Enda Reilly - Feile Artist Introduction

In this episode, Kevin sits down with Enda Reilly, to spend a few minutes getting to know more about him and what audiences can expect at this year's Féile. We'll also share a couple of his songs to give you a taste of what's in store.

You can find more information about the Feile and purchase tickets at the Beaver Island Irish Heritage group website:  www.BIIHG.com

https://endareilly.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Tides That Tie, a podcast about all things Aaron Moore in Beaver Island. I'm Ron Gregg. Over the next few weeks, as we're counting down the days to the Emerald Isle Irish Phaela on Beaver Island, we'd like to introduce you to some of the incredible artists who will be taking the stage this September. It's a chance to hear a little bit about their music, their stories, and what inspires them before they arrive on the island. In this episode, Kevin sits down with End O'Riley to spend a few minutes getting to know more about him and what audiences can expect at this year's Phaela. We'll also share a couple of his songs to give you a taste of what's in store. You can find more information about the Phaela and purchase tickets at the Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group website, www.bihg.com. Thanks for listening and enjoy the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

So I'm End the Riley and uh I'm living in Plymouth, Michigan now. Uh my wife's from Battle Creek, Michigan, and uh but I don't have a Michigan accent. So uh I met my wife uh in Ireland. Uh she lived in Dublin uh and uh for a while, so she's got Irish citizenship. Um and so we met over there uh and I'm I was I'm a musician and I was uh playing in Temple Bar and uh playing in pubs all around Dublin and singing in in uh in with a few groups around Ireland and that kind of thing uh for years and songwriter write I write songs in in English and then Oscar as well in the Irish language and uh kind of par uh in and out of uh aspects of the kind of the Irish language uh community in Ireland as well. Um and I used to go to uh Bun Beg in uh Donegal uh up to Ronan Mokowee uh or Moch Aoe uh who uh sadly isn't with us anymore, but he was uh a giant of a man in Bun Beg there on Von Vjog um on Von Vig uh and uh he had a thing called the Cabaret Crack Alta. And um I used to go up there every now and then and really get a good dose of uh proper Irish language uh culture straight uh from the Gaeltuct itself, and that was uh wonderful connection that I had with Dunny Gaul there. Um so and that kind of uh influenced me quite quite a bit. Um so um yeah, other than that, I I I've been writing songs and kind of uh trying to keep writing new songs uh w about Irish culture uh at the same time learning some of the old songs that uh catch your ear from time to time and just keep keep keep learning from the old and trying to create some stuff, uh some some fresh stuff as well. So that's kinda what I do.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

So for those listeners that might not know your music, how would you describe it?

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Um I guess it's uh songs in the folk style of kind of you know uh Christie Moore, um Paul Brady, um Dick Gunn from Scotland, these kind of the John Martin, uh and then throwing in, I guess it we all have our own flavor, so you know I like to uh in general keep keep songs short and you know to the point uh if I can. Um and yeah, um I wrote a song called uh All Along the Wild Atlantic Way with Eva Scott and um that was for her album. Um we wrote another five songs for that album, uh, and that was Eva Scott's first album, uh, and she got that song to number one. So I kind of have a songwriter inside of me as well as uh the uh you know singer.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

So of your repertoire, do you have one song in particular that seems to always grab the audience? Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

I wouldn't say one song in particular, but um yeah, I mean all along the wild Atlantic way is kind of a a calling card because the people know it. Eva did a great job. People know the song at pretty much every Irish festival I go to perform at uh people go, Oh yeah, I know that song. And so you know it's it's uh uh and with with a with a fresh audience, once you spend a minute tell them the words, then they all that they've no problem joining in and uh they really enjoy it. And I think the uh the way we mentioned places that we actually knew uh that maybe not everybody knows, and that's the thing about going to Ireland, everybody kind of has a story about you know, anyone who spent a bit of time will have somewhere that they that they find for themselves as it were, and they had a a lovely day at and have these memories, and that's kind of what we wanted in the song was to kind of have um you know that that that it wasn't obvious everything in the song, you know, um but that that there was something personal for each of us. Uh so there's things in the song that are Eva's memories and things that are my memories, and we kind of we got them uh we got them into the song, you know, and I think that's I think people people respond to that, that that uh we're not just making up some generic thing, you know.

SPEAKER_03 5:39

Yeah, so how when will you bring me my love? I'm counting down the day. When will you bring me my love? All along the while, little under six tears in overture, waiting for the day Today we returning homeward all along the while and way will you bring me my love counting down the day when will you bring me my love? All along the wild way of the day on the bank, shipwreck in the bay Start and white the north west on spent all along the window I'm sweet, I'm Crow Patrick, and nearly went astray on the north, all of the wild way So when will you bring me my own down today? When will you bring me my dog? All the love the window we went, in the remote, bell and the loyal, and the wet, we'll be on the bingo, and I'm gonna get it. Oh, when will you bring me my love? I'm counting down the day. When will you bring me my love? All along the wild day. Yes, when will you bring me my love? I'm counting down the day. When will you bring me my love? All along the while at let me take way.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

Some of your other songs too really kind of uh like Hi Brazil, you the the Hangover Walk song. Yeah, you really kind of capture a lot of a lot of sense of place when you're writing, it seems to me. You know? Like where do you think that comes from in your DNA? Wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Well, I guess that's the that's the that kind of is one of the goals or of of kind of um folk music is that kind of capturing something, you know. Um uh um and like there's there's another one like that I they wrote about um County Mayo where my mother's from. It's called Where the Sweetest Waters Flow. And that's talking about all the the the the uh the fields down in Mayo uh that all have different names, like the temple, the Temple Hill, where they said Mass at the Mass Rock, and that everything has uh you know, and up at the graveyard where St. Patrick was said to have come, and you know, so there's all these connections to the past that we have, and that we've been told these stories from our grand grandfathers and you know, these kind of things. So those type of things I think um especially in the modern world now where you know we're all well I I feel a lot of people are more isolated with their screens and phones and everything's been marketed towards you and the way you should think and all and like so for me it's kind of a more analog, older way to you know, make sure we're keeping ourselves connected to our our our our past and to what is actually truly us, you know. And part of that is the language. Um I was lucky enough that when I was growing up I got to go to uh a Gael school or an all-Irish speaking school. Um and so any anything I was learning about history kind of has an extra an extra kind of connection to to the past because you know, so much of it, so much of it is in the language and it just you know if you're learning it in English, it just feels different than if you you learn about something in in Irish, you know, that kind of way. So so um I hope some of that comes through in my in my song in my songwriting. Um like for but uh uh in another way, um you know, part of what I like um uh with songwriting as well is uh just getting capturing a moment um or a feeling and uh you know uh having that then as a memory that you can go back to. Um I've actually got a I've got a song I I I I I I just sang on a show the other night there that I was dusting off again, and it's called it's called Old Songs. Um and it's it's about that idea of why why would you still keep singing a really old song, you know, uh after after so long, you know. I was I was looking at someone like uh Liam Clancy singing um uh you know uh whiskey in the jar or something. I was like, what what you know he's been singing that for 50 years, you know. When I saw him, uh, you know, I was sort of shocked. I was like, what how how is that still fresh for him? You know, and so that's what inspired that this song called Old Songs that I have. Um and then I was kind of going, well, that's what I have as well. I have all these songs, and when I when I sing them again, they mean something to me. I've got the feelings and connections to them, and especially those old songs, other people had those connections, you know, in previous generations. So um so yeah, it's definitely a theme that I have uh in my songs about passing the passing things down from from one generation to the next, or in in Irish as we say, oh gloom to go gloon uh from one generation to the next. So it's definitely definitely uh a part of the DNA as you kind of mentioned there.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Where dips the rocky highland of sleuth wood in the lake there lies a leafy island where flapping herons wake the drowsy water rats And there we've hid our fairy bats full of berries and of red stolen cherries Come away O human child to the waters and the wild with a fairy hand in hand for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand Where the wave of moonlight glosses the dim grey sands with light far off by furthest russes we put it all the night weaving golden dances, mingling hands and mingling glances till the moon has taken flight to and fro we leap and chase the frothy bubbles while the world is full of troubles and with anxious in its sleep Come away O human child water with fairy for the world's more full where the wandering water pushes from the hills above Glencar in holes among the rushes that scarce could be the star. We seek for slumbering trout and whispering in their ears, give them a quiet dream sleeping softly out firms that drop their tears over the human stream human chair with the world. Solomon, you hear no more the lowing of the calves on the warm millside, or the cattle on the hob sing peace into his breast, or see the brown mice bob round and round the old meal chest, for he comes a human child to the waters and the wild with a fairy hum a world more full of weeping than he can.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Well, um flying in was an experience, and uh I had to play some mind games with myself to make sure that I didn't uh freak out too much on the plane with the wind and everything. But uh uh I was like, I'm excited, it's good, you know. I'm so I I I I force myself to enjoy it rather than be afraid. But um anyway, so coming in, so even that, and that's the great thing about islands, you know, whether you get on a boat or the plane or something, it's this trip away from the land, and you know, you know you're away, you know, physically from the rest of the world. So it's just makes it special that you know, going going to an island, you know. Um we've got our favorite island in Ireland. We love uh Innis Boffin, it's down um uh between uh Galway and uh and Mayo there. But uh so I have a song about Innis Boffin. But anyway, so we've um uh getting back to Beaver Island, just learning about your connection to to Aaron and you know, it's kind of it was really, really interesting. And then um staying at the brothers' place was fun. Uh and um yeah, uh I did my geology talk uh and we had loads of interested people there and I was given I was given some um stones from Beaver Island that were sh shone up and you know, so people really have an interest in in ge in nature and uh and everything. So that was really nice to share uh about Irish geology and our connections uh through geology to to to um to uh through America as well. Because I have a degree in geology from years ago as well, so it's nice to be able to share those kind of aspects, not just the songs and things, but you know, other other aspects of uh what you know what I've looked at before. It was uh it was fun to see that you were making korrucks and I got to see uh the curks been pushed out into into the sea there. So that was that was fun. I we we were hanging around for the first night, I think it was the Thursday night when the Aaron folks were over, and well, that was some hoolie that night. Everyone was having the crack. So uh yeah, so I really enjoyed my time there. Thanks. Yeah. So yeah, maybe I'll just mention what what what I'll be doing this year. It looks like I might be doing uh my songs and stories of Irish folklore, which is uh kind of a collection of songs that I have that I'll be talking about, people like Finn McCool, um Oshin. Uh so I have a song about like uh Finn McCool and the the salmon of knowledge, uh and so we go into that, and it's kind of a uh you know, it's a it's a fun little song that I've I've written about that, um uh which is a big part of Irish uh folklore and that kind of thing, you know. Um and so I'll have a load of things and I'll be talking about high Brazil and that that the uh mythical island off the coast of Ireland and I have a song about finding high Brazil and that kind of thing. I've written a lot of songs in Gaelic and I've done shows where I sing the song, uh, you know, but when when people don't understand the language, it's not very interactive. So I've kind of put together a show where um it'll be more people will get phonetics and they'll be able to sing along. We'll do the chorus of a few songs, and so people will get to sing along in Gaelic. And actually, it works quite well, you you know, it uh with the phonetics, it works great. You'd swear people spoke Gaelic, like you know, uh as they're joining in. So uh that'd be great to have people uh who were interested in it not afraid of the language at least, and um if you've got an interest, you'll definitely learn uh you'll definitely learn some. Uh but if if you're if you just want to join in phonetically and be part of it, that'll be great to have you too. We'll probably do two sets with um with Dunegall fiddler Katrina Kennedy as well. Uh so that'll be a collaboration, uh a new collaboration for us. So um we I look forward to that too. So I do a live stream once a month um and people are are uh free to to join us. You you can find it at uh on my website or YouTube or Facebook, you know. So yeah, my website is endorile.com, which is e n d u a r e i l y dot com. Uh and there uh you can uh watch some videos and performances that I've done or listen to uh there's actually a site wide player you can listen to as you're having a look around and we've also got uh there's a there's a an area called tear ending and that's uh kind of subscription area for people who want to um support my work ongoing into five dollars or more and we've got um some exclusive albums in there for people um we've got uh a live uh live show that I did recently um that people can listen to in there uh and little videos explainers about songs that people seem to be interested in more uh about certain songs and what they mean to me and uh and then when I write something new I share it with them first and so there's a lot of things in there that hopefully might get on to the next album with feedback as well that kind of thing so yeah and com is kind of where I have my home the Garden of Eden has vanished they say but I know the lie of it still just turn to the left at the bridge of the name and stop when I've away to could hell 'tis there I will find it I know sure enough fortune has come to my car for the grass it grows green around Bally James Duff and the blue skies over it all in tones that are tender tones that are gruff whispering over the sea come back putting Riley to Bally James Duff home Patty Riley to me Well my mother once told me that when I was born the day that I first saw the light I looked down the street on that very first morn and I gave a great crow of delight and most newborn babies appear with a hoof or they start with a sorrowful squaw But I knew I was born in Bally James Duff and that's why we smile at the ball the baby's a man now it's toil worn and tough still whispers come over the sea come back potty Riley to Bally James Duff come home potty Riley to me in tones that are tender tones that are gruff whispering over the sea come back potty Riley to Bully James Duff come home potty Riley to me straight away so yeah I I was lucky enough to get to live in Dublin City while it was uh affordable to live there in around 2010 eleven we were there for five years living on Adelaide Road down by the Grand Canal and um there's a statue of a poet who didn't want the statue all he wanted was a canal bank seat for the passerby but the authorities and people couldn't help themselves so they put a statue of him sitting on on the canal I wonder has anyone seen him Patrick Kavanaugh if you're down in Dublin and go for a lovely walk. So this is uh a song um I I would be in the international bar playing with uh I heard Lisa O'Neill being played last night in the in the hall there um and Lisa and myself and some other friends would be playing in the international bar and uh so the the following morning I came home and I was out for a walk and I could see the the the office workers there having their lunch in the sun and I I hadn't had my breakfast yet and still had a hangover walking around and Patrick Kavanaugh lived in that area as well and uh you might know him from um Raglan Road which he did with the Dubliners and and so uh yeah he he had a poem that he he was looking at the beauty of the Grand Canal and he called it a canal bank walk so I call my song Canal Bank Hangover Walk Take a walk along the shady leafy banks sing a song when you're blue let the sun shine through say hello to Patty He's sitting on the bench where the lovers kiss on the canal games round doodle musketry idle do round doodle muscle idle omash and now the bikes go by in tens and thirty trees are the lights the green man's flash dancing will hold your own as you cross through the bike malay where the boat man is cleanin' out the dirty bears and round doodle skit the neidum ma doodle skittle idle mush What quick your step along Graffiti boardwalk on and on on the weeping willows and see the office folks with their lunches in the sun and I've not yet had me breakfast and round doodle muscle idle in the round a doodle muscle idle Tell me tome goes wrong and my head's still dumb a dumb time to turn at the empty guard station and hit for home past Luther's lovely little church passing the pure one eyed people and round doodle mask three idle round doodle mask three idle omoshum a doodle mask