The Irish Harmonic Ensemble Presents…The Sound of Clouds

This piece was inspired by the place I live. Its a small village in the west of Ireland, just outside the picturesque town of Killaloe in Co. Clare.

My house is at the top of a (small) mountain looking down the valley onto the beautiful waters of Lough Derg. A thousand years ago, on the banks of the Lough one of the greatest Irish kings, Brian Boru had his encampment. One day I was showing a dear friend some of the pictures I had captured of the clouds and the mist that often come at dawn. The Lough often becomes a sea of clouds that is glorious to behold in the early morning sunshine. Anyway, as I was showing her these images, she commented, “oh wow, they’re beautiful, I wonder what they sound like?”. Without thinking about my response I replied: “you know what – I’ve got a pretty good idea of what they sound like!”

So I started some experiments with some of the Low Whistles I play, mixed with Shruti Box and Harmonium.

And then polyphonic overtone singing (I recommend you hit this link and check out the wonderful Anna-Maria Hefele) came next. I belong to a wonderful Toning Circle in Kilkishen in Co. Clare where we specialise in overtone singing and Toning.

I was also very fortunate to meet a wonderful singer at a Process Psychology conference in Dublin around the time I was working on this. Her name is Rita Schaper. And then another friend showed up, this time carrying singing bowls and a tubular bell, both of which she had made with her own fair hands. And the rest, as they say, is geography…?

This is the result. I hope you enjoy it!