15 April 2008
Album Price: £10.99
Ciara Considine: News
Ciara Considine's CD album Ó Mo Chroí (14th April 2008) - 14 April 2008
Trained as a concert-pianist, Ciara Considine took a trip back to her cultural roots in making an album of Ireland's much-loved traditional folk songs. It all started as something she wanted to do for her neice and nephews who were curious about their Irish heritage. Now released, Ciara's debut album is titled "Ó Mo Chroí "- Irish for "Of My Heart" from an old Irish saying. Recorded in MA Studios UK with Noel Rafferty, each of these folk songs has been musically arranged by Ciara with subtlety, making the album intimate, mystical and raw. A one-woman-album, she sings and plays all 8 instruments on the CD. There is nothing commercialized or 'airbrushed' about this album: produced independently, it bears the hall-mark of a sincere recording that reaches into the hearth of a home.
"Cheers & Sláinte everyone, enjoy!" - Ciara (12th April 2008) - 12 April 2008
"There is an old Irish phrase used to refer to a loved-one: 'Ó cuisle geal mo chroí '. It means 'Oh bright pulse of my heart'. This phrase is the inspiration behind my album. Each one of these traditional songs is essentially a story of love. Hand-in-hand with these stories of love are stories of loss, against the harsh back-drop of Ireland's historical famines, poverty and emigration. The songs were shared in the true folk tradition - around the kitchen table, by the hearth of the home, amid the jigs and reels - and passed down through the generations. Making this album was a real buzz, working with MA Studio's Noel Rafferty, having my brother John-Mark joining me in the 'Kilkelly' vocals, and having my fantastic friends and family supporting me. For Francesca, John-Patrick & Nico. Cheers everyone, enjoy!"
Song List Ó Mo Chroí (9th April 2008) - 9 April 2008
1 Black Is The Colour
2 Kilkelly, Ireland
3 She Moved Through The Fair
4 The Flower Of Magherally
5 The Parting Of Friends
6 Spancil Hill
7 Molly Bán
8 My Lagan Love
9 Farewell My Love, Remember Me
10 An Gaoth Úr
2 Kilkelly, Ireland
3 She Moved Through The Fair
4 The Flower Of Magherally
5 The Parting Of Friends
6 Spancil Hill
7 Molly Bán
8 My Lagan Love
9 Farewell My Love, Remember Me
10 An Gaoth Úr
"Child of the Gael" - Steve McDonald (2007) - 8 April 2008
Wherever we go my love,
Forever you'll know my love,
We will prevail my love,
The child of the gael my love.
Forever you'll know my love,
We will prevail my love,
The child of the gael my love.
Ballad Stanza - Thomas Moore (1779-1852) - 7 April 2008
I knew, by the smoke that so gracefully curl’d
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near;
And I said, “If there ’s peace to be found in the world,
A heart that was humble might hope for it here.”
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near;
And I said, “If there ’s peace to be found in the world,
A heart that was humble might hope for it here.”
"Unsung" - 2 April 2008
Olive-skinned with plaited dark hair,
Her hollow cheeks, a shadow of the Great Hunger,
Her skirt once swung to the rhythm of her smile,
Her darting eyes - sparks of her fiery pride.
For she had such promise, yet ne’er became a mother,
She dreamt of all those cities and towns
Where husbands are found
As she tended her hens and tilled the muddy land
In her cold, hard boots.
For yet another year, she missed the fair
In Lisdoonvarna town,
A candle in hand, she knelt in prayer
At the side of her fevered brother
Where she remained alone, amidst her books
Yearning, wondering - how must it feel
To know a loving man’s hand?
She did well to tread the brittle path of a life
Somehow lost in serving,
She never asked why, not once did she shy
From God’s call to love and to give,
Her sister’s children rose each day
To the bread she’d baked that dawn,
She’d proudly watch as they ate and laughed,
And studied and married and left.
Many did not understand her, stubborn,
Awkward and tough seemed she,
Her knuckles tired, her shawl thread-bare,
Her shoulders, hunched with age,
Disconnected she grew as time robbed her hearing
And decades laughed and passed her by.
But somewhere still in this green, lush land
Lies her hen-shed, a relic of stone
And tread her great-nephews remembering her name
As grass springs anew.
And what of this creature who so silently loved?
On hearing His whisper one morn as she woke,
Turned to the wall and died.
- An unsung crusade of ninety-six years.
(For 'Aunty-Anne' 1898-1994)
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Her hollow cheeks, a shadow of the Great Hunger,
Her skirt once swung to the rhythm of her smile,
Her darting eyes - sparks of her fiery pride.
For she had such promise, yet ne’er became a mother,
She dreamt of all those cities and towns
Where husbands are found
As she tended her hens and tilled the muddy land
In her cold, hard boots.
For yet another year, she missed the fair
In Lisdoonvarna town,
A candle in hand, she knelt in prayer
At the side of her fevered brother
Where she remained alone, amidst her books
Yearning, wondering - how must it feel
To know a loving man’s hand?
She did well to tread the brittle path of a life
Somehow lost in serving,
She never asked why, not once did she shy
From God’s call to love and to give,
Her sister’s children rose each day
To the bread she’d baked that dawn,
She’d proudly watch as they ate and laughed,
And studied and married and left.
Many did not understand her, stubborn,
Awkward and tough seemed she,
Her knuckles tired, her shawl thread-bare,
Her shoulders, hunched with age,
Disconnected she grew as time robbed her hearing
And decades laughed and passed her by.
But somewhere still in this green, lush land
Lies her hen-shed, a relic of stone
And tread her great-nephews remembering her name
As grass springs anew.
And what of this creature who so silently loved?
On hearing His whisper one morn as she woke,
Turned to the wall and died.
- An unsung crusade of ninety-six years.
(For 'Aunty-Anne' 1898-1994)
Back to top