The uplifting music on Dublin Gospel Choir's funky and soulful second album could be just the thing to get a cranky and reluctant populace interested in Christmas at the end of a bad year, writes KEVIN COURTNEY
THE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING season is almost upon us, and once again the air is ringing with the sound of politicians asking us to do the patriotic thing and spend our ever-shrinking kitty at home. It’ll take more than threats and cajoling, though, to persuade us to cancel our annual trip to Newry and shop in the Republic. Perhaps what the capital needs instead is a stirring anthem to swell our hearts and loosen our wallets, a seasonal song that makes us want to shake our hips, clap our hands and dance down Grafton Street, credit cards held aloft like holy offerings.
The Dublin Gospel Choir's new single, Liberty Bell, could be just the theme song to save Dublin from eternal retail damnation. Written by Ken McHugh, aka Autamata, and Carol Keogh, aka the ethereal singer from Tychonaut, Liberty Bellcatches Dublin in a rare auld moment of magic, crystallising the Christmassy feeling you get walking through town, lights twinkling above your head and church bells ringing out in the cool December air. When the original version of the song was released in 2005, it lit up the Christmas atmosphere. As sung by the Dublin Gospel Choir, however, it takes on an even more celestial air.
“It’s a real catchy Christmas number,” agrees Orla Gargan, the choir’s director. “It’s fun to sing and really lends itself to a gospel arrangement. You really throw yourself into it. It’s got Dublin all over it. It would be nice if it was playing around Christmas. We have competition with the Pope, I think, ’cos he’s releasing a record too.”
Spiritual and all as Pope Benedict's effort may be, chances are it's not half as funky or soulful as the second album from one of Dublin's longest-running and best-known choirs. Recorded live at the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire in September, and bearing the hipster-ish title, Doing Our Thing, the album sees the inner-city singing collective doing its uplifting thing to some classic soul tunes, spirituals and even an Irish tune or two.
Aside from the Dublin-drenched Liberty Bell,there's a cover of the Cranberries' You and Me, which has been rendered almost unrecognisable by a superfly arrangement, plus an Eleanor McEvoy song, Something So Wonderful, which truly lives up to its name. And you might recognise The Seed, a translation of the traditional Irish hymn, Ag Críost An Síol, a perfect blend of rural Ireland and the Deep South.
WHEN YOU THINK of gospel, you might picture a small church on a prairie, filled with black folk in their Sunday best, clapping their hands and singing the Lord’s praises. Or you might recall a scene from a classic movie, such as Sister Act, The Blues Brothers or The Fighting Temptations. You’d certainly be hard-pressed to imagine the good parishioners of a typical Irish town dancing in the church aisles and ecstatically shouting “hallelujah”. But St Mary of the Angels church in Dublin 7 has been ringing to the sounds of gospel for 13 years, and the local priest has been happy to bring some soul into the service.
“When you have gospel, it allows that community experience to be uplifting,” says Orla Gargan, who, as well as directing the choir, also plays various instruments and rows in vocally where needed. “I think sometimes, where we come from, Sundays can be a solemn affair, so when you bring a bit of fun into it, it can be something that’s enjoyable and brings everyone together. We sing in St Mary of the Angels twice a month. We took a break during the summer, and when we came back, the priest, who’s our chaplain as well, said: ‘It’s nice to see the choir back – we’ve missed them. And it’s nice to see some of you back in the congregation – we’ve missed you too.’ So a lot of people are coming for the music.”
Gospel music has always provided solace in times of financial trouble. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, its popularity rose to even greater heights as radio stations across the US carried its message of faith, hope, salvation and syncopation. Perhaps gospel can serve a similar role in our current straitened times, injecting a dose of musical positivity into the era of negative equity, and soothing fevered brows with a burst of fevered dancing and hand-clapping.
At the very least, it might liven up Sunday Mass a bit, and perhaps give waning attendance figures a lift.
It is no coincidence that the Autamata man is the producer of Doing Our Thing. It was the choir's management company, Milestone, who suggested that the choir should work with McHugh, and while they were at it, cover his fab Christmas song as well. The 30-strong choir is backed by a crack team of musicians, including guitarist Brian McGowan (Orla Gargan's brother), drummer Andre Antunes and keyboard whiz Justin Carroll, whose signature Hammond sound drives the music onward and upwards. The choir is spoilt for choice as far as lead vocalists are concerned – between them, its singers cover the range from Mahalia Jackson to Aretha Franklin. For the choir's members, singing any other style of music than gospel would seem like heresy.
“If we decided one morning to do a different style of music, I don’t think half of them would be interested,” says Gargan. “There is something special about that music – it’s just such a buzz singing the songs, and the words are really positive. The whole thing is really enthusiastic and infectious. It can turn your day around. There are days where you’ve a gig that night and you’re going ‘how am I going to do this?’, and the second it starts, then it’s gone, it’s lifted.”
A DAMP, HUNGOVER crowd at Electric Picnic last September can attest to the mood- elevating power of the choir. For the past four years, the choir has also been playing the Sunday-morning slot at Stradbally, and this year the faithful were out in force, dressed in their finest multicoloured rain jackets and practically levitating over the mud. It has also backed up Rod Stewart, when he played Dublin’s RDS a couple of years ago, and it sang the national anthem at Croke Park earlier this year, although Gargan concedes that it couldn’t compete with the roar of the crowd as the teams came on to the pitch.
The choir has performed so many different gigs, from weddings to sports events to corporate gigs, that Gargan reckons it’s a well-oiled machine by now. The second album, she says, is a leap forward from its self-produced debut. “I feel with this album we’re really putting our stamp on it. This is our music,” she says.
A marketing and distributing deal with Warner Music should help spread the word, and the choir will be incorporating a lot of the new songs into its annual Christmas shows at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght.
One vital accessory of any gospel choir is a good robe, and the Dublin Gospel Choir has had new ones made up in anticipation of a busy year ahead. Most choirs put their own individual touch on their robes, and Gargan can usually identify a choir by its colours.
“Our old robes have been going for 11 years and they were getting a bit tatty, so we got nice new ones made,” she says. “We had gold, and now we changed to purple ’cos it’s such a strong colour. We used to have a wardrobe mistress, and she was in charge of all the robes, but now everyone looks after their own. It’s better that way – we were going to a wedding one day and I locked all the robes in the car, along with all the microphones for the gig. Thank God I was driving an older car that I could break into easily enough.”
With groups such as the London Community Gospel Choir setting new standards for gospel singing, and gospel choirs regularly used by rock bands to enhance their sound, it looks like the music isn’t about to lose its cool any time soon.
“I don’t think gospel will ever go out of fashion, but it’s changing all the time,” says Gargan. “If you look at artists like Kirk Franklin , he’s got hip hop, he’s got rap, he’s got the slow traditional songs, RB and soul. As music keeps changing, gospel will keep changing too. It’ll evolve. I mean, it has already.
“I think, even going back to when O Happy Day was first played, it was considered blasphemous. And here in Ireland, many of the churches would still want to keep it very traditional, and we’d probably be pushing the boundaries on that. So it’s always going to be a process. But what it has is a very broad appeal. Your audience can go from the very young to the very old. And it doesn’t have to be solemn.”
The Dublin Gospel Choir album, Doing Our Thing, is out on DGC Choir/Ada Warner. The choir sings at Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda, on Sat, Nov 21, and at Civic Theatre, Tallaght, on Dec 11 and 12
