They’ve sung before the Queen, backed Rod Stewart and Stevie Wonder and in their 15 years of existence have been celebrated ambassadors for the sound of gospel. They will sing at The Dublin New Year’s Eve Festival beginning at 8.45 on 31 December 2011 at Christ Church cathedral followed by the ringing in of the New Year on the cathedral bells.
Their origins go back to a graduation ceremony in a Dublin secondary school. They soon became the choir of St Mary Of The Angels, named after their local church.
Brendan O’Regan spoke to Orla Gargan, the musical director of the choir.
Orla, who has bee with the choir for 11 of those 15 years, admits that the film Sister Act was part of the inspiration. It wasn’t long before they spread their wings to other venues but without losing touch with their faith background. In the early days they performed their Nights Of Soul at many churches in Dublin and also performed in small theatre venues around the capital and beyond.
“We essentially run a professional choir other than the fact that the singers give their time voluntarily for the most part,” explained Orla. “There are around 35 members, but on any given night there might be around 20 singers in the choir.” This allows the busy members to be flexible. That’s particularly important around Christmas time. “We had 13 events in Christmas week this year!”
Some members have been with the choir from the beginning, but they like to bring in new members. Commented Orla, “It’s hard to get men into the choir. At the moment there are roughly four females to every male.” Not surprisingly for such a close community there have been romances and marriages in the choir, and of course the choir finds itself singing at the weddings.
Among the Irish performers they have supported are the Chieftains, Damien Rice, Paddy Casey and Chris de Burgh (on BBC’s Songs Of Praise). A recent event included backing some Irish politicians for a charity single of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Before Christmas this was outselling Simon & Garfunkel’s version.
The choir has released two albums to date. ‘Moving On’ (2006) features gospel classics like “Oh Happy Day” and “Swing Low Sweet Chariot”, and ‘Doing Their Thing’ (2009), featuring less familiar works like their own “Liberty Bell”, a Dublin gospel song written by Ken McHugh and Carol Keogh, and “Faith”, penned by one Naylor. What is particularly impressive are the new arrangements to “Here I Am Lord” and “Make Me A Channel”. The funk/soul versions of the oldies undoubtedly connect with young people while there are plenty of more traditional gospel tracks.
For rest of this interview:
http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/music/Dublin_Gospel_Choir_Providing_backups_for_Rod_Stewart_and_Irish_fire_for_Kirk_Franklin/46478/p1/
YouTube video of the choir:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zcohxCWcAU
Reviews of CD’s at:
http://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/artists/21496/
Website:
www.dublingospelchoir.com