Crooners & Craic Versus Coronavirus

BY LLOYD GORMAN

And the band played on! As far as disasters go, the sinking of the Titanic 108 years ago is one of almost supernatural proportions. Some 1,517 souls perished in the tragedy including some of the world’s wealthiest people of the time. The terror and chaos that ensued as more than 2,000 passengers scrambled for safety and escape doesn’t bear thinking about. There were many acts of courage and some of cowardice. In the mêlée of madness, it is hard to imagine an act of greater heroism and self-sacrifice than the story of the ship’s band playing music to try and help calm passengers. They played until the moment they could no longer hold their instruments or stand as the deck listed to the point where they would have fallen or been thrown into the bitter dark cold waters. All eight musicians died. The entertainers had been hired for the maiden voyage as two separate separate groups - a quintet to act as a “saloon orchestra” and a trio to be a “deck band” - but performed together just that once. The story of their behaviour and bravery was one of the first stories to emerge and get picked up by the world’s press. Traditional Irish music band Emerald Tide found themselves channelling a similar spirit in the face of a modern day maritime disaster at the heart o Australia’s COVID-19 crisis. The all singing foursome - Killian Shannon (band leader) on banjo and bouzouki, Giselle O’Meara (percussion and Irish dancing), Kate Heneghan on fiddle, harp, piano and Joe Junker on acoustic guitar - went on the adventure of a lifetime together late last year. They joined the Ruby Princess in early December - the first Irish trad band ever to be signed up as onboard entertainment with the cruise ship operators. “We can’t wait to see the adventures you have in Oz!,” the Premier Entertainment International agency in Cork said on social media at the start of their four month long stint. Before long, the players had a loyal following amongst the ship’s nearly 3,000 passengers. The four friends also enjoyed the benefit of being able to fit in some travel - including a trip to the Fiji Islands and New Zealand - as part of their experience.

Above: Traditional Irish music band Emerald Tide were entertainers onboard the ill-fated Ruby Princess cruise ship (top). Above right: The band from the Titanic

They celebrated Australia Day on board, celebrated birthdays and rocked the house every time they played together. St Patrick’s Day was their 100th day onboard, by which time the trip of a lifetime was quickly become a nightmare with no end or escape in sight. “It’s an unprecedented and uncertain time for everyone, but we feel more grateful than ever for music (and WiFi) in times like these. Enjoy our version of ‘Hallelujah’,” Kate Heneghan said on Facebook in mid March. With Kate playing the harp and Giselle singing, they recorded (with the help of their friends Aleksandr Kravchenko & Julien) a video of an angelic version of the Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley classic on the top deck, with Sydney Opera House as the backdrop. The boys in the band said they were proud of the girls. “During these tough times, it’s important to stay positive and these 2 girls are certainly doing their part to keep the spirits high not just within the band but with every crew member stuck on board,” they said. Even in self-isolation in their cabins, a few days later the duo performed and recorded another uplifting piece of entertainment with a version of Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’. Hundreds of passengers - including people who were infected - from the Ruby Princess were allowed to

disembark at Sydney’s Circular Quay on March 19, a decision which would have Australia-wide ramifications. As a direct result of them being allowed to go into the community, the number of coronavirus cases in New South Wales spiked. Indeed, by late April one in every ten COVID-19 cases in Australia could be linked to 650 Ruby Princess passengers while other passengers returned home to other parts of the world. Of the 21 deaths traced back to the ship, one was a West Australian. All this was playing out while the MS Artania was docked in Fremantle and and presented the McGowan government and health authorities here with a headache of their own. Interestingly, one of the entertainers on board the Artania was one of those to fall sick and contract Coronavirus. Despite their best attempts to stay positive, the young Irish museo’s four weeks in quarantine without any clue to when they could get out made them desperate to get off the ship. Even more so when they were told the cruise ship and its 1,000 strong crew would be forced to leave Port Kembla, south of Sydney by mid April and they didn’t know its destination. “Throughout all this we have had no clue about what was going on and relying on social media and news to keep us informed with no information at all about when we will be going home,” Joe Junker, a Kildare native, told The Irish Times. “Me and my band mates feel as though we’re hostages or pawns in this political battle which is not one of our making. We feel powerless in this situation.” A petition on change.org to repatriate them to Ireland got more than 9,000 signatures and helped raise their case with authorities. The pressure - and media attention and no doubt efforts by Irish embassy staff working in the background - got them off. On April 21, the four piece band were amongst 54 people given permission to leave the Princess. A clearly relieved Joe Junker posted a video on social media of him playing his guitar. “I’m off the boat. Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyup. I recorded this last night after I found out the news officially. Don’t mind the whites of my eyes that’s what happens to a man in cabin quarantine for 30 days and it means that I’m happy ha. Thanks to everybody at home for all the support and I’ll see you all soon. This is the last ever recording I will ever do in that room. Easy blues by John Martyn”. Kate Heneghan also posted a final video of her playing two reels on the harp, ‘Black Pats’ & ‘The Humours of Westport’, saying “because I’m so looking forward to getting home!”. Her farewell message set the scene for a dramatic exit. “All the Irish along with 54 others disembarked the Ruby Princess this morning,” she said. “Australian border force, NSW Police, the Australian Defence Force, coach drivers, media, nurses, doctors... it was like a movie coming off!! We are currently quarantined in a hotel in Sydney and are waiting for our flights home.” She said the video and tunes were to celebrate the occasion and called them her #quarantunes edition. “Thanks to Sal Heneghan for the nomination. And thanks to Maggie-Mae Heneghan for teaching me the first tune this month through WhatsApp!!. (P.S only had one take to do this coz my next door neighbour doesn’t like harp music apparently).” Back home in Ireland in May, Heneghan wrote and recorded a new piece of music called ‘The Waves of Change’ when she was asked to take part in an live event in aid of Covid-19 relief. “I’d like to dedicate it to the 57,000 crew members still at sea, waiting to get home to their families,” she said. Check it and the group out on their Facebook site, they are a bunch of gifted musicians and great people.

facebook.com/emeraldtideband/

We’re the original Coronas Around the same time as Emerald Tide were stranded in their pandemic hell, another Irish band were coming to terms with it in another totally different way. “People are saying to me, ‘Are you going to change your name?’ No, we’re around too long. We can’t let it beat us and let [make] us change the name,” Coronas frontman Danny Reilly told Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show on April 17.

“It’s one of those things, I think. It’s just an unfortunate thing. What can you do? We had it first!,” the singer said. The multi-platinum hit makers from Dublin have been The Coronas for about 17 years now, and they were meant to be on tour in America and were due to visit the UK and Australia later this year as well. “You don’t know when things are going to turn around,” O’Reilly added. “It’s such a leveller; no one knows at all and we’re all in the same boat. It’s a crazy thing. But I think we’re in a better position than a lot of musicians. We’re lucky enough; we’ve had 10 good years of it and hopefully we’ll be able to bounce back.” The boys were to play three gigs - with special guest Ryan McMullan - in Melbourne (Prince Bandroom), Sydney (Metro Theatre) and Perth (Capitol). They have toured Australia more than once already and we look forward to the time they can get back.

Blooming brilliant Quite early into the lockdown in Ireland folk legend Luka Bloom (above) stepped up to do his bit. The original plan was to livestream a session with the singer songwriter but for various reasons that became a live nearly one hour long recording of Luka which was then posted on YouTube (where you can still find it). On March 22 in the quaint The Aloe Tree shop in Ennistimon, Co. Clare (in the People’s Republic of Ireland as he says), Luka proved what one musician can do in a time of need. “I’m not a doctor, I’m not a counsellor, I’m not a nurse or therapist of any kind but I have always believed in the healing power of songs and music in my own life and just because i’m not in the front line in the medical fight we are all in now I can sign a few songs and most importantly be kind and I can be patient,” he said. Like his live gigs Luka gave little insights and anecdotes about his songs and experiences, and made the viewer feel part of the event. “I’m going to imagine when I sing this song people in their kitchens and living rooms joining in I hope,” he said, before breaking into Sonny Sailor Boy. Talking about how St Patrick’s Day this year was so strange Luka said he: “loved watching online videos of parades in their backgarden playing tunes dressing up the kids and putting them online.”

youtube.com/watch?v=nFkeBNUktlk

Helping those who help themselves The Band-Aid phenomenon (see page 48) inspired a similar but smaller scale event in Ireland in 1986. The Irish economy was in crisis. Some 250,000 people were unemployed and on the dole queues while thousands more fled left the country in droves, seeking employment and hope in other parts of the world - the so called ‘Brain Drain’. Successive Irish governments seemed unable to fix the problem, so scores of Irish musicians and artists jumped at the chance to do their bit. Geldof and the Boomtown Rats were there as were Bagatelle, Paul Brady, The Chieftains, Clannad, The Pogues, De Dannan and Thin Lizzy, to name but a few. Self Aid happened on May 17 1986 and within 14 ours the staged concert helped generate millions of pounds and more than a 1,000 job pledges. Conditions were still grim for many after that day, but it marked a turning point for the country and within a few short years Ireland went from being a basket case to having one of the best economies in Europe.

Another head hangs lowly Child is slowly taken And the violence, caused such silence Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it’s not me It’s not my family In your head, in your head, they are fighting With their tanks, and their bombs And their bombs, and their guns In your head, in your head they are crying

In your head, in your head Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie What’s in your head, in your head Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie, oh

Du, du, du, du Du, du, du, du Du, du, du, du Du, du, du, du

Another mother’s breaking Heart is taking over When the violence causes silence We must be mistaken

It’s the same old theme Since nineteen-sixteen In your head, in your head

Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie Interesting things are happening on the internet. In mid/late April, Limerick band The Cranberries reached a very contemporary milestone. They became the first Irish band ever - and one of only six in the world so far - to get more than a billion views on YouTube for their signature song Zombie. [It came exactly 12 months after the museos behind other hits such as Dreams and Lingers, put out their farewell album - mixed with lost recordings and songs of Dolores O’Riordain who died in January 2018.] Zombie was the band’s response to the 1993 IRA bombing in Warnington in the UK. Without warning, two Republican bombs exploded on Bridge Street, killing three year old Johnathan Ball and 12 year old Tim Parry, while 54 more people were injured. The Troubles in Northern Ireland claimed more than 3,000 lives through thousands of shootings, beatings and bombings. Zombie was so ‘political’, their record company did not want to produce it but the band insisted. The stylised video to go with the song was filmed in Belfast and incorporated real footage of British soldiers. It was banned by the BBC. Zombie was the main single from their second album ‘No Need to Argue’, released in 1994. It shot to number one in several countries including Australia, and Triple J listeners voted it number one on the station’s Hottest 100 1994 chart. Another measure of how powerful the song was, came from Colin Parry, the father of Tim, who in the wake of O’Riordain’s sudden death paid tribute to her for the song. It was he said “both majestic and also very real lyrics” (which are reproduced, right). The distinctive song must strike a deep chord with people. In the two weeks after it hit the billion mark, Zombie was watched/ downloaded again another six million times, and climbing. An anti-war song has become an anthem for people everywhere around the world. Still mourning the loss of their friend and singer, the rest of the band said she would have had a big proud smile on her face. “Thank you so much to all our fans around the world for supporting us over so many years,” the band said. “Hopefully you are all safe and well in this bizarre time and managing to find some hope and positivity in our music.” The others songs in the You Tube billionaires club are Guns N’ Roses’ “November Rain” (1992); Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (1991); Guns N’ Roses “Sweet Child O’ Mine” (1987); A-ha’s “Take On Me” (1985); and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975).

The Band-Aid concert in 1985 was a game-changer in many ways. For one, it couldn’t stop famine but it changed the way the world reacted to it. The global music event was organised by Boomtown Rats frontman Bob Geldof and Midge Ure. Ireland’s own Famine experiences were more than 150 years old but in the mind of many who supported the pop crusade. The COVID-19 crisis had its own global Band-Aid moment, again organised by another Irishman. Declan Kelly, originally from Tipperary, was the executive producer of the One World: Together at Home virtual gigs. Kelly, head of Teneo, a global advisory firm, worked in the background to make the event happen while Lady Gaga helped pull together many of the world’s biggest recording artists to take part. Irish singers Hozier and Niall Horan were amongst them. Broadcast live on April 18th, the virtual concert raised $127 million from global companies and corporations to support of health care workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The Irishman is a board member of Global Citizen, an international advocacy organisation set up to try and end extreme poverty by 2030. The One World: Together at Home concert was not quite his first rodeo. Again acting as executive producer for the ‘Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100’ he brought together heads of state, dignitaries, many of the world’s most talented artists and influencers, and thousands of global citizens to celebrate the centenary of Nelson Mandela and led to 60 commitments and announcements worth $7.2 Billion, set to affect the lives of 121M people. Kelly, who studied at University College Galway, also claims to have had some influence back at home. “Prior to Teneo, Declan served as the U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland at the U.S. Department of State, appointed by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in September, 2009,” his profile on the firms website states. “In his role as Envoy, Declan is recognized as having helped bring significant investment to the region from U.S. corporations. He also played a significant role in supporting the efforts that led to the historic devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, giving Northern Ireland fully devolved political governance for the first time in its modern history.” Declan Kelly

Above: The Healys in their Kitchen

Here’s one they prepared earlier Long before any of us could imagine we would all be forced to stay at home under lockdown, a Perth group hit upon the idea of recording songs and tunes in their house and putting it online. The Healy’s ‘Kitchen Series’ was ahead of its time you could say, and they have been reheating that series on their Facebook site. The series is upbeat and inviting to all, but is not without its own tinge of sadness. In rerunning the series, the boys said they thought about skipping episode 14 - a great version of Hotel California - which they recorded with their late friend and fellow museo Gary Cox, who died in March. But the Irish born boys figured that it was not what he would have wanted, so they showed it in his honour. On their Facebook site the boys said there was a back story to the recording. “A short while after we uploaded the original video it was shut down by the powers that be both here and on YouTube, it was instantly a very popular video but the band that

wrote it & their record label threatened legal action and so it was removed. If you look back through our Healy’s Kitchen episodes you will not find an episode 14. Anyhow it’s just a song in a Kitchen making people happy and we know it made Gary happy so here it is one last time as a tribute to the man himself. RIP Gaz you were awesome.”

facebook.com/thehealys/

Now the Healys are taking their jamming sessions from the kitchen into the lounge, with their ‘Living Room Live Sessions’, in association with The Galway Hooker. They will make their first performance since St. Patrick’s Day on May 16, from 4pm until 11.20 pm. As well as getting a fix of great live music, viewers will also be in with the chance to win a ‘feast’ for two, and take part in other games, competitions and giveaways for the broadcast, which they are hailing as “guaranteed to be a ‘night’ to remember!’.

Broken, but not beaten The pub is the natural environment for trad groups. Back in the BC days, (Before Coronavirus) you could find The Broken Pokers and a close following in places like JB’s, as this great pic of them in session shows. They too have been making the adjustment from live music act in public houses to domestic music publishing house as they moved online. The Pokers toured Singapore for a string of gigs around St Patricks Day and returned home to Perth about the 19th of March, just as the local landscape was changing out of all recognition. On April 19 they held their first Facebook Live-stream, a mix of songs and tunes they chose, mixed with some requests. That was the start of something that would grow quickly. On May 4 (May the Fourth be with you!) they updated fans about their response to the pandemic and the restrictions and changes it has brought about. “Its taken us almost 7 weeks to achieve but after launching our Sunday program yesterday, we can finally say that we have 3 (very different) shows per week which we can share with you,” they said on their Facebook site. “It’s been full on and will continue to be as we upgrade and keep improving them all each week. Hopefully, with the variety we are providing, there’ll be something for everyone who enjoyed watching the band in our many iterations pre-COVID. We are excited to bring you all on this journey with us and appreciate your support and patience while we (as humble musicians) learn the necessary skills to bring our band to your living room.”

Club gets in on organised rhyme Less than a week after St. Patrick’s Day, the Irish Club introduced changes to its opening hours, social distancing measures and began to allow take-away orders only from Andy’s Kitchen in response to the rise of COVID-19 concerns. On March 28 it announced it would be closing until ‘these uncertain times have passed’ for the health and wellbeing of everyone linked with the club. As well as all its other regular weekly activities, the Club was due to host an evening with Perth based Irish writer Dervla McTiernan on March 22 to talk about her brand new novel The Good Turn. Whenever McTiernan is a guest at a public (and free!) event like this, it is always a full house as legions of fans rock up to hear her speak and probably sign a copy of her

Continued from page 49 book for them. The talk was cancelled in advance and on the night she was meant to be at the Club the author was instead tweeting from home about a story on 10daily.com. au called ‘The Best Books To Binge While You’re In SelfIsolation’, one of which was ‘The Good Turn’. McTiernan has always had a healthy and positive approach to social media, which became even more important under our new circumstances as she connects with fans and shares her own thoughts and experiences in isolation. The Club’s committee said they would welcome creative ways to engage with its members and the broader community. Connor transported the Club’s Tuesday night table quiz online as a ‘virtual quiz night’ instead. The one hour brain tickler session - which would not have been possible without Gillian, his ‘IT Department/Barman’ - quickly found a following here in Perth but also around the world with friends and family members who heard about the new online format. As well as having a policy of not mentioning the ‘C’ word during the quiz, Dermot also has a tricky question (not easy to Google) at the end which he says he will buy the person who gets it a ‘pint’ at the Irish Club when it reopens. At this rate he will be buying a few rounds, but is still going strong. The Club has also put up past recordings of concerts and events - such as The Gathering from October 2019 - and a composite video of 40 members (in ten countries) of the Online Academy of Irish Music in Doolin, Co. Clare playing The Rattling Bog. But it has also been able to create new musical and entertainment content. A bunch of musicians here in Perth - including Fiona Rea, Tommy O’Brien, Bryan Dalton and others - have taken the old RTE music quiz programme The Lyrics Board and adapted as an online competition (two teams) and good natured fun event open to anyone to take part in. Songs of Ireland was another great initiative out of the Club. The idea was to have a Sunday session over four weeks - one for each provence of Ireland and for every county to play a song. Again the likes of Fiona Rea and Tommy O’Brien pop up as regulars with fellow artists and performers Bryan Dalton, Mary Carroll and Frank

Top: Dervla was meant to introduce her latest book at the Irish Club. Above images: Songs of Ireland online Sunday Sessions featuring local musicians over Zoom, and The Lyrics Board, which has been adapted as an online competition. Over page, top right: Quizmaster Connor hosts a virtual quiz every Tuesday night