The stars align at Other Voices

THE Other Voices festival has produced some extraordinary musical performances over its 15-year tenure in Dingle and this year the stars again aligned to create a special musical event that will live long in the memory.

The chapel in an Diseart was the venue on Sunday for an unannounced guest and, although the secret was closely guarded, the early queue at the gate gave a hint that something special was in the offing.

With the chapel’s 75 seats filled by those lucky enough to get inside, Philip King paid tribute to the vision and poetic nature of recently deceased Mons Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, before introducing Hattie Webb. Hattie is one of the Webb sisters who played with Leonard Cohen on his 2008–2010 international tour. On Sunday she sang a set of heartfelt, contemplative songs, including a deeply moving performance of Cohen’s ‘If It be Your Will’, accompanied by the rich tones of Cork singer Jack O’Rourke.

As the audience was leaving after the concert ended, Glen Hansard and Breán- ndán Ó Beaglaíoch arrived on the scene. The audience was invited back inside and the pair joined Hattie for an acoustic set with polyphonic versions of Cohen classics such as ‘So Long Marianne’, to which Jack O’Rourke added his dulcet tones after being called on-stage by Glen Hansard.

They left to a standing ovation and the impact of the event was such that the organisers of Other Voices decided to recreate the performance at the live streamed event in St. James’s Church that evening where the rendition of ‘If it be Your Will’ and ‘So Long Marianne’ were part of the set.

FROM LEFT: Musician and Theoretical Physics graduade from (TCD) Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh speaking at the Ireland’s Edge conference in the Skellig Hotel; Síle Denvir singing in Curran’s pub on Friday, and Eager fans outside St James’s Church.