Like so many, Maranna left her Dungiven home in 2001 to spend a year in Australia. On a visit to Fraser Island, she was moved to compose a song based on the aboriginal history of the island. Realising she missed writing and performing, she was prompted to record a 4-track EP and won two Irish American News 'Top Tir' awards: Best Female Newcomer 2002 and her own composition, 'Fraser Island' was named Vocal Cut of the Year 2003.

When she returned home, Maranna bought a house and joined the University of Ulster as a clinical trials technician. Even though domesticity beckoned, Maranna still harboured a desire to record a solo album. As luck would have it, she was invited to sing at a St. Patrick's Day concert in San Diego with The Brian Baynes Band, Eric Rigler and The San Diego Symphony Orchestra - one of the leading orchestras in the US. Experiencing the buzz of the music industry again and feeling too young to 'settle down', she decided to sell her house to finance the recording of a full length solo album with producer Brian Baynes.

While Maranna herself admits that selling her house is a bit of a gamble, it is not a complete leap in the dark - "Having performed in front of receptive audiences all over the world, I knew that I had to take this risk. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have been able to record the album, I wouldn't have had the finance or the confidence - but now I know that I don't want to waste my talents and I want to express sentiments that resonate with my audiences."

This album demonstrates that as an artist, Maranna has matured into a songwriter of considerable depth and as a vocalist she has grown into her gift with new found confidence.

She says "It has been wonderful to have the opportunity to record some of my favourite folk songs as well as my own material and I hope I have created music that is universal in its appeal. I look forward to performing these songs to live audiences as it is truly exhilarating to see how an audience responds to my lyrics and voice."

This album is the fruit of a lot of labour and represents Maranna's growth and maturity. Touching, melodic, memorable, emotive - all words that describe, but don't fully capture the sound of 'At Last'.

Maranna will launch her debut album at two local venues in February 2008.

Friday 20th February 2008 at The Benedy Community Centre, Dungiven Tel: 02877742423

Thursday 26th February 08 in the Senior Common Room, University of Ulster, Coleraine

Her website is: www.marannamccloskey.com

Her myspace is: www.myspace.com/marannamccloskey

Press Reviews

Maranna McCloskey stepped into precarious shoes when she replaced Cara Dillon in Northern Irish youth supergroup Oige in the mid-905. Since then Ms McCloskey has returned to academia,

working as a laboratory technician, but the occasional flutter of vocal activity has surfaced at times, including an impressive 4-track EP Fraser Island in 2003.

Now comes the Northern singer's first solo album. Vocally, she resembles Triona Ni Domhnaill at times, her throaty strains emitting a raw sexuality on Going To Mass Last Sunday-the uptempo arrangement adding a forceful side to a song more usually suited to funeral paces. The Gaelic Ca Raibh Tu Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim, a version of Lord Randall, is seated in a genteel almost elevator

folk arrangement contrasting a bloody tale of patricide.

Materially, the mix of traditional ballads and contemporary self-penned songs, like the superb Fraser Island, largely cohabit peacefully but the overt pop of Our Last Embrace provides the sole

stylistic false move. Here the balance between Karan Casey balladic stylings and Andrea Corresque poppisms sits too close for comfort. However the local classics like Lonely Irish Maid and Verdant Braes Of Screen are given crystal-clear readings with subtle backings befitting her refined tones.

Obviously Maranna McCloskey will be compared to Cara Dillon vocally and stylistically, and ideologically the musical approaches aren't too dissimilar. However Maranna's clear vocals and command

of her material prove compelling enough to hold interest and her songwriting promises much.

For the moment. At Last should be filed under one to watch, but I feel her best work is yet to come. John O'Regan

Rock'n'Reel

Former vocalist of Oige (she replaced Cara Dillon), Maranna McCloskey offers telling evidence on At last to show why she was chosen to fill their former singer's shoes. Opening with the euphoric

drive of traditional cut "Going To Mass Last Sunday' also provides an indication of why she is the recipient of so many Irish music awards.

The gentle melodic sweep of Gaelic song 'Ca Raibh Tu Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim" displays the beauty of both the language and McCloskey's voice, while the joyful, heady acoustic rush of "Lonely Irish Maid" simply reaffirms what a class act she is. The stately maturity of "Fraser Island' is perhaps the finest example of the album's self-penned material, though the less than effective use of

keyboards on 'The Cashel Air" slightly mars what is an otherwise fine collection of Irish folk music. Danny Moore

The Irish Post 12.6.09

Brave Maranna is on a winner with new album

MARANNA McCLOSKEY is a name to watch out for. Her album At Last was judged Vocal Album of the Year by www.liveireland.com which just happens to be the world's biggest Irish music internet site.

The Derry-based lass has a beautiful voice and she certainty knows how to use it to full effect. A former member of traditional band Oige, with whom she played lots of festivals in Europe, this is her second solo album.

It is an album where traditional sonqs rest easily beside contemporary original material and that really is down to the combination of voice and production.It kicks off with a driving version of Going To Mass Last Sunday featuring some lovely uilleann pipe playing by Eric Rigler. Strangely enough my favourite track is Our Last Embrace which is one of four tracks written by Maranna herself and which features nice saxophone. That is what I mean about traditional and contemporary being comfortable side by side.

I am sure many musicians would say that self-belief can be both a blessing and a curse and given that Maranna McCloskey sold her house to finance this album I would say it is certainly a blessing in this instance.

I hope she manages to sort out some gigs in Britain in the near future. She is booked to appear at the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival in August and somehow I suspect that in the long-term her brave decision to fund her own recording will prove to be a good one. It certainly deserves to be. Joe Giltrap.

The Living Tradition May/June.09

McCloskey's a young woman from Co. Derry with a good grounding in traditional singing, having won at various fleadheanna ceoil. Like many with this background she broadened her scope, joining the group Oige as replacement for her schoolmate Cara Dillon, before going solo.

The CD's ten tracks include four of her own compositions. Her choice of songs is well made for her soft but firm voice, well ornamented without being florid. Tradition plays a large part here.

Her one song in Irish is new to me and I wish I'd heard it before this; it's pure beauty. Her version of The Verdant Braes of Screen is much softer in tone than I'd sing it but better suited to a woman's voice. I resisted the temptation to sing along with it; it wouldn't have done the song or McCloskey any favours. I've not heard Magherafelt May Fair for many years and I'm pleased she included it; it brings back memories of happy times at home.

I'm not too happy about the tempo of Going to Mass Last Sunday; unrequited love needs a less jaunty treatment. And I'm sorry but I just didn't understand her own song, Fraser Island. It's about something bad happening in Australia but there's no real narrative to it so I was left puzzled. Her slow air, The Cashel, named for her home townland near Dungiven is superb but I wish it had been longer; I was mortal sorry when it ended. Another one I'll need to learn.

In the tradition of leaving the best till the last (track), her own At Last is a movingly simple affirmation of her religious belief. It's short but says enough to make this born-again atheist think that the Devil definitely doesn't have all the best tunes. I can easily hear it sung quietly and reflectively during Communion. All in all, this is a really good CD from a fine singer. Mick Furey

The Irish Democrat

THERE'S NO doubt that Ireland is blessed with a deep and rich well of musical tradition, one which continues to nurture a seemingly endless reservoir of young creative talent.

Derry-based vocalist and songwriter Maranna McCloskey , whose debut solo album At Last was released in February, is an example of such talent. The album features a mixture of traditional and original self-penned ballads, the latter given a more contemporary treatment by McCloskey and producer Brian Baynes. It also includes a single instrumental tune,

Cashel Air, composed in honour of her home townland.

Her sweet, crystal-clear vocals befit one whose 'apprenticeship' led her to capture three Derry Fleadh singing championships and a couple Ulster titles for good measure. Whilst still a student, she replaced her school friend and neighbour Cara Dillon in the popular Irish traditional group Oige, with whom she won many admirers. In 2001, she left her Dungiven home to spend a year in Australia - a trip which inspired her award-winning song Fraser Island, based on the isle's aboriginal history. The song is one of three well-crafted McCloskey ballads on the album, the others being the parting song Our Last Embrace and the title song At Last, which quietly reveals McCloskey's religious belief.

On her return to Ireland, McCloskey bought a house in Dungiven and got a job as a clinical trials technician at the University of Ulster. She looked set for a spell of steady domesticity. However, an invitation to sing at a St Patrick's Day concert in San Diego with The Brian Baynes Band, Eric Rigler and the San Diego Symphony Orchestra put paid to that plan. In the end, the house was sold to finance the album. A bit of a gamble, but given At Last's critical reception, it looks like one that she's unlikely regret.

The traditional ballads featured include the delightful Cá Raibh Tú Ar Fleadh An Lae Uaim?, sung in Irish, To Mass Last Sunday, Lonely Irish Maid, The Home I Left Behind and Magherafelt May Fair. But, whether performing traditional or contemporary material, her voice is never anything less than honey-sweet and resonant.

For this reviewer, the juxtaposition of traditional with contemporary material gives the album a distinctly refreshing air, although I accept that the addition of saxophoneit and cello on

some numbers may not be to everyone's taste. Whatever the style, praise is due for Brian Baynes subtle and masterful production, which provides the perfect setting for McCloskey's beautiful vocal sound. Baynes also contributes guitar, piano, bass, keyboard, mandolin and percussion.

Other fine musicians featured on the album include Eric Rigler (Uilleann pipes and flute), Jon Szanto (drums), Mary Szanto (cello) and Gerard Nolan (saxophone). Some will recognise Rigler for his piping on the film Titanic.

After several plays I'm confident that we're going to hear a lot more of Maranna McCloskey in the future. In fact, if I were a gambling man, I'd put my house on it. After all, she did. David Granville

www.folking.com

There are any number of female singers who peddle a blend of traditional and contemporary song, but few seem to strike the balance quite so well as Maranna McCloskey. Bland and clichéd traditional pastiche is firmly avoided on At Last, yet a subtle contemporary treatment is applied that doesn't detract at all from the traditional roots that feature so proudly. What's more, Maranna can actually sing. This may sound a little obvious, but what I mean is that she doesn't allow her voice to wither in the background in a faux Celtic mysticism. When Maranna sings you enjoy the full palette of her soulful voice, subtly morphing to complement the nature of the song. In many respects Maranna could draw comparisons to the likes of Dolores Keane, in as much as she has something worthy to give to any song, regardless of its origin, though it is the sensibilities of the tradition that undoubtedly flavour her work. At Last was recorded in San Diego with a collection of American and Irish ex-pat musicians, and it's this distance from home that takes the music in an interesting direction.

It's to the tradition that Maranna turns to open the album, with a vibrant reading of "Going To Mass Last Sunday," where the cadence of Maranna's voice contributes as much to the playful pace as Jon Szanto's imaginative percussion, or the racing uilleann pipes of Eric Rigler. This is followed with the complete contrast of "Cá Raibh Tú Ar Feadh An Lae Uaim?" (Where Have You Been All Day?), where Maranna turns in a sublime vocal, with a captivating clarity of enunciation. Mary Szanto's cello and an elegant guitar arrangement from producer, Brian Baynes, bring added class, though the sheer beauty of Maranna's voice is truly in a class of its own.

Maranna's own songs certainly warrant further attention, aimed firmly at the discerning, contemporary adult music market. "Our Last Embrace" provides the first opportunity, with a committed vocal played alongside a sultry saxophone. "Hold me / Won't you kiss me tenderly?" -- I certainly wouldn't have to be asked twice! "Fraser Island," Maranna's paean to the Aboriginal history of the island, is already the recipient of an Irish American News award following its inclusion on an earlier EP, and it's not difficult to understand why this expansive lyric would attract such an accolade.

The crowning glory of the album for me is Maranna's extraordinarily beautiful rendition of "The Verdant Braes Of Screen." It's not that there's anything at all wrong with the sensitive instrumental accompaniment, but I'd love to hear the vocal track alone, just to be assured that it really is that beautiful! Maranna's voice never sounds forced, never stretched, never false -- she genuinely has a naturally effortless approach to traditional material, to which few singers could lay claim.

I genuinely hope that Maranna sets about spreading her magic further through the traditional repertoire. Mike Wilson

Irish Music Magazine, April 09

At Last it's Maranna McCloskey

Bill Margeson brings us a story about another singing sensation from Dungiven, Co Derry

Derry''s Maranna McCloskey is just out with a brand new album entitled, At Last. For the people familiar with the talented alto's singing, this will come as welcome news fully justifying the title of the album. It has been a long time coming, and it is already receiving solid reviews and airplay, as witnessed by the Dublin-based LiveIreland award for Vocal Album of the Year, 2009.

Maranna was born in the mid 70's in Dungiven, Co. Derry. There is a musical pattern to her talent that begins in her childhood, and it is common in the Irish music scene. Musical backgrounds tend to produce musical talent. This is not as self-evident as it may seem, at least not in regard to Irish music. A musical family is the alpha hallmark in traditional music for

the overwhelming number of stars now on the scene in the music, and so it is with Maranna.

She began singing Irish traditional music at the age of seven, under the tutelage of her father, Tommy Gerard. There was also a musical mom, Lucy, the Kelly cousins and a host of friends guaranteeing that these songs, literally learned around the family fireplace, would be carried on and sung in the future. Derry is known for terrific singers. These family backgrounds are essential to understanding the continued membership in the traditional circle. Also common in these artists is early and frequent participation in the musical competitions known as fleadhs. Again, Maranna is no exception here, beginning her competitive efforts at the age of nine. Her list of championships is impressive, including three championships in the Derry Fleadh for English traditional singing and two champion trophies as winner of the Ulster Fleadh in the same category. Off to secondary school, Maghera College, where she was further encouraged musically and took up the silver flute, as part of a classical music education. "The theory and knowledge I gained there is so important to me today as I write music. It is really practical, " she states.

Now, the pattern gets a little less clear, but not to worry-it all comes right in the end. Off to university to get a degree in-are you ready?---Biological Sciences. University of Ulster at Coleraine. But, as we said, not to worry. For it is at this time that Cara Dillon, she of last month's cover story here in IMM, left the popular trad group, Oige. Maranna was immediately

asked to replace her, and Maranna's warm alto provided a startling counterpoint to Cara's soprano, as the group launched into a busy concert and festival period all over Europe.

The group's only album, Bang On, featuring Maranna is still eagerly hunted by trad aficionados, as an example of her early work.

Pattern continues. After leaving the group following several years, Maranna decided it was time to take a career break from her scientific laboratory profession, and off she went for a year to Australia. Of course, it goes without saying that she continued singing in pub sessions and for friends. But, Australia, and a very close encounter with a crocodile beckoned, and the adventure began. While there, she wrote one of the tunes included in At Last, describing the magic of a place called Fraser Island. She returned home, and went to work for the University of Ulster as a laboratory clinical trials technician, whatever that is, please God---and earned a Master's degree in Biotechnology. Another pattern emerges---the music never leaves her ears, heart or soul. Her voice, an incredibly warm and expressive alto, had drawn a lot of attention in the Oige days, and won her New Artist of the Year Awards for an EP she released in 2003, containing four songs, among them, Fraser Island -which also won her Composition of the Year from Dublin-based, LiveIreland. A St. Patrick's Day invitation from San Diego, California of all places, arrived from Brian Baynes and his band to join them and piper, Eric Rigler with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in performance. Music fans may well remember Rigler as the piper for the film, Titanic. "It was such a thrill to be asked, I couldn't believe it. I couldn't wait, and counted the hours until I got on the plane---and the whole experience was even more wonderful than I could have imagined. It is such a treasured memory to me," exclaims Maranna. In the performance, Brian was again captivated by her voice and knowledge of the tradition. Many cups of tea, lots of scones and hours later, At Last was planned and agreed to, including Eric Rigler's eager participation. The album was worked on for the following year in Baynes' Avoca Studio in San Diego, which saw Maranna flying back and forth to record the project. Along with a bumper crop of frequent flyer miles, the flights allowed the quiet time necessary to set everything in its proper place. "I came to love those flights. Lots of time and space, working on a dream," she concludes.

Released at a packed debut event in Derry, the album is already making a mark. Also included is a beautiful air, written by Maranna entitled, The Cashel Air for the townland in which Maranna was raised in Derry. There are 10 selections on the album, including four penned by Maranna---including a redone version of Fraser Island. "Eric Rigler and Brian Baynes are geniuses. I am so thrilled to have this album onboard now, and can't wait to start performing selections live for audiences. Now that it is done, it is all like a dream. All the costs and work and efforts have all come together. I am blessed, that is for certain."

The album is deeply traditional in feel and ambience with classics such as The Home I Left Behind joining trad favorites such as Lonely Irish Maid and Going to Mass Last Sunday. Both of

the latter songs were learned from a favorite of Maranna's, Rita Gallagher of The Frosses in Co. Donegal. Drawing a lot of attention also is the song, The Verdant Braes of Screen. Maranna learned this at the age of 10. It is a local song in Derry and refers to the town of Ballinascreen. A lovely tune, it tells of a man trying to seduce a woman of the town who knows the man not being exactly honest in his advances, as she believes him in love with another. "A Derry woman's virtue is not captured so cheaply!" laughs Maranna. Many of the songs center on the

is geographic area, as they are of the area, as is Maranna herself. Magherfelt May Fair is named for a fair that still takes place in that town every May 1. The hymn-like At Last concludes the album---and is spiritual in tone, though the casual listener may think it simply a romantic song.

So, At Last. All of these influences, all of these experiences, ranging from a youth spent in the music, through influences like the revered Rita Gallagher, Dolores Keane, Cathie Ryan and Eddi Reader, world travel, Oige and even that incident, perhaps best saved for another time, with that Australian crocodile all result in this creation. American Public Radio calls her The

New Queen on the Scene. Surely those who love the rich alto tones featuring her warmth-and that is the only word for it, will agree. At Last, at last. Indeed. Bill Margeson

www.netrhythms.com

The golden-voiced Maranna, who lives in Co. Derry (Dungiven), is already a veteran fleadh singing champion and recipient of the www.LiveIreland.com Vocal Album Of The Year Award: some credentials, and well deserved by all accounts. Her latest album, At Last, marks an exciting new development in her career by showcasing four of her own compositions: these are mostly inspired by her personal observations of life, ancient legends and her own spiritual beliefs, yet they're expressed in an accessible and non-exclusive language and as a bonus couched in a musically eminently radio-friendly language; Fraser Island is particularly beguiling, I find. The originals sit well alongside Maranna's lithe, appealingly contoured treatments of traditional songs, which not only fully reflect the singer's effervescent personality but also accord ideally with the musical settings. These are formed out of genial acoustic-based arrangements and centred around Brian Baynes' crisp yet full-toned production, with his own guitar and mandolin and Eric Rigler's uilleann pipes and whistles well to the fore, and set the seal on a decidedly attractive set. I do however find that due to the slightly over-poppy nature of a few of the settings (where Gerard Nolan's saxophone is to the fore and a more insistent backbeat is employed), much of the record leaves a niggling impression of insubstantiality. It's only 36 minutes long in total, and its ten tracks breeze by and leave little permanent mark beyond a feeling of a wholly pleasing half-hour spent in convivial company. Nothing wrong with that at all, but I still feel there should have been more to it somehow. David Kidman April 2009