Conn em a r a Lo v er The ability to be at ease in a new place is one of life’s greatest gifts, writes Dublin actress and singer Lisa Lambe in this thought-provoking love letter to Ireland. Having written her latest album in Connemara before releasing it amidst the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, she reflects on the true meaning of home
Home. Identity. Belonging. The
surroundings was like an ode to the
Confidently alone. Defiantly alone.
place where you live.
landscape. My love letter to nature.
The Juniper tree - the first tree to place
It’s a simple but equally big concept.
It is a living and breathing connection
its roots in Irish soil after the Ice Age.
Especially during this pandemic
and one that I carry with me, when I sing
It wanted to belong and still does.
where almost every human alive
those songs. I feel and sense the memory
During the last couple of months of lockdown,
has been asked to ‘stay at home’.
of the place and try to let that sit alongside
my connection to Galway started to make
me when I’m on stage, or in these times,
sense as I revisited some of my family’s stories.
Where do we feel most at home? Is it
reimagining their reach to an audience.
I begin to see my great, great granny in her
with ourselves? Is it in company?
Although I am very much a
wedding dress on the streets of Galway.
And, where?
Dubliner, Connemara and the
In this picture-perfect postcard, her hand
Where do you truly feel at home?
West equally feels like home.
holding her headdress, her lace dress dancing
Where do you belong?
I love the space, the wilderness, bog roads,
around her in the wind, a wish in her heart.
Of course my answer may change
the rugged sea, the pace, the quiet.
That old romance.
depending who is asking me, and when
One of my most favourite things was
I wonder maybe did I get it from her? The
I am being asked, but right now, I have
walking home from having a nightcap
romance of place. The romance of the heart.
to say, honestly, that it is Ireland.
in Roundstone and stepping out into a
The romance of the landscape is
I don’t mean that in a grand way.
symphony of stars over the harbour.
what brought my favourite painter to
I mean it is in Irish nature.
I used to walk past this old Juniper tree
Inishlacken, Connemara in 1951.
That is where I feel most at home. Most
on a bog road. It simply captured me.
Gerard Dillon took a currach across
myself. In our ever-present Irish landscape.
They say it is a tree of nourishment,
from Roundstone and spent a year
In 2018 and 2019 I spent a lot of time in
constancy, shelter, love and community.
painting the landscape with two friends
Connemara writing an album, Juniper.
It stopped me in my tracks every time is saw
but pretty much in isolation.
I have talked during the process about
it, this ancient magical living thing, reaching
For me, his work captures the most
how making and writing songs in those
out across the skyline of Connemara, alone.
beautiful sense of place. The stone walls,
Go Wild Magazine - Staycation Edition 2020
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