Traditional music and song were as much part of Maranna McCloskey’s childhood and adolescence as Top of the Pops and Smash Hits – so it’s no great surprise that Maranna’s debut album draws heavily on her early exposure to Irish balladry. ‘At Last’ pays a debt to that traditional influence, but the album demonstrates a coming of age with an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary songs.
Maranna displayed real talent for singing as a child and regularly attended fleadhs and seisiúns, but it was only during her mid-teens that she realised she also had a gift for song and melody writing. When she was still a student, Maranna was asked to join local traditional band, Óige with whom she performed at numerous music festivals throughout Europe and shared the stage with traditional luminaries such as Sharon Shannon and Davy Spillane.
Like so many, Maranna left her Dungiven home (in 2001) to spend a year in Australia. On a visit to Fraser Island, she was moved to compose a song based on the aboriginal history of the island. Realising she missed writing and performing, she was prompted to record a 4-track EP and won two Irish American News ‘Top Tir’ awards: Best Female Newcomer 2002 and her own composition, ‘Fraser Island’ was named Vocal Cut of the Year 2003.
When she returned home, Maranna bought a house and joined the University of Ulster as a clinical trials technician. Even though domesticity beckoned, Maranna still harboured a desire to record a solo album. As luck would have it, she was invited to sing at a St. Patrick’s Day concert in San Diego with The Brian Baynes Band, Eric Rigler and The San Diego Symphony Orchestra – one of the leading orchestras in the US. Experiencing the buzz of the music industry again and feeling too young to ‘settle down’, she decided to sell her house to finance the recording of a full length solo album with producer Brian Baynes.
While Maranna herself admits that selling her house is a bit of a gamble, it is not a complete leap in the dark – “Having performed in front of receptive audiences all over the world, I knew that I had to take this risk. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to record the album, I wouldn’t have had the finance or the confidence – but now I know that I don’t want to waste my talents and I want to express sentiments that resonate with my audiences.”
This solo debut demonstrates that as an artist, Maranna has matured into a songwriter of considerable depth and as a vocalist she has grown into her gift with new found confidence.
She says, “It has been wonderful to have the opportunity to record some of my favourite folk songs as well as my own material and I hope I have created music that is universal in its appeal. I look forward to performing these songs to live audiences as it is truly exhilarating to see how an audience responds to my lyrics and voice.”
This album is the fruit of a lot of labour and represents Maranna’s growth and maturity. Touching, melodic, memorable, emotive – all words that describe, but don't fully capture the sound of ‘At Last’.
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Hi Maranna,and thank you so much for the req! I'm sorry to have missed your show with OIGE when you were in Norway,but if you come again with your new material,we will try to attend!! All the best from us in Norway :-)
well, it has been a long and winding road, and an even longer time coming, but my debut CD, I Remember, is FINALLY HERE!!! YAY!!!!!
to celebrate, American HeartBeat Records(tm) has arranged a FREE DOWNLOAD of Now Is The Time in exchange for a valid email address. Now Is The Time is a brand new, upbeat song I wrote: we are living in turbulent times. suddenly it is okay to be greedy and heartless? no way! a song of hope for our future, a new vision of America and the world.
we have a bunch of exciting things planned to kick this whole thing off, and we need to get a better picture of who our friends are, so the FREE DOWNLOAD form will ask you a few questions, like, what is your country and nearest major city. it all takes maybe 15 seconds.
Stopped by to listen... Your voice is as beautiful as ever. I see you're going to be in Milwaukee this summer. My brother lives there... will have to tell him.
Hi Maranna.. Thanks so much for the lovely comment.. Beautiful voice you have and I wish you the very best with all your gigs.. Letterkenny was lovely. Hope to see you around my dear.x
Every time that we listen & write music... play an instrument... dance... act in a play... or work in some audio/image/video engineering process... something is healing inside...
When we share it with friends... something is healing all over...
cada vez que escuchamos o escribimos musica... tocamos un instrumento... bailamos... o trabajamos en procesos de ingenieria de audio/imagen/video.... algo se sana por dentro...
Cuando lo compartimos con amigos... algo se sana en todas partes...
El Amor puede conducir... de manera simple... todo...
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