Coda present two gigs this October bank holiday weekend
AS the world of music is finally reawakening after such a long period of silence, people everywhere are keen to seek out the nourishment provided by live performance.
Westport-based Coda is ready to soothe the souls of musical fans this October bank holiday weekend with what promises to be two very special performances.
On Saturday, October 23, Coda will perform in the beautiful setting of Holy Trinity Church, Westport, as part of this year’s Westival. They will share the evening with Dani Larkin, from the Armagh-Monaghan border, who is being heralded as ‘one of the finest songwriters of our time’.
The following night, Sunday, October 24, as part of the online Achill International Harp Festival, fans of Coda and harp music are in for a very special treat, as Coda will perform nine songs written by the famous Irish harper, bard and composer, Turlough O’Carolan. They will be joined for this premiere by Westport-based harpist Freda Hatton.
Coda is a group of seven singers and musicians; Declan Askin, Steve Bryant, Mike Cannon, Alan Drumm, Leonard Kelly, Brian Lennon and Conall Ó Domhnaill. They are noted for combining strong backgrounds in Irish traditional, folk and contemporary popular music with an acapella singing ability.
Drawing on vocal talent from the west of Ireland, Coda began developing their own approach to vocal performance several years ago. They offer an exciting new perspective on traditional and contemporary folk songs, original compositions and popular songs.
Their wide-ranging repertoire comprises both acapella arrangements and self-accompanied songs with a traditional Irish twist.
Mike Harding described Coda as ‘One of the most exciting bands’ he ever heard, and Earle Hitchner of the Wall Street Journal said that he regarded them ‘as an invigorating and restoring breath of fresh air’.
Speaking ahead of the Westival live performance, Coda member Conall Ó Domhnaill said: “We are delighted to be returning to the stage. It has been almost two years since we stood in front of a live audience and we are really looking forward to doing that at Westival.”
When asked about the specially commissioned performance for the Achill Harp Festival, Ó Domhnaill said: “We were thrilled to be asked by the Achill Harp Festival to get involved in this project.
“Tunes that we had been listening to for years now took on a whole new meaning when we realised that they were originally written as songs.
“It was wonderful to work with renowned harper Freda Hatton. The harp works so well with our voices and instruments and we are so looking forward to performing them again into the future.
“As an added bonus, we got to work with TG4’s Cumadóir na Bliana (Composer of the Year), Steve Cooney. His insight into the tunes and instrumentation added greatly to our arrangements.”
Tickets for the Westival performance are available at https://westival.ie/event/an-evening-with-dani-larkin-coda/ and the Achill International Harp Festival performance will be broadcast on https://achillharpfestival.ie/.