
Iarla Ó Lionáird and Steve Cooney
Iarla Ó Lionáird and Steve Cooney at Féile An Droichead
Terry Blain, reviewing for Culture Northern Ireland a concert recent given by Iarla Ó Lionáird and Steve Cooney at the start of Féile an Droichead in Belfast recently, writes of Ó Lionáird’s voice:
‘The pure, clear evenness of tone is very striking, as is the rock-solid breath control. This enables a consistently even, unimpeded quality of voice production, and a consummate command of the minute vocal inflections needed to embellish the melodic line in traditional sean-nós fashion.
Employing a light vibrato on extended notes, with small pinches of nasality used sparingly for expressive purposes, the overall impression exuded by Ó Lionáird is one of effortlessly natural musicality, the music flowing cleanly through him like water off a mountain rivulet.’
Published on 31 August 2012