Every year in the remote and beautiful landscape of Gweedore in Donegal, two of Ireland’s most celebrated musicians, Moya Brennan, lead singer of Clannad, and the harp virtuoso Cormac De Barra, come together for a unique collaboration – not just with one another, but with a set of musicians who have signed up for what is a very special weekend of music.

The Voices and Harps workshop offers an opportunity for people to come together to enjoy Irish songs and takes place in a collaborative setting, in Moya’s local Ionad Naomh Pádraig community centre. This year, the event coincides with the release of Moya and Cormac’s second Voices and Harps album, Affinity – making it the perfect opportunity for Hot Press to head north. It turned out to be a fascinating weekend.
 

Day 1:
On a wet day in Donegal, Moya Brennan and Cormac De Barra are busy making the final preparations for their three-day long event. Friday is the beginning of a journey that will see 16 budding musicians from across the globe learn how to play Irish songs and melodies on the harp, culminating in a live performance at Leo’s Tavern – the spiritual home of Clannad.
Between bursts of making sure that everything is in place for the get-together, Moya explains the background. “It came quite natural after Voices and Harp’s first album,” she says. “We wanted to keep the workshops personal, so we only take a limited number of people each year. It’s the third year running now. I love what I do – it’s a community thing, and it excites me to see the music being played and being loved. They get more out of it than just music of course. It’s a family approach, where everyone is made to feel comfortable.”
Moya and Cormac are eager to ensure that each musician gets something unique out of the weekend. For some, it will be their first time playing the harp; for others, it will be the opportunity to fall in love afresh with a brilliant and beautiful song. For them all, however, it is important that this is the home of Clannad.
The band rose to fame in the 1970s, a period during which they toured Europe and played the big festivals with great success. However, they broke through to a different level of popular recognition in 1981, with the success of ‘Harry’s Game’. Their ongoing popularity is reflected by the countless tourists who come to Leo’s every year. 
On Friday evening I meet one such Clannad pilgrim, David Billingsley from Chester, who is a veteran of the Voices and Harps workshops and who has over the years become a personal friend to Moya and her family. David has followed Clannad and Moya to festivals around the world – and this will be his third time coming to the workshop.
“I’ve known Moya and Cormac for a few years,” he says, “and Moya asked me to go to the first workshop three years ago. We have such a great time that we book pretty much as soon as we can for the next!”
Joining Dave on the journey this year are KiKi, a harp player from Japan; Lisa from Australia, who is on her honeymoon; and a whole host of other musicians, including some native Donegal folk of course, all of whom are eager to learn from the maestros.
Cormac De Barra is a hugely versatile harp virtuoso, who has collaborated with the very best, including Hazel O’Connor, Julie Feeney and Clannad. While the workshop offers a chance to get reacquainted with old friends and sing ‘as gaeilge’, Cormac puts the emphasis on empowerment. “The mission at the beginning of the weekend,” he offers, “is to find out what people want from themselves, to make sure that they really do get something out of it.”

After the introductory session, the group set off to Leo’s Tavern in Crolly for a fortnightly event called Clubeo. Open mic nights are a regular feature in the bigger cities around Ireland, but rural communities tend not to have them, so this is a very important event locally. Sean Feeny is a regular at the nights. “It’s great,” he says, “that an established worldwide artist like Moya Brennan comes home on a regular basis and gives songwriters such a fantastic opportunity as Clubeo.”
The Clubeo sessions take place at Leo’s Tavern – the scene of so many musical evenings over the years. As I find out pretty quickly, Clubeo is a session like no other; the pub is full, everyone is in great form and the local talent is determined to impress.
“It’s like a commune,” Cormac observes. “Everybody is here for the music. In essence, Moya wanted to open up Leo’s to the next generation. She wanted to give them a more regular stage on which to test their compositions out, with a listening audience and a good sound system. There is a headliner, who is also there to give them feedback on their music.”
On the night, Moya has arranged for the Clannad soundman to take over mixing duties for the musicians. This, she believes, gives them a real opportunity to perform at their best. However this isn’t any old open mic night. Throughout the evening, I am blown away by the talent. There are haunting versions of classics like ‘Heard It Through the Grapevine’, translated into Irish and sung with real conviction. Megan Rodgers performs her own haunting composition and it is one of those special moments; the crowd falls completely silent and we all listen intently.
Perhaps it is the lilt in their voices, the well-pulled pint of Guinness I’ve had or the moonlight – but the standard in Donegal is simply world class. The session carries on, with Cormac De Barra providing the tunes for those who wish to stay into the “wee hours.”
It becomes a proverbial ‘late one’...

Day 2:
The next morning, by some miracle, we manage to drag ourselves out of bed and down to the workshop in the community centre in Dore, just a few minutes’ drive from Leo’s Tavern. Despite the ungodly hour, there is already a lot of activity. Moya and Cormac are there, looking like pros, filled with caffeine and in great form. They tell me they are used to the late nights and the early mornings.
“This is normal in Donegal,” Moya laughs. “Sure, you need to habituate yourself to it all and then you’ll be alright.”
Cormac takes the harp players into one room, while Moya leads the rest in a voice training session. Walking through the community centre I can hear the enchanting tones of Brian Boru’s march echo through the corridor. In the other room the sweet melody of the famous Clannad song ‘Teidhir Abhaile Riu’ rings out. My Celtic ancestors must be smiling down on me as I sit at the back of the room, quietly mouthing the words to the songs ‘Siúil a Rún’ and ‘Two Sisters’.
There is a special session planned for Leo’s Tavern later. To coincide with the launch of Affinity, Moya will be joined onstage by her son Paul Jarvis on the Cajon and by Aisling Jarvis on guitar. It could be wonderful, watching the music being shared across the generations within one family. And so it proves...
The music achieves an powerfully resonant quality. ‘Sail’, the lead track from their new album, takes you on an epic journey; the harp playing is sublime and the voice gets under your skin. Other highlights include ‘Stóirín Rua’ and Moya and Cormac’s version of ‘She Moved Through The Fair’, a song which always pulls on the heart strings.
Later that night something very special happens. Leo Brennan, Moya’s father and a showman for over 40 years, has been ill recently. But he made it along for the occasion and stayed past midnight. At the end of the evening, he got up to sing a wonderful interpretation of ‘Danny Boy’. “This is a special moment,” Moya tells me. A second marathon session continued until dawn. How these people find the energy to keep going I will never know!

Day 3:
Sunday. Finally the big day has arrived! Tonight, musicians – some of whom have never performed in front of a live audience before – will have to perform in Leo’s pub.
During the build-up, it is clear that the hard work over the past two days is paying off. Breakthroughs are happening left, right and centre. One girl in particular, who didn’t know the bottom of a harp from the top before coming, is now playing a tune by herself.  
Dave Billingsley explains to me the importance of the voice and harp workshops and what he gets out of them. “It’s about self confidence, as much as anything,” he says. “I’m normally not very good at being ‘on show’, but the atmosphere at the workshop somehow gives me the confidence to give it a go.”
After rehearsals, we go straight to Leo’s and its obvious everyone is a little tense – everyone that is except Cormac and Moya. They tell me after rehearsals they are confident that their troop will deliver the goods. Despite a few stumbles at the beginning, the musicians quickly settle and subsequently keep this composure throughout the night, singing like there is no tomorrow.
Highlights for me are ‘Brian Boru’s March’ on harp, which is faultless, ‘Miss Hamilton’, which also sounds amazing, and the Clannad classics ‘Teidhir Abhaile Riú’ and ‘Two Sisters’. All told it proves to be a brilliant session, with the newcomers finding their voice to wonderful effect.
As Cormac put it to me after the performance: “It’s great when you transcend the nerve thing and you make it to the point where you are just making music. That’s what happened at the end of the night – they had become musicians.”
We finish the weekend off with a really nice singalong of ‘Wild Mountain Thyme’, with everyone really throwing themselves into that great old chorus: “Will you go, lassie go.” Unfortunately there is nothing else for it. But the voices and the harps will be back next year.

For news and tour dates, check out voicesandharps.com