but have been given fresh arrangements by the pair.

Galway’s quartet in residence, ConTempo, feature on several tracks, with other contributors being Dermot Dunne on accordion, Lynda O’Connor on violin, Gerald Peregrine on cello and David McCune on percussion.  It’s produced by John, a man described by The Washington Post as ‘Ireland’s leading classical guitarist’.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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