Emerging folk artists to renew vibrant traditional scene at the RTÉ Folk Awards

As we muddle our way through a second coronavirus winter, and artists teeter on shifting sands, the return of the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards offers some balm, and not a small tincture of optimism for the future. An eclectic nominations list offers much evidence of growth, regeneration and renewal. Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill, and Aidan O’Rourke might raise an eyebrow for nominations of material that might sit more comfortably in contemporary singer/songwriter terrain than in a distinctly folk space. But these awards have set their stall out with a welcoming flourish: drawing into their gabháil music and musicians whose primary allegiance runs the gamut of soft pop to pure trad, with many stops in between.

The Best Emerging Artist category is a good place to go for a measure of our musical landscape, and this year’s list of nominees suggests there are many rivers and tributaries of vibrant sound coursing through the length and breadth of the country. This comes despite the stranglehold the pandemic has placed on artistic expression over the past 19 months.

There’s no denying that the harp has come into its own in recent years, and this year’s Lá na Cruite/Harp Day on October 16th sought to seize the moments offered to us during the pandemic. This year’s theme was Harps Alive: Harp Ireland’s “response to a renewed sense of awareness of the beauty of the world around us – when we paused to listen and to look around us with a new perspective; hearing bird song, getting out and about, walking on our beautiful hills and coastal areas, and relating to nature in a different way.”

Two of the five nominees in the Best Emerging Artist category are harpers. Brídín is a contemporary harper from Sligo and Alannah Thornburgh is from Mayo. Each musician brings their own unique relationship with this most complex of instruments to diverse listeners. Thornburgh makes no secret of her surprise and delight at news of her nomination, particularly in the context of the harp's ascendency in recent years.

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“We’ve got such a global community now,” she says. “Harp day, Lá na Cruite was such an amazing day of events. It’s great to see people coming together and celebrating our national instrument, and it’s fantastic that everyone’s really supportive of each other too. I’ve played harp since I was 11 and it’s always been like that. I’ve always felt so welcome.”

Thornburgh can look askance at the unlikeliest of music and make it her own. Her interpretation of the late (fellow Mayo musician) Conor Walsh’s The Front, is a striking snapshot of the space that she occupies: unforced, fluid and utterly at home in her own sound.

Ambient

“I grew up playing traditional Irish music,” she explains, “but I branched out . . . My father’s American, so I grew up listening to all kinds of music: jazz and Appalachian music. And then I was good friends with Conor Walsh and his music really inspired me: his ambient, minimalist style. His music was very much inspired by the Mayo landscapes and I thought it lent itself very much to the harp.”

Thornburgh’s key influences have been her teacher, Gráinne Hambly, Laoise Kelly (both also from Mayo) and Scottish harper, Maeve Gilchrist. A member of the band Alfi, Thornburgh is busily working away and playing some gigs when the opportunity arises.

“I’m currently working on an album of original compositions inspired by faerie folklore in Co Mayo,” she says. “I will also be releasing my tune Branjo on Bandcamp, Spotify and other streaming sites on the 5th of November, so it will be more readily available as opposed to being on YouTube and social media sites.”

Collaboration

John Francis Flynn’s 2021 groundbreaking solo debut, I Would Not Live Always, introduced him to a new international audience and heralded a robust and distinctive new voice – albeit of an artist who had already chalked up the road miles as a member of traditional music group, Skipper’s Alley. It seems that he encountered little difficulty transitioning to the role of solo artist, with a repertoire that was wide and deep.

“The difference is that there are more opinions in a band so there’s a balance to be met,” he offers. “This, being my own project, while I was collaborating with a few different people in the process of making the album, it was my decision ultimately, so I called the shots, I suppose. It was the first time I directed the whole thing myself. There are a lot of external songs that wouldn’t have been from a traditional background, and I was collaborating with people who don’t have a background in trad, so that was really interesting. It was all new to me and it was very exciting.”

His solo debut on River Lea Records featured a mix of songs that were distinctly Catholic in taste, including a cover of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger’s Come me little son, a Napoleonic ballad and a West Indian sea shanty. The burgeoning interest in robust trad/folk artists including himself, Lankum and Lisa O’Neill, hints at the role that such a wide-angle lens can play in introducing listeners to folk music.

“I’m into traditional music anyway,” he offers. “But when I was growing up, all my friends thought it was weird. But I suppose arranging traditional songs in a more contemporary soundscape is a gateway into that world for some people. I’m not saying that that’s what I was intending to do. I’m just making music that I’m interested in, and if that happens to be the gateway into traditional music for some people then great.”

Flynn has been centrally involved in the campaign to save the Cobblestone, a traditional Dublin pub at the centre of controversy, as plans to build a hotel around the popular spot were announced. He acknowledges that singing folk songs can be an act of activism, but this campaign has overwhelmed him in its success.

“There’s no bigger statement than building a hotel on top of the Cobblestone,” he insists. “It’s such a cultural hub, a cultural centre in Ireland. If they can do that, they can do anything. We’re planning a number of what we’re calling “artistic interventions”, vignettes, pop-up events around the city. It’s become a bigger thing than just being about the Cobblestone, which is great.”

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin and Ultan O'Brien, also members of Skippers Alley, are nominated alongside their bandmate, Flynn, in the Best Emerging Artists category. The duo recently released a powerful album, Solas an lae, founded on what they see as an almost visceral relationship between bare-boned voice and fiddle.

“I remember at one point hearing recordings of the fiddler Néillidh Boyle saying the fiddle was the instrument that was most akin to the human voice,” Ó Ceannabháin offers. “That’s something that rings true to me anyway, particularly with our style of playing and singing – the bending of notes, the ornamentation – it can meld into one at times and diverge in different directions at other times. And there’s great range in the old songs and tunes themselves: they can be contemplative, soothing, rambunctious. There’s plenty of scope!”

For O’Brien, this nomination resonates deeply. “It’s great to receive the recognition,” he acknowledges. “This album and the process of creating it has a special meaning for both of us.”

The RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Award nominees are:

Best Original Folk Track

Almost – Susan O’Neill

Bread and Wine – Adrian Crowley

Chain Reaction – Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill

Patsy Cline – Jack O’Rourke

Taking The Wheel – Joshua Burnside and Laura Quirke

Best Traditional Folk Track

An Bhuatais & The Meaning of Life – Lorcán MacMathúna

Cúirt Bhaile Nua - Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien

Easter Snow / Sally Gally– Ryan Molloy and Padraig McGovern

I’m a Rover – Ye Vagabonds

My Son Tim – John Francis Fynn

Peggy Gordon – Lisa O’Neill and Colm Mac Con Iomaire

Best Folk Singer

John Francis Flynn

Emma Langford

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

Susan O’Neill

Declan O’Rourke

Best Folk Instrumentalist

Brian Finnegan

Martin Hayes

Ryan Molloy

Caoimhín O Fearghaill

Alannah Thornburgh

Best Folk Group

Greenshine

Moxie

The Whileaways

Villagers

Ye Vagabonds

Best Folk Album

I Would Not Live Always – John Francis Flynn

They’re Calling Me Home – Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi

In the Game – Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill

Solas an Lae – Eoghan O’Ceannabháin and Ultan O’Brien

Where I Should End – Saint Sister

Best Emerging Artist

Bridín

John Francis Flynn

Dani Larkin

Eoghan O’Ceannabháin and Ultan O’Brien

Alannah Thornburgh

The RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards are live from Vicar Street on RTÉ Radio 1 on November 16th, presented by John Creedon and Ruth Smith. Highlights are on RTÉ One television November 20th, at 10.40pm.