The Celtic Woman nowouton her own

REPORTER DAVID MEDCALF ENJOYED CONVERSATION WITH SINGER ORLA FALLON FROM KNOCKANANNA WHO HAS TOURED THE WORLD WITH HER HARP AND IS PROMOTING A FINE NEW SOLO ALBUM CALLED ‘THE SWEET BY AND BY’.

ONE of the most commercially successful musical artistes ever to come out of Ireland is a native of County Wicklow. Orla Fallon may not quite be a household name in her native land but she has a stellar reputation in the United States. The harpist and singer has performed in some of the best known venues in North America, meeting two Presidents along the way.

And, though short of matching U2 in the publicity stakes, she has strutted some of the same stages as the Dublin rockers. She enjoyed considerably more than the standard ration of 15 minutes of fame as a member of Celtic Woman.

A little more than a decade ago, the all-female outfit topped the charts in the USA, not just for weeks, or for months, but for years on end. The Celtic Woman franchise lives on, continuing to attract huge live audiences to shows across North America. However, the members of the original quartet have all hung up their ball gowns and moved on to other work. While her three colleagues stayed in the States, the lady from the Wicklow hills has also headed west. But she made it only just across the Carlow border, as a long-time resident of Leighlinbridge, not too far from where she was raised.

‘I grew up in Knockananna and I am really proud of my Knockananna roots,’ she confirms. Her mother Eileen is originally from County Kerry, so Orla is well connected in Ardfert as a result. Her late father John was a born and bred Wicklow man, hailing originally from Aughavannagh up in the Glen of Imaal. Eileen was principal of the local primary school in Knockananna for 35 years while John was a farmer who diversified into the meat trade. Like his daughter, he enjoyed his slice of the limelight, as owner of the highly successful Rule Supreme racehorse, a winner in Cheltenham and France as well as on home tracks.

Orla, eldest in a family of five children, recalls that Knockananna was great place to grow up in, summer holidays spent damming the local river and generally living the outdoor life. Early schooldays were passed in Scoil Naomh Bríd where her mother held sway. Strict but fair is the daughter’s recollection of Eileen’s approach to teaching.

‘She was a brilliant teacher. She gave me the love of Irish,’ says Orla whose musical leanings were accommodated as she took charge of the primary school choir for first communions while still a pupil. She cannot recall a time when she was not singing, gifted with a voice that has matured in adulthood into a delightfully clear and sweet instrument. One of her earliest memories is as a three year old singing a song of her own impromptu composition in the back of the family car. On trips to Kerry, she learned ‘every Irish song that was going’ from her mother’s mother, drinking deeply from a rich cultural well. And she was also ferried to Clonmore in Carlow where Missus Jones served a slice of cake after piano lessons.

Some further discipline was eventually put on this stream of natural talent once it was decided to dispatch her to be a boarder at Mount Sackville beside the Phoenix Park in Dublin. She recalls the place as a great school once she