TOCHAIRM

MAID IN THE MOOR (2006)

Solo vocals: Aideen Rickard, Alice Gildea, Sharon Carty, Lucy Champion

This text comes from medieval England.
Maid in the moor lay seven nihtes full
What was hir meat? The primerole and the violet
What was hir drink? The colde water and the welle spring
What was hir boor? The rede rose ant the lily floor.
Maid in the moor lay seven nihtes full

A maiden lay in the moor for seven full nights
What was her meat? The primrose and the violet.
What was her drink? The cold water and the spring well.
What was her bed? The red rose and the lily’s flower.
A maiden lay in the moor for seven full nights.

(original text adaptation by Michael McGlynn)

LOOK AWAY… (1998)

Text: 9th century Irish
Music: Michael McGlynn
Violin Solo: Linda Lampenius
Solo vocal: Rachel Thompson

Fégaid úaibh sair fo thuaid in muir múaid mílach,
adba rón rebach, rán, ro-gab lán línad.

Look towards the north east over the great ocean full of life,
where the seal lives, playful, splendid, the tides have swollen to fullness.

ROSC (2023)

Composer: Michael McGlynn
Text: Amergin Glúingel & Michael McGlynn
Percussion - Noel Eccles / bodhrán & electric guitar - Cian O’Donnell

"Rosc" explores the intersection of Ireland’s mythic past and its modern voice. Drawing from Amergin’s invocation to calm the seas, the piece layers ancient text with new, minimalist phrases. It is a meditation on Ireland’s duality: the wildness of the ocean balanced by the stillness of the night sky.

Soineann na hoíche, suaimhneas an fhíobha. Na réalta ag dealramh i suaimhneas na hoíche
The brightness of the night, the stillness of the wilderness. The stars shining in the stillness of the night.
Iascach muir, mothach tír, tomaidhm n-éisc, íasc fo thoinn
Fish-full sea, the land full of bounty, plunder of fish, fish under wave.

SELKIE SONG (2023)

Composed by Michael McGlynn
Viola: Karl James Pestka
Soloists: Aisling McGlynn, Lauren McGlynn

“A child walks by the sea and sings. A selkie echoes her song, coming closer to the shore and singing to the child of the great sea, dark and ancient. The child calls to the selkie and the creature transforms. They dance in the evening sun. Then the child transforms and passes towards the night. The selkie sings again, but this time alone as she returns to the darkening sea”.

This piece captures the haunting beauty of transformation and belonging, themes deeply rooted in both Irish and Icelandic folklore. The selkie - a seal that can become human - symbolises the pull between land and sea, the familiar and the unknown. The song evokes the fluidity of identity and connection. A child and a selkie intertwine in dance, reflecting the fragile yet profound interplay between worlds.

Ar uisce beannaithe,
Ar uisce ceolmhar,
Loinnir na gréine, siosarnach
Réalt geal na maidine
Dhá cheol ag méadú le chéile mar aon
Amhrán ar uisce ceolmhar
Amhrán ar uisce beannaithe
Loinnir ar uisce réalt geal na maidine
Uisce chiúin

Blessed water,
Musical water,
The brightness of the sun, whispering,
Bright morning star,
Two songs rising together as one,
A song on musical water,
A song on blessed water,
Light on water, bright morning star,
Quiet water.

SILVER RIVER (2003)

Saxophone: Kenneth Edge
Vibraphone and bowed vibraphone: Noel Eccles

OCEAN (1998)

A blend of early Irish texts dating from the 6th to the 8th Century
Music: Michael McGlynn
Concert Harp: Denise Kelly
Violin: Michael D’Arcy

Great wave of flood, wave of blue ocean
aithbi áin
the swift ebb-tide
Great wave of flood, ebb of cool ocean
aithbi áin
the swift ebb-tide

Fégaid úaibh sair fo thuaid…
Look out from you eastwards, to the north…

Great wave upon the ocean bound for a distant shore.
Cold wind upon blue water restless forever more.
Great Spirit of dark water soul of the cool blue sea.
Song of the ancient ocean endless and ever free.

HINBARRA (1993)

Words: Various traditional sources
Music: Michael McGlynn
Solo Voice: Michael McGlynn

'S óró mo bháidín
'S óró mo churaichín
Fira na farraige, fira na moina
Hin barra bin ó hin bó
Fira na talamha, fira na feirme
Hin barra bin ó hin bó
Crochfa mé seolta is gabhfa mé siar
Hin barra bin ó hin bó
'S óró mo churaichín ó
Hin barra bin ó hin bó hin ó ar í ó

Oh my little boat
Oh my little curragh
Men of the sea, men of the bogs
Hin barra bin ó hin bó
Men of the land, men of the farms
Hin barra bin ó hin bó
I'll raise the sails and off to the West
Hin barra bin ó hin bó
Oh my little curragh
Hin barra bin ó hin bó hin ó ar í ó

SENSATION (2006)

Composer: Michael McGlynn
Poem by Arthur Rimbaud [1854 – 1891], written in March 1870.
Narrated by Gilles Servat
Violin: Máire Breathnach
Harp: Andreja Mahlir

Par les soirs bleus d'été, j'irai dans les sentiers,
Picoté par les blés, fouler l'herbe menue,
Rêveur, j'en sentirai la fraîcheur à mes pieds.
Je laisserai le vent baigner ma tête nue.

Je ne parlerai pas, je ne penserai rien:
Mais l'amour infini me montera dans l'âme,
Et j'irai loin, bien loin, comme un bohémien,
Par la nature, heureux comme avec une femme.

On blue summer evenings I will go along the paths,
Pricked by the wheat, treading the fine grass.
Dreaming, I will feel the coolness at my feet.
I will let the wind bathe my naked head.

I will not speak, I will think nothing:
But infinite love will rise in my soul.
And I will go far, very far, like a bohemian,
Through nature, happy as with a woman.

1901 (1998)

Music: Michael McGlynn
Solo Voice: Lucy Champion
The Ulster Orchestra (directed by Lesley Hatfield)

WIND ON SEA (1994)

Words: Amergin Glungel, adapted Michael McGlynn
Music: Michael McGlynn
Solos: John & Michael McGlynn, Lucy Champion, Kim Lynch

Ailiú iath nErenn
I invoke the land of Ireland
I am the wind that breathes on the sea
I am the wave, wave on the ocean
I am the ray, the eye of the Sun
I am the tomb, cold in the darkness
I am a star, the tear of the Sun,
I am a wonder, a wonder in flower.
I am the spear that cries out for blood,
The word of great power,
I am the depths of a great pool.
I am the song of the blackbird.
Who but I can cast light upon the meeting of the mountains?
Who but I will cry aloud the changes in the moon?
Who but I can 3nd a place that hides away the sun?

From the breeze on the mountain to the lake of deep blue
From the waterfall down to the sea
Never changing or ending on the voice of the wind
Sing the dark song of Éireann to me.

ELEGY (2015)

Music: Michael McGlynn
Harmonica: John McGlynn (Snr)

ONE LAST SONG (2015)

Words & Music: Michael McGlynn
Solo Voice: Michael McGlynn

Sing me one last song that will carry me away
To the warm summer memory of home;
And that old melody softly echoes on the breeze,
To a pathway that I must walk alone.
I have loved, I have lain on the dewy morning fields
With a cloud of apple blossom in the air.

So lay me down.
I'm weary of the cries and distant drums.
One last farewell.
The time for endless sleep will come.

Sing me one last song as the evening shadows fall
From the gold chariot reaching from the west.
Raise up one last glass, as I hear the boatman call
And an old song will carry me to rest.
I have loved, I have lain on the dewy morning fields
With a cloud of apple blossom in the air.

So lay me down.
I'm weary of the cries and distant drums.
One last farewell.
The time for endless sleep has come.

ISLAND (1996)

Text 10th cent. Attributed to St Columcille [521-597 AD]. English text, same source adapted Michael McGlynn
Music & Solo Voice: Michael McGlynn
Irish Harp: Anne-Marie O’Farrell

On an island I long to be, gazing out upon the shining surface of the sea. I hear the sound of the ocean wave on wave, crying “You, who have turned away from home”.
On an island I long to live, sea-birds lament the coming of the winter wind.
I hear the endless sound of sea on shore, crying “You, who have turned away from home”.
On an island I long to be, evening brings a whisper of the summer breeze.I hear the sound of the ocean wave on wave, crying “You, who have turned away from home”.

Ascnam tar tuinn topur ndílenn dochum nÉirenn
Deus caeli ac terrae, maris et fluminum
Deus solis ac lunae.
Deus super caelo et in caelo et sub caelo
Habet habitaculum erga caelum et terram et mare
Et omnia quae sunt in eis.
Non seperantur Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus

To sail across the wild sea back to Ireland
God of heaven and earth, the sea and the rivers
God of the sun and the moon.
God above heaven and in heaven and under heaven
He dwells in heaven and earth and sea
And all that is in them.
The Father the Son and the Holy Spirit are not separate.

ICH AM OF IRLOND (1993/2001)

Text: 14th century anon
Music: Michael McGlynn
Solo Vocal: Michael McGlynn
Viol Consort Seanmá : Lucy Robinson, Margarete Clark, Anne Robinson

Icham of Irlond
Ant of the holy londe of irlande
Gode sir pray ich ye
For of saynte charite
Come ant daunce wyt me
In Irlaunde

I am of Ireland,
And the holy land of Ireland.
Good sir, pray I thee,
For saint charity,
Come and dance with me,
In Ireland.

ĒARENDEL (2023)

Composer: Michael McGlynn
Text: Traditional & M.McGlynn
Soloists: Lucy Champion, Aisling McGlynn, Lauren McGlynn

"Ēarendel" reflects on the fleeting nature of human existence against the boundless scale of the cosmos. Inspired by the Hubble Space Telescope's discovery of the star Earendel, the piece juxtaposes ancient poetic texts with a contemporary perspective. The Exeter Book's 10th-century lines, intertwined with Irish, Icelandic and Latin elements, echo humanity’s enduring need to find meaning in the vastness of time and space. The star’s lonely journey becomes a metaphor for our own fragile connection to something far greater.

Ēala ēarendel, engla beorhtast, ofer middangeard monnum sended, ond soðfæsta sunnan lēoma
Hail Earendel, brightest of angels, over Middle-earth to men sent, and true radiance of the Sun.

Ave Stella solitaria, lux antiqua
Hail solitary star, ancient light.