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Photo by Peer Lindgren [Biography adapted from an original text by Stuart Bailie. Courtesy of Universal Music].
Moya Brennan was one of the founders of legendary Irish group Clannad. To
date, Clannad have sold around 10 million records. Moya and two of her brothers,
Pol and Ciaran played their first shows with uncles Noel and Padraig Duggan in
the 1970s. All the band members spoke Gaelic as their first language, and their
commercial chances seemed modest. However, they made a breakthrough record,
Theme From Harry?s Game in 1982, which reached number five in the UK charts,
and appeared on the ?Patriot Games? soundtrack ten years later.
In 1986, the Clannad release, In A Lifetime, found Moya sharing vocals
with Bono from U2. A compilation, Pastpresent, reached number five in the
UK albums chart in 1989. The band won a Grammy Award (for 1997?s Landmarks),
and provided the theme music to Last Of The Mohicans and Robin Of
Sherwood, while Moya also sang the theme to Circle Of Friends in
1995.
Moya has also collaborated with a host of well known musicians, including Paul
Young, Bruce Hornsby, Joe Jackson, Robert Plant, Shane McGowan Paul Brady and
Russell Watson. In 1999 she scored a worldwide hit with Chicane on ?Saltwater?.
Moya?s solo albums include Maire (1992), Misty Eyed Adventures
(1995), Perfect Time (1998) and Whisper To The Wild Water (1999).
Her autobiography, The Other Side of the Rainbow (2000), was a powerful
and honest account of music, fame, misfortune, love and spirituality.
The Two Horizons project, released in 2004, produced 80 minutes of music
that Moya and producer Ross Cullum were happy with. In the final stages, Chris
Hughes came in to oversee the final editing of the record, lending fresh ears
and experience to shaping the finished product.
?It was a monumental task bringing the album down to its final running time
but we?ve encapsulated the essence of what we started with.? Moya says.
The same degree of synergy carried Two Horizons through photo sessions
and designers. Artwork and costumes echo the Two Horizons theme and
soulfulness of the music. Everyone seemed to appreciate and understand the
project?s broad picture, much to Moya?s satisfaction.
?I think it?s the best thing I?ve done,? she enthused. ?I?m loving it.
I?ve never heard my voice sound the way it does now. The production is fantastic
and the harp sounds amazing, which is very much a part of what the record is
about.?
Moya used her new record to celebrate the Irish harp in her own personal scheme.
Coming from Donegal, in the North West of Ireland she had learnt to play the
harp as a schoolgirl and it was the start of an enduring love. However, she was
often reluctant to highlight her playing in public. She felt that the harp was
over-exposed ? a national emblem, often degraded by the advertising trade. Even
with Clannad, a group that has drawn from the deep wells of Irish tradition,
there has been a rather coy attitude to the harp. Not so this time.
Moya started this project in the summer of 2001. From an early stage, she?d been
convinced that this record should have some kind of a narrative. To this extent,
she was encouraged by her new record company and particularly by Max Hole, a key
figure at Universal International. Moya started working on storyboards, aiming
to thread a series of songs around a defined theme.
She was thinking about Ireland?s past, and her reading included the blind
harpist, Turlough O? Carolan. She was also fascinated by the global use of harp
music in many of the world?s traditional cultures and possible Irish
connections, for instance, the kora harp in West Africa. Meanwhile a close
friend was researching the ancient site of Tara, where, according to legend, the
High Kings of Ireland met in pursuit of reconciliation and sublime art.
The title Two Horizons was partly inspired by a visit to the site of
Tara. She?d arrived just before dawn, and when she ascended the hill, the moon
was on one horizon, and directly opposite, the sun was on the rise. Here it was,
a perfect metaphor for the past and the future, a place where music, memories
and myth could all take shape.
Moya split her recording sessions between her home studio near Dublin and that
of her producer, Ross Cullum, in London. Ross had previously worked on records
by Tori Amos, Tears For Fears, and even Moya?s sister, Enya. They began writing
together, and on the track ?Bright Star?, Moya was so inspired that she produced
the words and vocal lines in two hours. Also, Ross was finding new ways to frame
Moya?s voice. ?He was careful not to take my music out of its context,?
she notes. ?But he also gave a modern, rhythmical aspect to it.?
The energy of the project kept bringing her back to the harp and so the
instrument appeared on a series of tracks. It also became an important motif in
the theme ? a quest through time and landscape to find the legendary harp that
played at Tara. At a certain stage in recording the album Moya felt that the
storyline had become too specific. She then decided to make things more open to
interpretation. ?When people talk to me about what Clannad?s music has done
to them,? she explains, ?they say that they put the record on and they form
their own pictures and feelings and emotions. So I wanted to leave a certain
amount to the imagination.?
Guest musicians on the album included folk giant Martin Carthy, Robbie McIntosh
(sometime Paul McCartney guitarist) and old friend Anto Drennan, now working
with The Corrs. Moya?s band also played live on some key sessions, while a
wealth of traditional players included Maire Breatnach, Nigel Eaton and Troy
Doneckley.
Moya is often asked whether Clannad is still an ongoing prospect. ?The band
still exists, even though we?ve taken time out? she stresses. ?There?s
still stuff to be done there.? |
