Rhythms In May, 2015

Tower Hotel Waterford, May 2015

Written by Pat McEvoy, Arts Correspondent, Waterford News & Star, ‘A View from the Green Room’.

Rhythms in May in Waterford

Waterford Male Voice Choir presented their annual and only fund-raising concert (the rest of their work is exclusively for charity) to a packed Tower Hotel last Wednesday night. It was a concert for everyone with various local acts combining with the choir to provide a strong evening of entertainment. With strong Direction by Cian O’Carroll and accompanied by a very sympathetic Cecilia Keogh on piano, the choir’s opening Shenandoah brought dreams of deep valleys and pine forests in a valley that is part of the folk-myth of the West. What I like about the choir are the clean entries and exits, the engagement and eye-contact with the conductor, the absence of scores, and the layered textures of the pieces. I also would like to see more facial expression from the choir as every face tells its own story and a blank expressionless expression does little to engage the audience. Two challenging pieces, with tricky tempi and dissonant themes by Faure and Ramsey followed before an imaginative arrangement of Amazing Grace had the audience humming along.

Local traditional group Croí agus Anam gave us four traditional arrangements that were entertaining if somewhat slow. I felt an opportunity had been missed to give us a lively set that would have brought great life to the concert. While the pieces were sensitively performed and interpreted, I would have preferred a lot more croí and a little less anam.

Well-known local singer Donna Roche dreamed of an end to troubles Over the Rainbow before delivering a poignant and moving I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis. Donna’s rich rounded notes and powerful soprano brought richness to her interpretation of the two classics while on her on-stage presence was comfortable and engaging.

Dordán, conducted by Damien Kehoe, is a new choir to the city with a growing reputation. This is clearly a talented group of singers with quite a unique base sound that is evocative of their title Dordán meaning hum, chant or buzz. Damien, uniquely, conducts some numbers from his guitar which he uses as an accompaniment. It’s a challenging choice, given the fact that both hands are occupied while trying to conduct. On the night sound levels on his amp were high, overpowering and sometimes drowned out the choir. Nevertheless the quality of the voices was obvious in She Moves through the Fair and Danny Boy.

Strange Fruit gave a funky set that was a mix of county, tradition and original music. Clíona Gahan’s folk-soprano communicates well. I loved their original Hometown that tells the story of an awakening Waterford city, the frost on the Applemarket and the dark rain on the Quays, with the insistent theme: ‘this is my history; it’s all that I can be’. Guest star Dominic McGrorian combined with Donna Roche in The Prayer which was the vocal highlight of the evening before the Male Voice Choir closed out the evening with a superb set of Softly as I Leave You, Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves and the marvellous come the Sails which was composed especially for the Tall Ships Festival.

There’s a dynamic about the Waterford Male Voice Choir that has to be admired. Everything done at their concerts is done well and the pride in the tuxedo is always obvious. The members really sell their concert and sub-committees drive it forward. We had 14 excellent raffle prizes, an informative host in Imelda Kirwan (who remembered Denny Corcoran and Fr. Seán Melody on the night), a well-run back-room team and a Chairman in Pat O’Reilly, who clearly put a lot of thought into his curtain speech. The choir regularly perform in charity concerts, nursing homes and hospitals, church fund-raisers and are expansive in their programmes and itineraries. Last year they performed in Rome and next year they journey to Vienna. New members are always welcome.

Waterford Male Voice Choir dedicated their annual fund-raising concert to the memory of my good friend and former member Brendan Drohan, whose family was in attendance. It was a moving gesture from a group that had lost a cherished friend. Brendan, whose quiet and gentle demeanour touched everyone, would have been pleased.