Conleth’s ballad strikes chord with homesick ex-pats
A ballad written by Co Armagh singer Conleth Kane, which celebrates home and family, has gone viral on social media.
The Lurgan man penned the song, Emerald Isle, as a tribute to his parents, Priscilla and Gerard, whose four grown-up children live in England, Australia and the US.
Described by Conleth as a “celebration of Ireland and the importance of home”, the track is accompanied by a music video shot in the Mourne Mountains.
It was originally intended as an album track only, but with so many people forced apart due to the pandemic, he decided to release it to mark this year’s St Patrick’s Day.
He said he has been inundated with messages from ex-pats around the globe, saying the song has made them feel connected with their families again.
Conleth, who divides his time between London and Lurgan, explained how the song came about.
“My two sisters Edel and Dearbhla live in Melbourne and Sydney, my brother Michael is in San Francisco and I moved to London is 2003,” he said.
“My parents are still back home in Lurgan, living in the same house we all grew up in. Yet we haven’t been in the same room all together in 10 years.
“My niece was due to get married on New Year’s Eve last year and we were planning a huge reunion, but of course, that didn’t happen. We’d been really excited about seeing each other again.
“I wrote Emerald Isle as a love letter to home. It came from a place of homesickness, which was only magnified during lockdown. We might all live in the four corners of the planet, but Lurgan will always be home.”
The music video, which was filmed last summer when lockdown restrictions were lifted, was uploaded on social media and began to take on a life of its own. So far, it has had around 15,000 views on Youtube and over 40,000 on Facebook and fans have been contacting Conleth to tell him how much it connects them to home.
“I decided to release it in time for St Patrick’s Day to highlight, not just how much I feel separated from my family, but because there are so many people missing their loved ones right now,” he said.
“St Patrick’s Day is usually a great celebration, but for the second year in a row so many people won’t be able to get back home.
“The song seems to be resonating with a lot of people and I’ve had messages from Irish people living in China, Japan, the States and from all over Europe.”
Conleth, who was awarded an Arts Council NI grant to enable him to work on other music projects, said he “really struggled” during lockdown and felt lost, so flew home to Northern Ireland and moved in with his parents again.