Iarla Ó Lionáird

"Iarla Ó Lionáird's real triumph is his voice: as soft as a feather bed and as searingly sharp as a blade when the mood calls.""All told, Invisible Fields is a staggering mélange of light and shade, thoroughly mesmerising, ever-challenging to the senses and emotions and establishes Iarla Ó Lionaird as one of the most innovative forces in modern music."" He adopts an approach that combines modern magic with ancient mystery. There are none of the club beats that characterise the Afro-Celt’s sound. Instead, his haunting voice is offset against the sort of electronic abstraction favoured by Iceland’s Sigur Rós. Many of the songs are centuries-old laments. Tuirimh Mhic Fhinin Dhuibh, for instance, is retooled with a dark, minimalist arrangement for viola da gamba by the composer Gavin Bryars. Yet O’Lionaird sounds just as potent singing unaccompanied on I’m Weary of Lying Alone. It’s one of the few songs in English, but as Gaelic is one of the world’s most poetic tongues, literal meaning is rendered virtually irrelevant on a record of quite otherworldly beauty.""What do you get when you cross an Eno-esque appetite for sonic ambience with a past steeped in traditional music in general, and sean nós singing in particular? Invisible Fields - that's what. Genre-bending doesn't even come close to describing the Olympian leap of faith that Iarla Ó Lionáird has taken with this, his third - and by far his best - solo album"Iarla O Lionaird grew up and learned his craft in the musical heartland of Cuil Aodha in the West Cork Gaeltacht. This region though historically rich both in instrumental and vocal music grew in fame through its association with composer Sean O’Riada. Apart from his enormous role on the trajectory of Irish music generally, O’ Riada’s influence in Cuil Aodha was profound. His choir, Cor Cuil Aodha achieved cult status in traditional circles and it was in this milieu that Iarla O’Lionaird grew and developed his art. From his iconic early recording of the vision song “Aisling Gheal” whilst still a boy, through to his recordings with Tony McMahaon and Noel Hill, O’Lionaird established himself both as a masterful exponent of Sean Nos Song and as a pioneer in its renewal and development.Signed to the Realworld label in the mid 1990’s he would go on to make many ground breaking recordings with the multi million selling Afro Celt Soundsystem and achieved in this period two Grammy nominations. O’Lionaird’s three solo records have also received widespread plaudits at home and across the world. His most recent recorded work ‘Invisible Fields” was voted “Best Folk Record” by the Irish Times in 2006. Iarla has sung in his unique style for audiences across the globe from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Royal Opera House in London, from Cape Town to Moscow, Rome and Tokyo. His many television appearances include among others the “Later with Jools Holland Show” for the BBC and “The David Letterman Show” in the USA. His voice has also appeared on many film soundtracks including ‘The Gangs of New York” and “Hotel Rwanda”. In between touring he is currently writing his new album with Leo Abrahams and will also perform a new work with Composer Gavin Bryars this Autumn.