A FRESH approach to traditional Irish folk songs and sean-nós singing are at the heart of a new album from Clonakilty-based Emily Magner Hurley.
The composer and soprano singer arranged, produced and released Orainn, her second album, to great critical reviews and says that storytelling drew her to the sean-nós style.
‘It reminds me of opera but I get to sing it in a language that means so much more to me than German, French or Italian,’ Emily said.
‘It’s a tradition that allows the singer to put their emotional self as well as their vocal self into each piece. As a woman and an intensely emotional person, I love the opportunity to put that into my work.’
Emily mixes her love of the tradition with a fresh approach to the form.
‘For hundreds of years now, Irish music hasn’t stood completely in isolation,’ she said.
‘When Jean Butler took to the stage in 1994, the fiddle playing she danced to had a syncopation that has more in common with Eastern European music than we realise and how normal does a double-bass sound nowadays in Irish music but when we first heard Sharon Shannon’s 1991 Blackbird hornpipe, it turned heads.
‘I’m just the latest to “get a buzz” from experimenting and borrowing from other styles and schools to add to pieces we all recognise.’
Hailing from Whitechurch in north Cork, Emily met her husband in Clonakilty back in 2014 and has drawn on her links to the area.
‘My grandmother hailed from Goulacullan in Dunmanway and a generation further back puts me in Bantry and Glengariff.
‘My stomping ground is now a triangle between Skibbereen, Dunmanway and Timoleague. What more could a lady ask for!’
Aside from her music, Emily works with Stuttering Awareness Mental Wellbeing Ireland (SAMWI) to help those with a stutter learn to control their breath.
‘Much of my work with SAMWI is rooted in the skill set that I learned from Majella Cullagh,’ she said.
‘Breathing techniques and vocal warm-ups are key skills taught to all aspiring sopranos. They are also key to the preparation that many of those who live with a stutter undergo as they go about their daily lives.
‘By working with the likes of Clonakilty’s own Jamie Googan, I am able to teach others the skills that Majella taught me. It’s the musical equivalent of “pass it forward”.’
Orainn was named as album of the week on Peadar Ó Riada’s show, Cuireadh Chun Cheoil, on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and is available on streaming services or to purchase via emilymagnerhurleymusic.ie.
