Welcome to Brí Carr Music!
Bhain mé amach sos gairmiúil ón múinteoireacht fá choinne mo chuid ceoil a leanúint, dlúthdiosca nua a sheoladh agus ceardlanna Gaeilge, amhránaíocht agus scríbhneoireacht a dhéanamh. Ó tharla Covid 19, cuireadh cosc ar mo chuid oibre ag tabhairt ceardlanna is ranganna Gaeilge, ceol is dramaíocht ar fud an chontae le Blue Ribbon Arts, ach i rith na tréimhse dianghlasála, tháinig mé ar bhealaigh eile mo chruthaitheacht a fhorbairt, go háirithe mo chumadóireacht. Fuair mé amach go luath sa tréimhse sin, go raibh sé thar a bheith in am dom na smaointe is an taithí atá luaite agam a chur i bhfeidhm.
Is as Árainn Mhór mo mháthair, agus d’fhás mé suas le mo sheanmháthair, Bridget Ní Cheallaigh, a bhí mar bean an tí i dteach an tsagairt ar an oileán. Le linn laethe m’óige a d’fhreastáil mé ar aonach Mhín na Croise agus chuaigh mé ag airnéal léi ar fud an oileán. D’fhoghlaim mé an tabhacht a bhaineann leis an chultúr agus teanga a choinneailt beo. Tá dluthcheangailt idir mo shaothar ealaíona agus na laethe a chaith mé i gcuideachta mhuintir an oileáin. Mothaim go bhfuil dualgas orm seans a thabhairt don chéad ghlúin eile an saibhreas sin a bhláiseadh.
D’oibrigh mé go crua ar cheolchoirm Mhná an Atlantaigh Fiáin i rith an tsamhraidh, go háirithe, ‘Homes of Donegal’, ‘Mary From Dungloe’, agus ‘Wild Atlantic Wednesdays’, ar an idirlíon ar mo leathanach féin, Brí Carr Music agus Wild Atlantic Women. D’éirigh go mór le na ceolchoirmeacha éagsúla, is féidir iad a fheiceáil ar na nascanna thíos.
Bhí mo chlann is mo chairde páirteach i gcláracha teilifíse agus raidió ar TG4, RTE, BBC agus UTV. Bhuaigh m’amhrán ‘Arainn Mhóir’ agus ‘Seolfaidh mé abhaile’ an comórtas Phan Cheilteach idirnaisiúnta, ‘Yesterday’ ‘It’s my time’ agus ‘My Father’s Legacy’ comórtais amhránaíochta éagsúla anuraidh agus i mbliana. Bhain an feactas turasóireachta idirnáisiúnta #fillyourheartwithireland úsáid as an amhrán agus físeán ‘Stad an Rás’ ó mo chéad albam an samhradh seo; agus tá ‘This Bride’ curtha amach agam ar na meáin sóisiálta.
Tá cuid mhór déanta ach tuilleadh le teacht!
My earliest memory of playing with my Dad was at Letterkenny Folk Festival in Glenveagh Castle...
Welcome to Brí Carr Music…
In 2017, following the success of ‘Happy Harmony’ by the Wild Atlantic Wains, I was kindly encouraged by Jim Corbett of Newtown Studios, Bundoran to think about recording my own songs, as up until this point, I was bringing young people from Blue Ribbon, school and my music circle to studios over the past 25 years, and Jim gently persuaded me to go for it myself.
Full Circle/Rotha an tsaoil:
I had the big blue book full of songs I always sang at afterparties, in the wee small hours of the morning after events with close family and friends… and I’ll never forget the fear, fun, excitement and exhilaration of allowing Jim to hear (and judge!) my secret material. He made me feel so relaxed, confident and competent, moving through the book to pick which of the songs I should include in this album.
It soon became apparent that my roots, my home, my family, my county as well as life’s ups and downs were a running theme, and that is how ‘Full Circle / Rotha an tsaoil’ came to be. I recently sang at a funeral in Fanad, where I was reminded by a certain bar & lounge owner that I’ve come a long way since that shy wee girlie who sang with her dad in his ‘Barney and the Circle’ band back in the day, happy to sit in the back seat and back all the bar singers no matter what song they would sing.
My earliest memory of playing with my Dad was at Letterkenny Folk Festival in Glenveagh Castle, so it seemed only natural to return to the same room, in the same castle, with an intimate audience of friends and family for that first album release, where we all had such a fantastic time, telling the stories of the songs and singing bits of them, creating new memories.
My first release, ‘Arainn Mhór’ featured on TG4 Nuacht as it was the first Irish language song to enter the World Download charts at No. 3 in over a decade. Huge thanks to Highland Radio, Raidio na Gaeltachta, BBC Nan Gaidheal, BBC Gaeilge & RTE Radio 1 for still giving it a spin on the wireless almost every week.
Roots/ Fréamhacha:
When Covid 19 hit, I was just one song away from finishing my follow-up album and plans for a New England launch and tour were cancelled as the world-wide pandemic swallowed up life as we knew it, and my then working title ‘H.O.M.E’ took on a whole new reality… #stayathome! Although as disappointed and frustrated as my fellow musician colleagues, I decided to go a new direction, focus on the positives, build on networking, experiment with videography and continue writing, never for one minute dreaming that the Covid Era would be the most productive and intrinsically rewarding time of my creative career.
I loved working online with the Wild Atlantic Women, the Wild Atlantic Wains, solo facebook concerts, collaborations with other writers and artists, upskilling, remotely recording, finishing, renaming and producing the new album, as well as moving outside my comfort zone and putting collaborative concerts together for the Donegal Diaspora here in Donegal and abroad.
I am fortunate that local, national and international radio stations continued to play my new music throughout the year, giving me a platform to showcase the work, and for that I am truly grateful. ‘A little Bit Diva’ spent two weeks on RTE Most Recommended Playlist, a collaboration which we recorded remotely online, with Newtown Studios and The Henry Girls.
CDs
Music Videos
ÁRAINN MHÓR
LITTLE BIT OF DIVA feat. THE HENRY GIRLS
CAELA’S VERSE ‘MY FATHER”S LEGACY’
DÚN NA NGALL
TUNNEL TIGERS
FOR A FULL LISTING OF MUSIC VIDEOS, PLEASE VISIT MY YOU TUBE CHANNEL, OR MY FACEBOOK PAGE