Eilis Kennedy
So Ends This Day

With Guests

Gerry Beirne: guitars
Eamon McElholm: piano/harmonium
Laura Kerr: fiddle
Caroline Keane: concertina
Trevor Hutchinson: double bass
Shaun Dave: & Rita Connolly: Chorus backing vocals
Produced by Gerry O'Beirne

IRISH AMERICAN NEWS: CELTIC RADIO AWARDS 2021: EILIS KENNEDY. Feb 21

So Ends This Day is the title of my new record.

This is the fourth solo album from West Kerry singer Éilís Kennedy.
Twenty years since her critically acclaimed album Time To Sail was released, this latest album is a themed collection of songs connected like different shores touched by the same ocean
Éilís was raised in Baile an Mhúraigh in West Kerry to parents who passed on a lifelong and committed interest in the poetry and songs of that region.

Eilís researched material for this collection during visits to the USA and from reading letters, journals and log books of people involved in whaling.She has written and composed most of the material herself .

This collection of songs. Some hearken back to the days of Whaling in the 1800’s which I wrote based on reading letters, ship’s logs and personal journals from that time. The remainder are traditional, old songs - each with a connection to a particular ship. A wife left behind, a wife on board, an adventurous young man, a brave and wise captain, an ill- fated voyage, a drowning,
a rescue, an elegy, and a song of hope in times of despair.

In New Bedford Whaling Museum I had access many handwritten letters from wives and family members to whaling captains at sea. The song When I Sleep is inspired by some of these letters and is a poignant glimpse into the reality of a long maration, through the seasons and years. Women would sometimes accompany their husbands on Whaling voyages, seeing the globe through a particular lens. The journal of one woman is the source for Petticoat Whalers. A young and idealistic young man in The Emily Anna (A Greenhand 's Tale) embarks on a perilous journey which is more risk than reward. One whaleship, had an unusual adventure. It was The Catalpa, and was the means of rescue in 1876, of six Irish Fenians who were serving a sentence of penal servitude in Fremantle, Australia. Catalpa's captain was a truly memorable character named George Anthony. The planning and execution of that venture is the subject of the song The Catalpa Rescue . Captain George Anthony would often sign off the daily entry to his ship's log using the phrase "So Ends This Day" , in his strong cursive handwriting. I like the phrase and thought it befitted this collection .

Gerry O'Beirne played guitars and produced the entire album which we recorded in Trevor Hutchinson's lovely Dublin studio, in the happiest of times at the end of January and the beginning of February this year, before the sceptre of Covid came to haunt us. Shaun Davey and Rita Connolly spent a wonderful day with us bringing their special magic to one or two songs. Shaun also brought an Id Etsy Reed Organ and its wonderful old creaks and sounds seemed me to be perfectly echoing the sounds of an old ship. I had worked with Eamon McElholm and I felt he was the perfect musician to play piano & harmonium. Later on, back home in Dingle, and before the lock-down prevented such a thing, our musical friends Caroline Keane and Laura Kerr added concertina and fiddle to the mix on one or two songs.

The standout track Ciumhais Charraig Aonair (prounounced Kee yew ish - Korrigg - Aynorr) translated as The Fasnet Rock. While bringing a new fishing boat home to Dingle, Caoimhin (Eil's father, Kevin) passes by The Fasnet Rock at daybreak. His mind turns to the thousands of exiles which it witnessed leaving Ireland over the years. Sarsfield and St Ruth, the Moorish sacking of Baltimore. The men of Wolf Tone. He asks the rock to reveal the mystery: Who sank The Lusitania? All illustrations and lyrics are in the booklet .

Audio

Track 1: Ciumhais Charraig Aonair (The Fasnet Rock)

Track 2: The Emily Ann (A Greenhand's Tale)

Track 3: Petticoat Whalers

Track Listing

1. When I Sleep
2. Petticoat Whalers
3. Ciumhais Charraig Aonair (The Fasnet Rock)
4. Love Was True To Me
5. The Emily Anna (A Greenhand's Tale)
6. Franklin's Crew
7. A Sailor's Trade
8. The Catalpa Rescue 1876
9. Row On, Row On

Watch Eilis and Gerry perform When I Sleep on our You Tube Channel

Also by Eilis and available from Copperplate.
Time to Sail

Press Reviews

The Living Tradition
Strongly themed around maritime matters, this is a beautiful-sounding album that merits great praise for both Éilís Kennedy’s singing and Gerry O’Beirne’s production. It sounds terrific, without the instrumentation being overloaded – it’s predominantly guitar with piano or harmonium, with the occasional addition of bass and other instruments.

The fact that the CD booklet gives as much space to a bibliography as it does to musical credits indicates how well-researched the album is. There are songs sourced from Gale Harrington’s Songs The Whalemen Sang, but Éilís also undertook her own research in the library of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, leading to the composition of the opening track, When I Sleep, among others. The opener is one of several numbers focussing on the experience of women, either left at home or those on board ship.

There is some more familiar fare here, versions of Franklin, A Sailor’s Life and Row On, but this is a predominantly original album, with four out of nine tracks representing Éilís’ response to the documents she researched. A Shaun Davey setting of a poem written by Éilís’ father, Caoimhin, is another new item.  Playing this album to others, I have had the reaction: “isn’t this all a bit nice, given some of the subject matter?” I understand that view, but I can’t envisage how a different approach would have led to a better recording.

This album has two different and strong appeals – one in respect of the quality of the singing, the other in relation to the interest of the material. It would be a great pity if it did not receive wide exposure and find its audience. Paul Mansfield

R’n’R Magazine Sept/Oct 20

                                                   EILIS KENNEDY: SO ENDS THIS DAY * * * *
Kerry musician Eilis Kennedy takes inspiration from 19th-century whalers'  history for So Ends This Day. 'Connected like shores near and far touched by the same ocean,
songs focus on human endurance. Her opus is plausibly the most creative response to the profession since Moby-Dick.
Instilling serenity, Kennedy's rich vocal tones animate stories of a bygone era, lending poignant contemporary resonance. A tender missive to a sea captain, 'When I Sleep' ponders the pain of separation. 'Petticoat Whalers' characterises spouses at sea; a spirited vocal accompanied by nimble string patterns. Sung in Gaelic, 'Ciumhais Charraigh Aoinair' ponders the relationship of Atlantic Fastnet Rock to shipwrecks and drownings. On 'Love Was True To Me' steel string, harmonium and fiddle instrumentation sets the mood for a spine-tingling vocal, depicting salvage from a penal colony. Traditional air 'The Catalpa Rescue' continues the theme later, a haunting vocal and flowing accompaniment. 'The Emily Anna', complete with undulating concertina, imagines the ship as a 'watery prison'. Mellifluous 'Franklin's Crew' and wandering rhythms on 'A Sailor's Trade' lament men lost at sea. The lulling harmonies of a-cappella 'Row On Row On' bid adieu. Bryony Hegarty