Golden Lights and Green
Shadows - Review
'A Light Touch of Green and Gold'
Irish Music Magazine
Spending
most of her time touring abroad, Gráinne has garnered
a fine reputation for herself both as a performer and as a
teacher. She recently released her second solo album "Golden
Lights and Green Shadows", the title of which is taken from
the poem 'To the Oaks of Glencree' by J M Synge. This album
is pure harp with no other accompaniment to the melodies but
the harp itself. "I used a lot of local tunes, ones
collected by Joe Byrne from old musicians in the area. These
are dance tunes and then there's few pieces from Bunting and
Carolan". In fact the source credits list many great
musicians and collections from Petrie to Goodman, Joyce,
O'Neill, Connellan and Jackson. Like many people,
Gráinne never imagined the scope of the harp,
thinking about it in terms of slow pieces and airs. She was
amazed when she first heard dance tunes being played on the
harp and indeed that was what attracted her to it as an
instrument.
Gráinne began playing the harp at the ripe old age of 14, having started on the whistle when she was only 5 years old before moving onto the concertina at 11. She still plays concertina and it's her instrument of choice when going to a session to play some music in company. "You can actually hear yourself play", she says. "The harp is nice for a small session, but you can fall into the accompanying role and while I like accompanying, after a few hours it gets boring".
Born and raised in Mayo Abbey, about five miles from Claremorris in County Mayo, Gráinne is the oldest of three girls who all play. They inherited their love for traditional music from their parents who both came from musical households. "My father plays fiddle and my mother's father and uncle played melodeon and sang," says Gráinne. "They were enthusiastic and wanted us to have a chance to learn so they were prepared to bring us any distance to classes, summer schools and workshops." It was while at the Willie Clancy week in Milltown Malbay that they first 'encountered' the harp. "There happened to be a harp in a shop window," says Gráinne, "and my younger sister who was about 7 at the time spotted it and immediately she said she wanted to play the harp. It was just by chance that at the same time we came across this brochure about a summer school in Glencolmkille with Janet Harbison where you could go and rent a harp for a week and try it out. So my parents booked us all in to this and I wasn't at all keen to go, but once we got there, within the first hour, I just loved it."
At the end of that first week they bought a harp and the rest as they say is history! "I had all the tunes in my head" says Gráinne, "and I really wanted to play them. There was no one teaching in Mayo at the time, so we ended up going back to Janet Harbison who had run the summer school. At that time she was running weekend workshops every six weeks or so in Belfast or Monaghan or Dublin. Because it was just one class, with everyone in together, I was able to progress very quickly."
Gráinne's knowledge of the piano was a big help in getting used to playing chords in the left hand with the melody in the right. She progressed so well that she became a member of Janet's Belfast Harp Orchestra when only 16. The orchestra, founded to commemorate the bicentenary of the 1792 Harper's Assembly, toured extensively and produced various recordings, one of which was 'The Celtic Harp', the Grammy award winning collaboration with The Chieftains. "It was great fun" says Gráinne, "and in terms of performance experience it was great." One of the highlights of her time with the orchestra was performing at Carnegie Hall, a once in a lifetime experience. Gráinne, no longer a full time member of the orchestra, is delighted to join them occasionally like last May when they performed two tribute concerts to the late Derek Bell with The Chieftains in Dublin.
Gráinne went on to study music in Queen's University in Belfast graduating with B. Mus. She followed that with a Master's degree for which she completed a research project on the harp in 18th century Ireland. Then she did a Higher Diploma in the University of Limerick. She's been a professional musician for the last two years, combining workshops and classes with performance.
As she does most of her work outside of Ireland, chiefly in the United States and in Europe, she is probably better known overseas than she is in Ireland. "Last year I went to the US for two months in September and I went over again in February, although I missed the first three weeks because of hassle with my visa, but thankfully I was able to re-schedule most things." Like many musicians who regularly travel to the United Satetes Gráinne doesn't understand why there isn't a system for people like her. "They must realise at this stage that I'm not trying to stay there!" she laughs. Her work in Europe takes her to Italy (where the venues are really beautiful places), Germany, France and Brittany. She participates in all the major festivals and harp conferences.
Gráinne has also produced a book of arrangements, mainly tunes from her first album 'Between the Showers' and she's working on a second one at the moment. "So many people were asking me for the music for different pieces telling me they found it difficult to learn the tunes by ear from the CD without hearing them played slowly, so eventually I gave in and brought out a book!"
Gráinne's second CD "Golden Lights and Green Shadows" like her first one, is a lively album demonstrating her love for dance tunes, but at the same time her complete respect for the older harp repertoire and slow airs. 'An Draigheann' is a highly charged slow air and 'An bhfaca tú mo Vailintín' is equally gorgeous. "I suppose the different thing that's happening with the harp now is the dance music," she says. "But I think it would be an awful shame to forget about the old music, it is beautiful and it suits the harp so well. No matter how well you play a jig or reel you can't beat a nice slow air, it can really show the instrument at its best because it's such an expressive instrument, you don't get as much of a chance to show that in the faster tunes."
Gráinne launched her album in May in the intimate environment of the Library in Claremorris. "I wanted to have a launch for the people I learnt from," says Gráinne. "People like Bernie Geraghty, Marion Egan and the local musicians."
She's thinking about moving to Galway in the near future, a slightly bigger population area, not too far from home, where there's more access to musicians and sessions. She's keen to promote the harp in traditional circles and despite her busy schedule overseas, she is keen to do more work in Ireland. "I'm very happy at the moment and have no long term plan. I'm really enjoying playing and I really enjoy touring, but I'd like to do more at home, more concerts around Ireland."
Gráinne has a web site where you can read more about her life and her achievements at www.grainne.harp.net and you can contact her at grainne@harp.net
Ita Kelly