'Cuimhní Runda' by Dungiven's Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh

It was as if Dungiven’s Francie Brolly had pulled a chair up beside us at the table, as County Derry Post chatted to Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh about her new CD ‘Cuimhní Rúnda - Hidden Memories’.

Her beloved later father’s presence was palpable, his encouraging influence on Nodlaig apparent throughout the conversation.
‘Cuimhní Rúnda’ is a collection of songs and tunes written by Nodlaig over the last 10 to 15 years.

“They have been in my head too long and when my father passed away suddenly a couple of years ago, I just felt the time was right to really take that music and put it out into the world and share it,” said Nodlaig.

‘Cuimhní Rúnda - Hidden Memories' by Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh.

“‘Cuimhní Rúnda’ is really a tribute to him and my mother, Anne, and the teachers I have had along the way. They really invested so much in me as a musician. For me, ‘Cuimhní Rúnda’ is a ‘giving back’ as well.

“The songs and the tunes are very much inspired by the landscape and people who have been significant in my life. Some of the songs just came naturally to me in the Irish language. The title song of the CD, which I wrote down in Fanad lighthouse, was one of those. Interestingly, Fanad is reviving itself as a Gaeltacht and has a bilingual, social-community enterprise there, which I just think is fantastic.

“It is a bit like Carntogher in County Derry, where people are taking responsibility for their own place. They are creating jobs and bringing back the cultural heritage and language.

“I was actually staying in Fanad lighthouse one night. It was a bit scary because I was there on my own and there was no WiFi and no TV. It was a wee bit eerie. I was glad I had the harp with me as company and I ended up composing two pieces,” recalled Nodlaig.

Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh winner of the Classical Flute competition in Derry Feis in 1992.

The Dungiven woman said Fanad had inspired her.

“It is such a beautiful place,” said Nodlaig. “The colours were very blue and gold and mellow, so for the instrumental piece which I also wrote in Fanad - Fánaid Gorm - I could hear the traditional Irish harp and the saxophone. It just came into my head.

“I had never thought about using the saxophone in my music but I was very lucky to have Gerard McChrystal, from Derry City, agree to play the music on both of those pieces.

“What is lovely is that myself and Gerard both had the same teacher starting out here in Derry City, Patsy McShane, who was a wonderful human. He taught me the flute. He was just a true gentleman. He really nurtured my love of music from a very early age.

“Myself and Gerard had the benefit of starting out with somebody like that who was so very kind. Patsy then encouraged me to go on with my music. It got to the stage where he said, ‘I’ve brought you as far as I can and I am going to have to let you go’. I was really heartbroken.

“I went to the Ulster College of Music in Belfast and after that, I went into the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland and had great experiences but it all started here in Derry City,” said Nodlaig.

“It is remarkable when I think about it now, my father bringing me in every Saturday,” reminisced Nodlaig. “Us coming over the Bridge and the soldiers, the conflict ongoing but the great people of Derry, on both sides of the community, understood how it was more important than ever to keep the music going.

Nodlaig's parents, folksingers Anne and Francie Brolly.

“In the midst of all that mayhem, you had occasions like the Derry Feis which kept going. It was massive at that time and it was so competitive. The standard of music was just amazing.

“And you had the Londonderry Feis as well. I would have been competing in both of them and I vividly remember, standing in the Guildhall, during the Londonderry Feis, on the stage, looking out onto the Foyle and the sun was shining and I was playing the flute, playing a bit of classical music and just thinking, ‘Oh my God, this is just beautiful’.

“But it is the people behind that, those organisations, who really kept the music going for the young people, who are to be praised. That’s where I got my start with Gerard McCrystal and Ruth McGinley and people like that who were coming up along with me.

“On the Traditional side, there was my own father and Seamus O’Kane who very courageously brought the first Derry Fleadh to Dungiven. The Ulster Council of Comhaltas thought they were half mad. However, those men and the people who were involved in Comhaltas in Derry at the time, realised how important it was to keep the music going, particularly for the young people,” acknowledged Nodlaig.

The harper extraordinaire, who now lives in Donegal with husband, Ciarán, and children, Bláithín, Conall and Dualta, asserted:

“We have all benefited from what the people before us did.”

“Much of what I have done in ‘Cuimhní Rúnda’ is just to try and thank them and to pay tribute to them,” said Nodlaig.

According to Nodlaig, the CD takes the listener on a journey from Fanad Lighthouse in Donegal, right up to the Mussenden Temple, the harping area where Denis Hempson played the music and Edward Bunting collected it.

“That is a vast part of our traditional music now,” said Nodlaig, “particularly our harp music.

“Really important in the mix is ‘Sraith Ghleann na Rua’ (‘The Roe Valley Suite’), which is for the first time bringing together three world famous tunes: ‘The Gem of the Roe’, ‘Tabhair dom do lámh (‘Give me your hand’) - written by Ruaidhrí Dall Ó Cathain - and ‘Danny Boy’.

“What I wanted to do was bring those three pieces together in a suite, so people would appreciate that all of these beautiful tunes, many of which are played worldwide, sit within the Roe Valley area. I wanted to bring out that heritage.

“The other piece that is very important to me is the last surviving Gaeilge verse in Dungiven. It was The Benedy and that is where I mainly grew up from the age of three or four. It is a beautiful place and my mother still lives there.

“My father had said to me about 10 years ago, somebody should really put music to that. So I thought, ‘I’ll be the one to do it’. I felt a bit of pressure and I did put a huge amount of work into that melody because I felt it was important we could potentially revive the verse through the music. It is one I am really proud of and it is one daddy really loved as well,” said Nodlaig.

‘Cuimhní Rúnda’ also contains an Elegy to Nodlaig’s father, who she described as “a man of great hope”.

Her voice breaking, Nodlaig said: “‘Dá Fhad and Oiche’ ('However long the night’) starts in the very ancient form of a lament but my father was a person of great hope, so it actually comes into a very bright piece then.

“For me it has echoes of his favourite Gaeilge proverb - Dá fhad an oíche, tagann an lá (No matter how long the night, the day will come). He left us with great hope as well and I wanted that to be reflected in the music.

“And, I think, with the times we are living in, we need hope and I think music is the one thing that reminds us of our humanity and during the conflict here, I know how much the music gave to us and I think, music can continue to give so much to a broken world.”