ONE OF the most impressive success stories of recent years in Irish music has been that of Dara Records. Originally a vehicle for the music of Mary Black, Dara has gradually expanded its sphere of influence, developing markets around the world and signing artists like Frances Black and Sinéad Lohan (the latter for Ireland only).

“At this stage we have established markets in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Hungary – the list goes on. A Woman’s Heart opened so many doors for us. We’ve also got distributors in Australia and New Zealand as well as territories like Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, where Mary Black already had a strong presence.”

Dara, and the related Dolphin label, operate on the basis that the investment in any recording project should be repaid from Irish sales. That way, export sales can be the icing on the cake for both the artist and the label.

FEMALE VOICE

“To date the Woman’s Heart albums have done 500,000 copies between them. Of that total, 200,000 were done on export, so you can see how important that is, in terms of introducing Irish women singers to new audiences. In some cases the distributors we’re dealing with are amazed themselves at how positively the public in their countries are responding. At this stage they’re very receptive to anything we come up with.”

The organisation’s Celtic Moods album has been hugely successful in Germany. Similarly a specially compiled collection of Pub Songs. In contrast countries in what used to be known as the Far East seem to respond more strongly to the sound of the Irish female voice. “You can see that in the success of Enya,” says Paul O’Reilly. “It’s certainly a particular interest which has carried on through to A Woman’s Heart and to individual singers on the album.”

And overall the future is looking good? “As I say,” Paul reflects, “they’re very receptive and we’re really beginning to get a feel for what they want. The challenge is to find serious distributors who can get the product out and work it. At this stage I think it’s fair to say that we’re getting there.”