ON a wild and windy night in January, I attended The Friel Sisters’ gig in The City Halls during Celtic Connections, and I can say with absolute confidence that these three gorgeous and amply talented sisters created a storm inside that building that made Storm Isha outside feel like a sedentary breeze. I know because I was right there in the eye of that storm, hookin and chookin, clapping and toe-tapping along with some of their family, friends and musical peers from their younger days at St Roch’s: the McArdles, the Hunter family and the Cannings.
We’d been well-prepped on the night as Liz Doherty and her band, Fiddle Sticks, warmed us up with some incredible tunes, among them, Gallagher’s March and My Friend Sharon, written by Clare McLaughlin from Glasgow. Liz Doherty exudes such great energy; a pint sized bubbly blond whose vitality is completely infectious, set the scene for the evening as she played with a group comprising of her former music students from the University of Cork where she taught 20 years ago. They reunited two years ago and have promised to play at least one gig a year, but judging by the audience’s reaction, they may find themselves re-jigging their calendars.
Sheila and Anna (twins) and younger sister, Clare then took to the stage, accompanied by musicians, Marty Barry, a guitar player and singer from County Down and Cathal O’Currain, bouzouki player and singer from Gaoth Dobhair. Sheila modestly informed us that it had been 12 years since their first gig at Celtic Connections and 10 years since the launch of their first album, aptly named, The Friel Sisters, which was all so difficult for me to believe because I have known these girls since they were still in their school uniforms. But time stands still for no man, and the girls have managed to pack a great deal of cheoil agus craic, a second album, Before the Sun, and working on their forthcoming album into their schedule. They’ve picked up multiple awards including a Gradam Ceoil award for Clare as TG4’s Young Musician of the Year, and they’ve even coped—two of them—to work as dentists whilst performing and touring Europe, Asia and the US over these past 12 years. So it’s no wonder their mother, Sheila and father, John, beamed from ear to ear as they watched their girls perform live on stage, because along with talent, their time management skills appear impeccable!
Also in the audience that night was the girls’ Great Auntie, Penny Friel, to whom they dedicated the song, Sheephaven Bay. I’m sure many of you will know this broad shallow inlet on the north coast of Donegal close to where Penny’s late husband, James Friel RIP (Johnny) was from in Kerrykeel, so the song meant a great deal. I spoke with her a couple of weeks later at her daughter-in-law, Fiona Friel’s 50th Birthday and to say she was chuffed would be an understatement. She felt honoured just to be there; and I agree, because it was thrilling to watch these girls who live and breathe the music and tradition of their forefathers, to listen to them play and sing in both English and in Irish Gaelic. Their affinity and kinship with each other and with Ireland transcends beyond simple DNA. It’s something else entirely—something ethereal and mystical. The evening contained a mixture of old tunes and lucky for us, a taste of some newer tunes from their upcoming album, which is, as yet, untitled. There’s no release date yet, but they are taking their time with this one because they had a bit of a rush on deadlines for the other two, so getting a chance to take a breath on this one is a lovely change. I’ve been promised a copy when they do release it!
I took the opportunity to ask the girls (above) a few questions on behalf of The Irish Voice.
It’s been 12 years since your first gig at the City Halls in Glasgow. What has been the most valuable lesson relating to your musical journey that you have learned during those 12 years?
We feel very lucky to still be playing, performing and enjoying music as much, if not even more than we did 12 years ago at the City Halls. We have had so many experiences since then, and feel honoured to have played with many of our musical heroes and made so many friends through music. We can’t, and wouldn’t even want to imagine our lives without music.
I think the most valuable lesson is to stay true to the music that you are passionate about and not necessarily what you think might ‘sell’ or be popular to the masses. There is space for everyone and as long as you are doing what you love with integrity, authenticity and real grá it translates to the listener.
We have been so lucky to have made incredible friends through our music, both professionally and socially, that we know will last a lifetime so I’d say to do your best to surround yourself with people you enjoy being with. Of course also playing the music you love and having a deep connection with gives you great satisfaction and energy.
Life continues to progress for you all. Anna, you are now married and both Sheila and Clare you are now engaged. How do you all ‘time manage’ your musical career around your jobs as dentists, your partners and everyday lives?
(Anna) A good online calendar! We joke about not being organised, but we have to be to be able to do both dentistry and music professionally. We were very fortunate to be given great guidance when planning our future careers that having a fall back option to music would let us be able to play the music we wanted and give us a little more control of our time. It can be very difficult to balance everything though so having a good boss and a very understanding husband definitely helps. Fortunately both careers balance each other out too—no one seems to like the dentist and most people like musicians! We live our lives to the fullest that’s for sure!
(Sheila) Music has always been a huge part of our lives so it doesn’t feel like time management when it is a matter of playing music especially socially or in our spare time. I don’t think twice about catching up with friends by playing a few tunes. However, it can be very difficult balancing ‘normal life’ when there is a lot of travelling to be done or visas to apply for. That’s the real ‘work’ part of music and we are lucky that Clare handles most of that. We are lucky to enjoy seeing new places with our musical travels but there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.
(Clare) As a full-time, touring musician, I spend the majority of my time away performing or working on different musical projects, and when I’m back, I tend to be in Donegal more. I absolutely love what I do, so I hardly see it as working. I just feel so fortunate to be able to do something that I love, something that is my passion, all the time. It also makes time at home even more special, and I can appreciate the time spent in Glasgow or in Donegal even more.
(All) We are lucky to have family and partners who are very understanding of how important music is to our lives and enjoy watching us doing something that we love so much. They don’t enjoy seeing it so much though when they get photos of our lovely food, tasty cocktails or cool adventures while we’re on tour!
You have a beautiful home in Donegal as well as your family home here in Glasgow. Where do you feel most at ‘home?’
We were brought up going over and back between Glasgow and Donegal, to our family in Kerrykeel and to Doire na Mainséar to our family home, so we are so fortunate to have the feeling of two homes, both of which are very special to us. We have family and friends in both Glasgow and Donegal, so we’ll always have such lovely ties to both places.
(Sheila) I have been living in Donegal now for four years and it does feel very much like home. There is a real sense of peace being here full time as we always felt such a strong drive to get to Donegal at every chance we could when living in Glasgow. However, Glasgow will always have a piece of my heart!
You have just completed a tour of the US, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Portland, Milwaukee. You have clearly made your mark on the other side of the Atlantic. Are your audiences predominantly Irish immigrants and second and third generation Irish or are you finding that you have an eclectic mix of followers from various backgrounds/cultures?
We play a lot in the US. There are many people who come to our concerts who have links to Ireland and many who are just huge fans of Irish music. It’s amazing to see the reach that Irish music has worldwide, it really does appeal to all backgrounds and cultures.
It’s evident that you love playing music together, however, out-with playing as a group, who do you most enjoying sharing the stage with—other than Cathal and Marty that is?
We have played with so many fantastic musicians over the years, but it’s hard to beat the music of home. Sharing the stage with any of the Mooney family feels like we are giving the audience a glimpse into the wild music in Donegal. This music is how we celebrate and socialise, be it just a Friday night in Huidi Beag’s or a wedding or big birthday party! It’s hard to beat that sense of comradery and devilment.
How does your musical collaboration work? Is it harder because there are three of you—each with your own creative ideas and influences—or does this make the whole process much easier?
As sisters, we were brought up listening to The Bothy Band, Planxty and Skara Brae, but also lots of other genres. We all approach music in a similar way but of course have some different tastes. Clare brings some Donegal fiddle tunes, Sheila brings more tunes from the uilleann piping tradition, Anna brings flute tunes and we all choose songs that we love or have been singing our whole lives learned from our granny Nellie or our mum. We have a new album coming out this year, and in preparation for that, the three of us sat down and played tunes together that we love or tunes that we play in sessions. We love that Cathal and Marty have put their own stamp on the music and songs also. They are both such fantastic musicians, and great friends too, so the whole process for this upcoming album was easy.
When you sing you appear to be completely in tune and time with one another. Does this come very naturally to all three of you? Also do you connect as much off stage, or do you bicker over silly things the way most sisters would?
We have been singing together since Clare was five and Anna and Sheila were eight and have always sung in unison. It is what comes naturally to us. We don’t really plan when we breathe in songs, or where ornamentation might go because we’ve been singing together our whole life. We’re sisters, so of course we can disagree and bicker, but I think that being sisters makes it easier. We can be completely honest with each other, we can bicker over things, but always get over it.
Who are your biggest musical influences?
(Clare) I have always been drawn to Donegal fiddle music, and I am a very proud member of the Donegal fiddle community. The older fiddle players Neilidh Boyle (from Dungloe) and John and Mickey Doherty (from Ardara), as well as Paddy Glackin, Tommy Peoples and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh would be some of my biggest influences. I am very honoured to be the latest member of Irish supergroup and legends Altan, so playing with your musical heroes is a very surreal experience.
(Sheila) It’s very hard to give a short answer to this. We have listened to many genres of music since we were very young and have had a varied palette from a young age. It’s hard not to mention The Bothy Band, Planxty, Altan and Skara Brae. From an uilleann piping perspective I have always loved the music of Liam O’Flynn and the McKeon family but the list is endless.
(Anna) We were always encouraged to listen to a wide range of music growing up but naturally gravitated towards traditional music. The girls have named so many of our influences, but one closer to home would be our grandmother. She was a great singer and we spent many nights listening to her sing and tell the stories about the songs and our area in Donegal. We’re so lucky to have been able to learn those songs from her.
And finally where do you see yourselves in another 12 years from now?
As long as we continue to love what we’re doing, to play music that we love and music that we can be proud of, I think we’ll be very happy. We don’t have an end goal, we just want to continue sharing our music and our songs and hope that people can enjoy it as much as we do.
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