MOYA BRENNAN / DE BARRA,CORMAC - Voices & Harps IV - [CD]

Voices & Harps IV ‘- the new album from Moya Brennan and Cormac De Barra - is a tribute to the legend that is Mary O’Hara. From sell-out shows at Carnegie Hall, The Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House to a BBC TV series and a catalogue of 29 albums, Mary’s voice & her harp brought Gaelic songs with Irish harp to a global audience, in a career that has spanned over six decades. ‘Voices & Harps IV’ draws on that repertoire of songs, both in English and Irish, and reimagines some of Mary’s best-known tracks - including “Lord of the Dance”, “The Spinning Wheel”, “Song of Fionnuala (Silent O Moyle)” and “An Maidrín Rua” - with Moya and Cormac’s creative musical synergy giving it their Voices & Harps touch. Moya Brennan was the voice of the now retired Clannad singing “Theme From Harry’s Game”, “I Will Find You” and “In a Lifetime”, while Cormac, partnered with Moya in Volumes 1-3, plays harp, and sings Mary O’Hara’s music inspired a generation of Irish musicians during the “folk revival” of the 1960s. It was in following Mary’s footsteps that Moya, the “First Lady of Celtic Music” herself, was inspired by her to take up the harp - starting in Sligo and going on to bring Voices & Harps music to the same global stages where Mary had played before her. What brings this story full-circle for both Moya and Cormac is that Mary’s first ever tour, was to the UK in 1954, as part of a harp trio with Cormac’s grandmother and his grand-aunt, Máirín (Mary’s harp teacher). Both were also the sources for Mary’s repertoire of Gaelic songs. In 2024, 70 years later, Moya and Cormac will be bringing these songs, refreshed, to the UK, Europe and beyond on tour. These connections all come together in this very special project that allows Moya and Cormac to pay honor to Mary O’Hara on this masterful new album.