Amergin Fire
By Ciara McElholm

A CD of original compositions of new Irish music and song, by traditional musician and composer, Ciara McElholm. Ciara's CD showcases her original pieces reintroducing brass instrumentation into Irish traditional music.
Known as ‘the origin song’ of the Celts, The Song of Amergin, set to a new melody and arrangement. According to the 11th century Book of Invasions, The Song of Amergin was so powerful that Ireland changed its mind on hearing it, allowing storms to abate and granting the Celts safe passage to Irish shores. With the original melody lost, McElholm writes that when she found this powerful story and beautiful lyrics ‘the desire to compose a melody was overwhelming’.

“Coming from a long line of traditional musicians as far back as three brothers who left Glenties for Tyrone during the famine, my music forms part of a continuum through the generations. I seek share this ancient tradition, newly reimagined for this generation, transforming the experience of being alive and connected”.
“A lawyer by trade, I woke up one morning convinced that music was my true calling. I come from an unbroken line of fiddle players stretching back to the 1840s”.

I attended a three week course in Bulgaria. Beyond my wildest imaginings, within three weeks, I had scored for and recorded with a full orchestra. I had never felt so alive or so joyous. After that, wild horses couldn't hold me back.
My music has offered a lot of solace to a lot of people and has offered me so much joy in my life. I feel so privileged to have been able to make it. Check out Track 3. It is a celebration of joy. Some people have compared my work to that of Sean O’Riada or The Gloaming, they certainly inspired me.

From Paul Brady
"I’ve just been listening to your album. It’s a great piece of work! Strong melodies, wonderful instrumentation and vocals, great arrangements, beautiful recording and mix.
You should be very proud of it! I’m sure this will open many doors for you and lead to greater things when this dreadful time is over. With congratulations and very best wishes, Cousin Paul x.

“This is a sublime piece of work. I have already listened to it 5 times.It is so beautifully constructed, the way the slow air draws you in and then moves to – is it a slip jig? But the slow air is a heartbreaker. I just loved it. Beautiful playing too. My compliments to Ciara- tell her to throw in the day job”
Brendan Graham composer of You Raise Me Up (Westlife) O, America (Celtic Women)

“Ciara is a true melodist. There is a place for her uniquely Celtic style in Hollywood.”  Christopher Young Film Composer Hellraiser, Species Urban Legend, The Shipping News

Audio

Track 1: Norwegian Breeze

Track 2: Embrace

Track 3: On Dreaming

Track Listing

1. Norwegian Breeze
2. The Song O f the Valkyrie
3. Embrace
4. The March of Amergin
5. Lament for Brian Boru
6. The Song of Amergin
7. Planxty Alice & Wilf
8. Atlantic Tides
9. On Dreaming
10. Picking Cockles

Press Review

 www.folkworld.eu
If you enjoyed Shaun Davey's Brendan Voyage, Máire Breatnach's Branohm or Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin's Between Worlds, then you may well like this recording of Irish-classical crossover compositions.

Violinist Ciara McElholm has taken inspiration from old Norse sagas, Irish legends and even the 2020 pandemic to compose a suite of music for strings, piano, bodhrán, and of course pipes. Some traditional melodies stray into the mix, but mostly these are new themes and variations, including three vocal numbers. There's not much in the way of new tunes for the Irish tradition - nothing for the people to hum, as Tom Lehrer put it. Instead, there is material here for the concert hall, and perhaps for the stage.

Full disclosure - I've just finished watching Game of Thrones for the second time - but much of Amergin Fire seems to me more like a film score than a folk album. I can see this CD fitting somewhere between Braveheart and The Wind that Shakes the Barley - although chronologically it's almost all done and dusted well before Wallace appeared in the 13th century.

There are some exceptions - Planxty Alice & Wilf for example, a piece for a niece, following the trend of Planxty Joe Burke and Planxty Crockery. The rest of Amergin Fire is pleasant listening rather than toe-tapping, evoking the mists of early folk tales before our traditions were formed, a setting rather than a story.  Alex Monaghan

 R’n’R Magazine July/August 21  CIARA McELHOLM      * * * Amergin Fire
As much a vision as an album, Amergin Fire is the debut release from Irish fiddle player Ciara McElholm who, though hailing from a long line of traditional musicians, until a late epiphany, had pursued a career in law. While such a background may lead you to expect an outpouring of tunes s. learned moonlighting at lock-in sessions, this approach to the tradition is of a more scholarly turn.
The ten original compositions are rooted deep in the emotional stock of Ireland, with lullabies, laments, and sheer exuberance. Rather than arranging them for the dancing interplay of fiddle and accompaniment, though, the scope is orchestral and 's cinematic.
There are no showy flourishes: rather, the playing Is stately, almost d processional in places, reverential of the land and culture from which it is drawn. Lest this seem fanciful, the album's heart is 'The Song Of Amergin', an imaginative reconstruction of the song with which the first Celts are said to have stilled the storms on the Irish coast, allowing them to settle in their new home
The choral voices here and throughout edge towards the hymnal, which won't be for everyone, but for those whose souls are suitably le attuned, the music may reveal visions.  Oz Hardwick

THE LIVING TRADITION  140 AUGUST 21
This debut release from composer and multi-instrumentalist Ciara McElholm comprises original and newly arranged (“reimagined”) traditional pieces described as “new Irish music and song rooted in the early music of Ireland”. Orchestrally fashioned, with piano playing a significant part, it’s alluringly melodious Celtic music with some obvious soundtracking potential and features three powerfully resplendent choral, effectively operatic, compositions.

Ciara’s personal instrumental contribution is listed as fiddle, piano, concertina and whistles. Other players provide additional piano and fiddle, along with guitar, bouzouki, cello, synths, uilleann pipes, bodhrán and percussion. However, disappointingly, there are several uncredited contributors. Firstly the brass (oddly omitted given that the press release stresses Ciara’s zeal to reinstate it into the “pantheon of traditional instruments” having recognised its importance to the tradition “in earlier times”) and, secondly, the choir singing on the strikingly dramatic songs. As with the rather homespun nature of the graphic design work on the CD, this slightly diminishes the quality of the overall product viewed in the context of the excellence of the composition, recording and musicianship.

The seven instrumentals are inspired by Ireland’s ancient links with Scandinavia, Irish mythic legend (including the voyaging of pre-Christian mystic druid and bard Amergin), Brian Boru (subject of a lament), the tides of South West Donegal and personal experiences, including a planxty celebrating a lockdown wedding sans guests and a dreamscape meditation. All offer pleasing melodic motifs and ostinato figures initiated by duo interplay (piano and flute or fiddle, say) that then evolve to be explored and enriched through the layering of additional instrumentation and, overall, to realise a range of atmospheric and cinematic soundtrack qualities.

Then there are those standout songs. Reworkings of the grisly Icelandic Saga, Song Of The Valkyries, and the legendary and spiritually incantatory Song Of Amergin, precede a stirring parting piece written for an audio journey at Clontarf, Picking Cockles (arranged by Irish multi-instrumentalist, composer and conductor, Carmel Whelan), inspired by ancient Viking slave raiding and dedicated to children separated from their parents by war and immigration policy. Beautifully orchestrated, entrancing in their fine interplay of the several male and female voices and rich harmonies, these are all deeply captivating.  Kevin T. Ward

fatea Web Site
Traditional musician and composer Ciara McElholm comes from a long, unbroken line of fiddle players stretching back to the 1840s, and has an acute sense of the continuum of tradition through the generations, which is both inspired and nurtured by her fascination with the music of Seán Ó Riada, the way his compositions resonate with a deep respect for ancient tradition while embracing modern techniques. It’s almost impossible to imagine that Ciara’s a lawyer by trade, so accomplished and immersive is her own music – but its very immediacy speaks the truth of her admission that she “woke up one morning convinced that music was my true calling”.

The ten pieces that make up the Amergin Fire album are shot through with love, passion and lyricism. But I think it’s fair to say that this is the passionate lyricism of art-music rather than the more overt white-heat session vibe of rough-hewn traditional music, so this will necessarily condition listener expectations. These are refined, intelligently and sensitively arranged pieces that are based on, without necessarily adopting, a variety of musical forms. For as Ciara explains in the booklet notes, all three of the ancient forms in traditional music are represented here: the geantraí (the happy tune or dance tune), the goltraí (the sad tune or lament) and the suntraí (the lullaby). The instrumentation feels fulsome, but in all the right ways, without any sense of over-arrangement or undue thickening. Only four musicians are credited – Ciara herself, Éamonn Galldubh, Conal Early and the album’s producer Rory Pierce. The scoring is imaginative and resourceful, for textures are limpid and gently exciting, all the while centred around piano, fiddle, tin whistle, cello and uillean pipes.

The twists of Scandinavian music are woven into exhilarating opening track Norwegian Breeze, and Ireland’s seascapes figure in the rhythms of Atlantic Tides and the Clan March of Amergin. The delightful air and jig of Embrace, the meditative cello-rich On Dreaming and Planxty Alice exemplify the intensity of human generosity present in the spiritual connection during lockdown.

Three tracks also feature the significant vocal presence of a small choir whose contributions are all but uncredited; this is surprising in view of their importance in the context of the album’s concept. For the disc’s centrepiece is The Song Of Amergin – the “Origin Song” of the Celts, here given in Ciara’s new setting (the original melody being lost); effectively, this epitomises the conduit which accesses ancient from modern, the pre-Christian spirituality of the early Celts. The Song Of The Valkyries harks back eight centuries to the Icelandic Sagas, and the audio journey of Picking Cockles tells of a young child whose mother was taken in a Viking slave raid.

It all adds up to a rather special musical experience, one that bears repeated listening and deeper scrutiny beyond cursory noting of the “Celtic-ambient” tag with which the album might at first glance be in danger of being dismissed. For I suspect that the album’s diverse and wholly accessible pleasures will come as a very pleasing and stimulating surprise to those listeners who take time out to explore it.  David Kidman

www.folking.com 5.05.21
It seems to me that musicians and composers are doing more and more interesting things at the moment. A year ago, the trend was to go back to basics and make a solo home-recorded album. Well and good but, really, you can only do that once. Ciara McElholm skipped that stage and set out to compose a major new work. Amergin Fire is a retelling of the coming of the Celts to Ireland as recorded in the 11^th century Book Of Invasions and sets out to restore the role of brass instruments in Irish traditional music.

The opening track, ‘Norwegian Breeze’, features everyone in the band: Ciara on fiddle as she is throughout the album; Rory Pierce on cello and piano; John Ryan on bouzouki, Conal Early on guitar and percussion and the multi-instrumental talents of Eamonn Galldubh. You could compare it to the descriptive passages of early 20^th century music as the wind rises and settles down again into the titular breeze. ‘The Song Of The Valkyries’ is a bit of a monster with lots of percussion and words from 13^th century Icelandic sagas which apparently foretell the battle of Clontarf. It’s a rather gory tale and, in contrast, ‘Embrace’ is a gentle welcoming composition.

Now we come to the meat of the story with ‘Clan March Of Amergin’. Amergin, brother to the two kings Eber Finn and Érimón, was the bard of the Celts who first arrived in Ireland. This wasn’t a peaceful visit to the neighbours, however, as Amergin’s people, the Milesians who came at this time from Iberia, and the Tuatha Dé Danann had previous – it’s a long story and well worth reading up. A formal battle was arranged under rules which meant that the Milesians had to stand off beyond the ninth wave before returning to engage the enemy. The Tuatha Dé Danann druids called up a storm but Amergin stood in the prow of his ship and sang ‘The Song Of Amergin’ which dispelled the storm – again, there are several accounts to look up. There is a choir present for the three songs, sadly uncredited but I suspect it would be a long list, and Ciara says she wants to hear ‘The Song’ sung by a thousand voices.

Ciara mixes the story of Amergin with other compositions. ‘Lament For Brian Boru’ takes us forward a thousand years and employs the three traditional forms of Irish music while ‘Planxty Alice And Will’ moves on another millennium to celebrate a lockdown wedding. ‘Atlantic Tides’ and ‘On Dreaming’ are reflective pieces, the latter featuring Rory Pierce’s cello to lay its foundation. Finally, ‘Picking Cockles’ takes us back in time to 8^th century Viking raids.

Amergin Fire is Ciara’s debut album and a remarkable announcement of her talents it proves to be. The music, although modern, utilises traditional instruments in an orchestral fashion and, throughout the record, you can hear the familiar cadences of traditional Irish music. ‘Atlantic Tides’ is probably my favourite track for just this reason. Dai Jeffries

The Irish Post Newspaper:
New Irish compositions from Ciara
AMERGIN Fire is a CD of original compositions by traditional musician and composer Ciara McElholm from Tyrone. One of the hallmarks of McElholm's latest portfolio of work is the reintroduction of brass instrumentation into Irish traditional music. She says: "Of 241 ancient brass instruments found worldwide,122, or over half, were found in Ireland. Brass was a , huge part of the tradition in earlier times and I am fascinated by the idea of brass finding a place once more in the pantheon of traditional instruments." We have no clear idea of what Irish music sounded like much before the 18thth century, but the existence of these instruments would seem to indicate a degree of orchestration. Ciara McEhholm has put this element into an Irish traditional setting with startlingly good results. McElholm herself is a fiddler steeped in the tradition. "Coming from a long line of traditional musicians as far back as three brothers who left Glenties for Tyrone during the Famine, my music forms part of a continuum through the generations. I seek to share this ancient tradition, newly reimagined for this generation, transforming the experience of being alive and connected. "A lawyer by trade, I woke up one morning convinced that music was my true calling. I come from an unbroken line of fiddle players stretching back to the 1840s." Ciara McElholm has put this heritage to innovative use, writing in the idiom, and scoring Orchestral pieces which embrace the Irish music tradition. One of the highlights of Amergin Fire is a new musical imagining of the ancient Song of Amergin. According to the 11th century Book of Invasions, the song was so powerful that ancient Ireland changed its mind on hearing it, allowing storms to abate and granting the Celts safe passage to Irish shores. With the original melody lost, McElholm says that when she came across this powerful story and beautiful lyrics 'the desire to compose a melody was overwhelming'. Mal Rogers