Musical Vistas 2005

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Programme 9: 9th April 2005
In this, the final programme of the current nine part series, Musical Vistas meets the Westmeath born Joe Dolan. The youngest of eight, his father died when he was 8 and his mother when he was 15. The Dolan household was always noted for music. Joe was to be seen in those early days playing the washboard accompanying his sisters' singing in the house and it was no surprise that Joe and his brother, Ben decided to put a band together and play the local dancehall circuit.

Joe Dolan and the Drifters first chart success came with The Answer to Everything in 1964 when it reached number 4 in the Irish Charts. International success came in July 1969 when they reached no.3 in the UK charts with Make Me an Island.
During the Seventies, Joe Dolan continued to have hits in Ireland, Europe, South Africa and Australia. There was a world tour in which he played, amongst others, Las Vegas, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Spain, France, Germany and more

In the 1990s, Joe set up his own record label, Gable Records. He also built his own recording studio in Mullingar, making it easier for him to record new material, as fitting time into his busy concert schedule was proving difficult.

Joe has long since been recognised as one of the best live acts in this country. But what is Joe's musical outlook, evolution and future? What is behind that voice? How does Joe make it work and what holds the key to his success with his audiences? Musical Vistas investigates....

Programme 8: 2nd April 2005
This week Musical Vistas travels to Somerset in England to meet with the Irish traditional folksinger Cara Dillon. Born in Dungiven, Co Derry, to a family steeped in a genuine love of music, Cara has consistently exuded a voice, a presence and a confidence that surpasses her years. Cara seems to have seduced the entire nation in just a couple of short, breathtaking, eventful years. She has won numerous awards including the All Ireland Traditional Singing trophy at the young age of 14, the 2002 BBC Folk Awards' Best New Act and track of the year for Black Is The Colour, a Hotpress 'Best Trad Album' of the year and the 2004 Meteor Irish Music Award for Best Female Vocalist.

Cara along with her musical partner and partner in life Sam Lakeman have released two albums to date. The first, a self-titled album of folk songs named, Cara Dillon and the second, Sweet Liberty. Sweet Liberty is a collection of both original material and traditional interpretations. The original music, penned by the duo, reflects the youth, vibrancy and musical passion of Dillon and Lakeman. The interpretations showcase the purity and substance of Dillon's voice and the beauty and sensitivity of Lakeman's arrangements, which has pleased and surprised many traditional purists.

Programme 7: 19th March 2005
This week Musical Vistas looks to North America and meets with Richard Gilewitz, an American composer and performer of music for the 6 and 12-string guitar. Richard began honing his skills both as a performer and composer during the late 1970's at the University of Alabama, while pursing degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. As a solo performer Richard's music delivers a timeless picture of American and European fingerstyle guitar. Richard incorporates his own personality and orchestration into his sound tunnel of timeless musical history.

His musical pallet is filled with colorful imagery of samples from European, Contemporary, and Spanish Classical works to the Traditional Folk, Blues and American Primitive eras. Combining both standard and unique tunings with his interpretations, every single note is treated as an individual character in a society of notes. As he appears to achieve a three-dimensional sound that is very distinctive, it is apparent that Richard's own DNA is reflected in his playing.

Programme 6: 12th March 2005
"The Divine Comedy will always be my band because... I thought of it first!" - Neil Hannon

This week 'Musical Vistas' meets Neil Hannon. Neil is The Divine Comedy. He writes the music and lyrics and sings and plays the guitar and piano. Neil was born in Derry in 1970 and started learning the piano when he was 7. To date Neil/The Divine Comedy has released 9 albums. His first album was 'Fanfare for a Common Man' and his most recent, Absent friends' was released in March 2004. In this, the fourth programme in the current nine part series of 'Musical Vistas' Neil tells of musical outlook, style, development and technique.

Programme 5: 5th March 2005
This week Musical Vistas meets the Offaly born singer/songwriter Mundy. In 1996, at the tender age of 20 and with a Sony Music record deal, Mundy released his debut album Jellylegs. He played with Neil Young, Van Morrison and The Manic Street Preachers, to name but a few, and Jellylegs went on to sell 50,000 copies across the globe. One of the tracks from it, To You I Bestow, was chosen for the soundtrack to the massive box office smash Romeo and Juliet. The movie soundtrack went on to sell more than 11 million copies world-wide. 

Mundy departed from Sony Music in 2000 and went on to set up his own record label, the Camcor label. His second album entitled 24 Star Hotel is a collection of 12 songs dealing with love, life, addiction and travel and suddenly he had bona fide radio hits in Ireland. '

July became a summer anthem. In May 2004, Mundy released his third album Raining Down Arrows. It entered the Irish chart at Number 1 and also went gold. In this programme, Musical Vistas finds out what keeps Mundy ticking in his musical world.

Programme 4: 26th February 2005
This week Musical Vistas travels to Finland where it meets with Rajaton, a vocal a cappella group who sing in both Finnish and English.

Founded in 1997 by six Finnish singers, vocal ensemble Rajaton has fast made its mark in the international a cappella (unaccompanied voices) scene with its fresh approach to choral music. Each singer in the group brings their own unique vocal quality and timbre. Their virtuosity as an ensemble is coupled with a warmth and richness in sound that can only be described as boundless (boundless translated means Rajaton). Their sound is lush but crisp. They sing everything from traditional Finnish folksong through to the jazz and classical repetoire. In this programme, Musical Vistas finds out how Rajaton makes their distinctive sound.

Programme 3: 19th February 2005
This week, Musical Vistas meets Roger Whittaker, singer, songwriter guitarist and whistler. Roger was born in Nairobi, Kenya but moved to Britain at the age of 23. His most popular songs include Durham Town, New World in the Morning, I Don't Believe in If Anymore, and The Last Farewell. He has amassed world-wide record sales nearing 50 million. His success has embraced the United States and Canada, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia and most of Europe. In Germany alone he has sold more than 10 million albums in the last six years. In 1985, he was acclaimed as Germany's most successful recording artist, singing in the German language, a distinction no other major international record star could claim. However, Roger admits to being unable to speak a word of German and records his songs phonetically. 

In this programme, Musical Vistas finds out what happens in Roger's musical world and how that results in songwriting and performing.

Programme 2: 12th February 2005
In this week's programme, Musical Vistas meets the guitarist Jim Murray. Jim has been described as the hottest young guitarist to emerge from Ireland in recent years. His playing has firmly established him on the Irish scene, playing with Sharon Shannon, Steve Earl and Liam O'Flionn.

One his many musical companions is the accordion player Seamus Begley. Their album Ragairne was named Album Of The Year in Hotpress and Folk/Traditional Album Of The Year in the Irish Times in 2001. It has been said of his playing on this album that he rides shotgun alongside Begley, colouring and shading with the care and attention of a musician long practised in the art of restraint.

Jim is a native of Clondrohid, Macroom Co. Cork. The art of accompaniment is one which is often overlooked but, in this part of Musical Vistas, Jim and his music will play the leading role.

Programme 1: 5th February 2005