It was a bit of a coup for Blake’s to be a vessel to host the for-the-ages voice of Lisa O’Neill last night. The Cavan singer told us that this was her Fermanagh debut – a remarkable fact really given how far she has travelled and performed down the years. I myself saw her at the Festival Hall in London at the 1916 centenary concert attended by the then President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins.
The initial idea was to host the gig in the old Victorian Church Street side bar which is an absolute pearl of a space. But it is tiny. And the Franciscan styled Atrium is bigger. And demand necessitated the move.
Laytha opened – the folk duo who are in residency in the old bar on Wednesday nights at the long running Folk Club. They sang Aslan’s ‘Crazy World’, The Corrs’ ‘Runaway’ and more in close harmony.
Lisa who played banjo and guitar in addition to her spectacularly wise and deep toned seer-like vocals was backed by Mic Geraghty from Dublin on harmonium and guitar, Joe Doyle from Co. Kildare on double bass and Brian Leach from Co. Cork banging a drum but even more interestingly on the unusual hammered dulcimer, a gift from a Chinese friend who left it behind.
The main music opened with ‘Well Below the Valley’ a song Lisa told us she learned from Christy Moore – his version is above – who had learned it from John Reilly. She described it as “biblical – some say the story is wrapped around Mary Magdalene.”
Socially conscious in her talks to the audience between songs she mentioned how society is dealing with a lot of domestic violence against women and her song ‘Silver Seed’ seemed to me like an amulet against such cruelty.
I was only able to dip into the set for the first half dozen songs and couldn’t stay to the end but was blown away by Lisa’s voice, tickled immensely by the dainty dance steps she took at times accompanied by daring thrusts and face contortions transforming herself as if she had somehow became a good fortune bringing (or maybe not) púca. I liked ‘Pothole in the Sky’ – and the moving ‘Violet Gibson’ about a woman who tried to kill Mussolini. A new song dedicated to Frederick Douglass a visionary African American abolitionist, orator, author and statesman who was fêted in Ireland when he visited in the Daniel O’Connell era also worked well. And the version of Randy Newman’s ‘I Think It’s Going To Rain Today’ was also very satisfying.
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