'Façade : special bonus edition' all seemed like a big of a stretch at the time it was being planned! We wanted to create something diverse, pure, melodic and honest. Most of the songs were recorded in one take, while I was admittedly ill, and that's the way it should be. That is how the old Gaelic songs were recorded by the likes of Róise na nAmhrán and Néillà Nà Dhomhnaill back in the old days. The only difference is, I'm not great with ornamentation and like to keep vocals clean - which contradicts my eagerness to promote the old styles. Well, you guessed it. I am very odd, but very very friendly! Pleased to meet you!
Hi, I'm Robbi! I'm a musician, web designer, chatterbox and above all, I'm human, although I'm quite quirky.
I started singing when I was around 7 at home for my great-grand-aunt who had Parkinson's. My wee aunt Mary was very into Daniel O'Donnell and Finbar Wright, so that is what I sang (sung??) for her. Since, I've enjoyed listening to all types of music by musicians from all backgrounds and with many different goals. I see my goal... well, imagine it a lot. I aim to make people smile, through ancient Gaelic songs (Irish and Scottish) and of course through new English and Gaelic songs.
'Façade : special bonus edition' is a way to show I'm not going away! My aim is not to be famous, I'd never make it far anyway. I live for simplicity, and I'm don't have the strongest voice about! When I first heard Clannad's 'Theme from Harry's Game' on tape as a child, I was literally enthralled by them. I heard the likes of Máire Brennan, Altan's Mairéad Nà Mhaonaigh, and a lot of the soul/lounge singers my mum listened to, as well as Eithne Nà Bhraonáin's 'Cursum Perficio'.
Each of those musicians gave me the idea of simplicity. Although the arrangements on those musicians' songs are very very complex, and the musicians themselves masters of their genres, their music sounded pure. I've always seen myself as a purist, although you'll probably hear a lot of my music contradicting that. I mess about with ideas and try and make something my own, which is usually very rewarding.
This new album is very simple, very bare. It's an album that I enjoyed making, and album that was inspired by the happiness and love in this world and also by the bitterness and pain and gossip that everyone on this planet has and will succumb to on many, many occasions in their lifetime. Already I am working on new material - for a different genre, but each second of material I record it influenced by the work that I have done in the past, and introduces itself to a new idea - that tiny idea that sparks in a millisecond that I have to hang onto as quickly as I can, before it dissolves.
I hope you enjoy my music, my books, my artwork. Above all, I hope you enjoy me as a person. Feel free at any time to drop a comment and I'll try my best to reply. Thank you very very much for taking your time to read this =)
If you would like to read the boring press biog, please click here .
Mo ghrá go mór thú as ucht do chuid ama, Robbi.x
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