ANUNA - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Michael McGlynn founded Anuna in late 1987 in his native Ireland, and having been brought up on the Sex Pistols and Debussy from an early age, didn’t really understand that choirs were supposed to behave and sing in a certain way. Thus the Anuna story began. Today Anuna is still run by Michael and his twin brother John McGlynn .Although Anuna are best-known in some circles as the "choir-who-sang-in-Riverdance", the group’s history and ethos transcend the whole Celtic genre. The genesis of the group came long before Riverdance. Anuna remain one of the most unusual musical voices around today. Not classical, not folk, not world, not Celtic... Anuna was formed also as a response to the rising clamour for change in their native Ireland, and the need to find a voice that fell between the two stools of Irish music, Traditional and Rock.Anuna are known by name in Ireland, as they spent 18 weeks at number one in the Irish charts in 1994 with the single Riverdance, and entered the U.K. top 10 the same year. However, Anuna bear scant resemblance to any of the so-called Celtic shows or fashionable trends of the moment. Much of the music is exotic and unusual, spanning over 1000 years of history and their uniquely beautiful vocal sound has resulted in multiple collaborations with artists such as Secret Garden, The Chieftains, Sinead O Connor and Elvis Costello, to name but a very few. They have also won an Irish National Entertainment Award for Classical music in their own country, and been nominated for a Classical Brit Award in the UK. Their own albums have charted in the Irish charts and in UK and US Specialist charts over the last 10 years. They have appeared on three Grammy Award winning albums, twice with the Chieftains.The choir have had around 150 members in total since 1987, and tour with between 11 and 14 singers. Their shows are very different to any other show that a choral group would attempt to do. The group are costumed in cloaks and long gothic-style dresses for the women, and sub-star trek uniforms for the men. They use the entire venue when performing, and the atmosphere is electric. The albums, of which there are around 10, are hugely varied, but in recent years output has declined. Happily in 2006 Anuna released SENSATION, their first original album since 2000, which has been described as "a major leap forward" [Hot Press] and "an agile leap into the unknown" by The Irish Times. In Autumn 2007 Anuna will undertake a two month tour of the USA, and their programme "Anuna - Celtic Origins" will be broadcast nationwide there on PBS in August/September, followed by a major DVD and CD release. .There is a huge site at www.anuna.ie .VISIT THE SPECIAL MINI SITE FOR ANUNA’S LATEST ALBUM "ANUNA - SENSATION"

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 2/8/2006
Band Website: anuna.ie
Sounds Like:
Record Label: Various licenses internationally - but independent
Type of Label: None

My Blog

BBC

Anúna feature heavily, and Michael is interviewed, in the first half hour of this week's edition of the BBC Radio 3 programme The Choir December 2nd - you can hear the latest edition here for one week...
Posted by ANUNA on Sun, 02 Dec 2007 03:36:00 PST

2007

20 years old...There are at least three members of Anuna that weren't born when I set the group up in 1987. I don't feel any different about music, and I don't feel any older. I set up Anuna to fulfil...
Posted by ANUNA on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 02:04:00 PST

3 Down, 37 to go...

It has taken an entire year of planning and organization, and now we are here - the biggest enterprise that we have undertaken has got off to a very good start in Columbus, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh [...
Posted by ANUNA on Sat, 06 Oct 2007 08:46:00 PST

Anuna Borders Success

"Anuna : Celtic Origins" has been soundscanned at number one this week in the Nielsen Soundscan World Music Charts. To put this in context - the last chart placing we had in the USA was in 1995 for "A...
Posted by ANUNA on Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:28:00 PST

"Anuna : Celtic Origins" number one CD at Borders!

I got this this morning - very nice news indeed - thanks to everyone for their support! It all sounds quite corporate, but as Denny Young points out below, Anuna is not a Pop or Rock act, so achieving...
Posted by ANUNA on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 05:15:00 PST

Newfoundland

Anuna returned very recently from an appearance at Festival 500 in Newfoundland, Canada. Besides the good times and cod-kissing [the fish], we actually learnt a considerable amount about ourselves and...
Posted by ANUNA on Fri, 27 Jul 2007 02:57:00 PST

Anuna : Celtic Origins on MPT this MONDAY

Hi to you allYou have a chance to get a preview of the nationwide August broadcast of "Anuna : Celtic Origins" - an 80 minute live concert performance given by Anuna in conjunction with Elevation Grou...
Posted by ANUNA on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:11:00 PST

Review of "Sensation" by All Music Guide

Sensation, the 10th album by Irish choral ensemble Anúna, brings together a wide assortment of music, all of it arranged or composed by its conductor, Michael McGlynn. While McGlynn's treatments may r...
Posted by ANUNA on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 02:24:00 PST

Eclipse

Most of Anuna are following the progress of the the extraordinary Lunar Eclipse taking place tonight over Ireland. As the evening progresses the moon has gradually darkened and is now blood red as I t...
Posted by ANUNA on Sat, 03 Mar 2007 03:14:00 PST

More views of Irish choral music by Michael

THE IRISH TIMES : Monday June 5th 2006A way to find different voices in this multi-ethnic ageChoral Music is of huge benefit to all involved, young and old, but it needs support if it is to thrive, wr...
Posted by ANUNA on Thu, 04 Jan 2007 02:02:00 PST