The Water Of Life

Maire Brennan is in chipper form. The Clannad front woman has a fresh solo album Whisper To The Wild Water in the record racks and is happy to espouse her increasing interest in Christianity which is more than evident in album in tracks like I Lathair De (In God s Presence) and Peacemaker .

Elsewhere, To The Water makes reference to Yahweh, Follow The Word reflects a Christian love for the Creator and Mary Of The Gaels is a harp-led instrumental tribute whose title says it all.
Brennan articulates where she is coming from at some length.
I grew up with grandparents who were full of Irish folk-tales, so I ve always taken a very broad interest in Irish culture and the way it spread everywhere. Did you know that the first ever Christmas card had Ogham writing on it? There are great stories about people like Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid, who was the daughter of a Druid, that we re in great danger of losing. We should look at what Saint Patrick was really about. It wasn t about green beer and parades!
With Clannad lots of fans assumed I was into Paganism or that I was a druid. They took that from the music and our image. My studies of Christianity are now very much about looking into how we became what we are and I believe we shouldn t be afraid of it. I ve always felt there was a bigger story that was worth looking into. All through our history we ve battled with our spirituality, even Yeats and Joyce did it. Listen to Van s Have I Told You Lately That I Love You . I bet you think that s just a love song! But listen to it, it s a lot more than that. It s deeply spiritual. Our spirituality gave us our strength to survive. That s why Irish songs are often sad but they re never dark.
The cynical might suggest that her interest in a Christian take on contemporary music could be a very effective marketing ploy to target the American Christian market?
That market is huge in America, I know that, but my solo albums are more likely to sell to New Age fans than to the Christian market, she replies. It puzzles me, though, that when anyone mentions Christianity to people here they see red! If I explain that I m a non-denominational Christian they back off. But tell them you re off to Nepal to study Hinduism or Buddhism and they think that s great! Sting can be a Buddhist but Maire Brennan can t be a Christian! I know that the whole thing with Catholic priests is dreadful but I know plenty of very decent Catholics and those problems don t take away from the core value of someone s spirituality. I know Christianity isn t cool, but it s better for somebody to be addicted to a faith than to be addicted to drugs.
Speaking of which Clannad and Maire herself seem to have escaped the usual associations with the sex, drugs and rock n roll philosophies prevalent among the rich and famous. Or have they? Brennan s response is disarmingly frank.
Don t believe a word of it! I had my own personal battles with drink and drugs. But I ve a book coming out in the autumn which will cover all that. I wasn t on heroin and it never got so bad that I missed gigs, but when Clannad s career was at its peak around the time of the Macalla album in the mid- 80s I had my darkest days.
So the new book will tell all?
Well it s not going to be a book of gossip about Enya or stuff like that. It s my personal story and I ve nothing to hide.
So how about the Celtic Tiger: has she a view on that, especially as the mother of a young family growing up in a more affluent society?
Go to Donegal where there s factories closing. They won t talk to you about any Celtic Tiger up there. That s mainly happening in the bigger cities where I think we re losing that respect and generosity we used to have for each other. Too much economic success seems to make people selfish and you lose a lot when you become selfish. What scares me about the world is all the materialism, the me-me-me attitude. We really have to watch it. We need to work together and we need a sense of spirituality, otherwise the material wealth means nothing.
Of course another myth taking a knock these days is our reputation as an open, welcoming people. What does she think of our supposedly Christian country s reaction to immigrants?
I abhor the notion of people going to Holy Communion on a Sunday and then attacking immigrants on a Monday. This is not the behaviour of Christians. All life is precious, but the present situation is disgraceful. The government should set up proper structures so that these unfortunate people don t have to beg on the streets.
So maybe we re not really as the deeply spiritual as she s making us out to be?
I think the problem is that we ve never had to deal with these issues before in Ireland. But look at Irish music and the way we ve absorbed so many foreign influences. Look at the guitar, the accordion, the fiddle, the bouzouki. They re all foreign instruments but we ve made them intrinsic parts of our own culture. Even the harp came to us from Israel! If we can do that with musical instruments we can do it with people, too .
On the solo front, are there advantages to a solo career compared to life in a band?
Well I m the boss, as it were, so there s nobody else to compromise with. It s up to me to make things happen whereas in the band there s a collective responsibility. And in a band there are others to share the problems with too! But it was my solo career that really got me into writing songs. I write all my own lyrics now and a lot of the melodies as well. Working with my husband Tim Jarvis and our producer Denis Woods is very productive, especially with having the studio in the house. It also means that Tim can do a lot of work while I m away.
Clannad will be releasing a live album this year but what happens next for Maire Brennan?
Well, I m busy promoting the new album which has been well-received everywhere. It s not being treated as a spiritual thing but as a straightforward musical work. It s in the New Age charts in the USA and I m off to Japan shortly where I ll be doing some live work. I d obviously like to do another album, and an Irish tour, and there s a separate project I m working on as well and there s talk of me doing a movie too. But I like to take things as they come. That s what we always did in Clannad. We always avoided the obvious. So when people ask me will Enya ever sing with Clannad again I say who knows? I keep doors open all the time.
Maire Brennan s solo album Whisper To The Wild Water is released by Universal Records.