Beidh cór fear The Ramparts ar stáitse in the O'Reilly Theatre ar Great Denmark Street i lár Bhleá Cliath ag deireadh na míosa. Fiosrach fén gceol acu? Léigh leat.
Their set list is a total variety show, featuring a wide range of traditional Irish folk songs, classic hits, old school barbershop ballads, contemporary classical and sacred music.
Sé Ruaidhrí Ó Dálaigh bunaitheoir agus stiúrtheoir an chór agus labhair RTÉ.ie/Gaeilge leis fén ealaín acu agus féna ról féin.
Inis dom an saghas cór atá ann?
"The Ramparts are an all-male voice choir of about 30 members. And we sing everything acappella, so we never have any kind of instrument with us, There are different parts in the choir. One section is called the Lead Line, and they generally get melody. Sometimes it becomes a bit of a joke within the choir in that the Basses always have the 'te-dum-te-te-dum-te-te-dum-de-dum' - the least interesting bits."
"But for the song and the harmony to work they have to take that on the chin and say, 'well, we're all part of the group’. The Lead Line have to remember a lot of the lyrics, so they have a tough time in that way. The other two parts are the Barritones and the Tenors; the Barritones generally do the harmony’s in-between the Bass and the Lead and the Tenors then have higher harmonies than the Lead."
Cuimhneoidh daoine d'aois áirithe The Flying Pickets ar Top of the Pop agus iad ag canadh a capella 'Lookin from a window above’ agus mar sin de – cén réimse amhrán atá agaibh agus an bhfuil srian oraibh sa mhéid sin?
"Bhuel tig linn geall le gach aon saghas amhrán a dhéanamh seachas má bhíonn sé iontach casta, ar nós, cur i gcás, Bohemian Rhapsody. D’fhéadfaimis tabhairt faoi, ach cé chanfaidh an giotár solo i lár báire?! Agus is amhrán íocónach atá ann, ceann ar leith."
"Mar sin ní bheifeá ag iarraidh dul sa tseans. Mar sin dírímid ar chóireamh atá indéanta agus a thabharfaidh a gceart don bhun-amhráin. Spéisiúil go luann tú ‘Only You’ ag na Flying Pickets – canaimid an t-amhrán sin, tá sé foirfe dúinn."
And what about yourself, Ruaidhrí, which section are you in?
"I sing bass and sometimes if there's not enough baritones for a gig or whatever, I'll probably sing baritone, but I'd be a fairly low singer. This is the great thing about singing in the choir. I've been working with choirs for 18 years and. A lot of lads who aren't used to singing in choirs would say, 'Oh no, I Can't Sing', but I'd say ‘No, no, no - you CAN!’. You can sing bass and basses are unbelievably important, and they're amazing. I love basses, I love all the different voice parts. So I would generally sing bass because I'm a fairly low voice."
An gcreideann tú gur féidir le gach éinne canadh?
"Sea ach – más duine sna 60daí nó 70daí atá i gceist gan taithí ar chanadh ná ar mórán cheoil tá seans ann go bhféadfaidís foghlaim ach go dtógfadh sé níos faide ortha teacht i dtír air. Ach má thosnaíonn tú duine óg, 6 nó 7 mbliain d’aois, im thaithí tá cuid acu gur oibrigh mé leo agus táid iontach ábalta. Mar sin braitheann sé ar cathain a thosnaíonn tú."
"Is saor-cheoltóir mise a thosaigh ag canadh le Cór Palestrina nuair a bhí mé 6 bhliain d’aois. Chan mé ar feadh na mblianta i gcóranna éagsúla agus ansin thosaíos á bunú. Ní raibh aon plean ann, tharla sé, ach thaitin sé go mór liom. Agus sin anois na jab agam. Múinim ceoil chomh maith ach sé an stiúrthóireacht an bun saothar."
What is required of a choir master or director?
"Well, I could go on with it this all day, but like very brief synopsis is that you need to have social skills, you need to be like I suppose you need to be able to lead people because people have personalities and they have wants and needs."
"So you need to be able to convince people that what we're doing is a worthwhile endeavour, because I feel like a lot of people these days have a lot on their plate. There's only seven days in a week, so I'm asking people to give up one evening a week."
"So I always select the music so that the choir will like it and hopefully the audience as well, because if the choir really loves singing the songs, it is quite infectious in a positive way."
Give us a couple of sample examples of what the audience might hear The Ramparts sing in the O'Reilly Theatre?
"There are basically three different styles that we sing. One would be trad, Irish, or folk from other countries and another would be pop music and another would be like a little bit of classical music, I suppose stemming from my roots in the Palestrina Choir."
"So from the trad songs we do Raglan Road, the Foggy Dew, and Loch Lomond for example. And from the pop songs we're doing, Mr Blue Sky from Electric Light Orchestra. We're doing God Only Knows by The Beach Boys and and also Wouldn't it Be Nice."
"There's a few other songs but I'll I'll keep them a secret. And then there's a few contemporary classical songs that most people wouldn't have heard, but they're kind of interesting to slot here and there in the programme."
"I do a bit of audience interaction too. I get them to sing just one note and then the choir harmonises around that note. And I'll also get them to sing little bits of a chorus or two to have them feeling included."
Beidh The Ramparts ag seinnt ag The O'Reilly Theatre ar an 28 agus 30 Lúnasa.
Tuilleadh eolais ag www.therampartschoir.com
