Mayo Male Voice Strike Gold in Kiltimagh Choral Festival

The men of Mayo Male Voice Choir were thrilled to take first place in the Male Voice category at the Kiltimagh Choral Festival on Saturday Feb 28th with their renditions of "Carrickfergus" and "Drunken Sailor." The victory was particularly sweet as many members freely admitted that "Drunken Sailor" in particular was very challenging to learn. There are many changes throughout the song which moves along at a very considerable pace but as is often the case, it was more than 'alright on the night' - in fact the score achieved for the rendition of "Drunken Sailor" even surpassed the score for the beautiful "Carrickfergus", the arrangement for which was written by Gwyn Arch, a regular visitor to Castlebar as an adjudicator for the Mayo International Choral Festival. After their performance, the members of MMVC were very satisfied with their endeavours and looked forward to the judges' comments which were due later that evening.

When they did arrive the comments from the Kiltimagh adjudicators were very complimentary. For "Carrickfergus" they included: "lovely interpretation of this poignant song", "great cavernous robust tone across the full choir - impressive" and "the tone was always musical, even at the loudest moments which were thrilling". For "Drunken Sailor" they said "great contrast, leapt into the new mood, crucial", "thoroughly engaging performance", "we had a real performance, with energy and punch. Contrasts were exciting" and "great sense of drive and purpose". They gave high marks for both songs scoring "Carrickfergus" at 87 pts and "Drunken Sailor" at 89 pts and placed Mayo Male Voice Choir in first place and Navan Male Voice Choir second.

This is the second time that Mayo Male Voice Choir have been successful since their Annual Concert last year, the first being at Mayo International Choral Festival where they also scooped first prize in the Male Voice section. This shows the great development of the choir over the last year, under the direction of Deirdre Lee, a year in which they also travelled north to Derry to participate in the Derry Choral Festival for the first time, an experience which the choir enjoyed immensely.

The next big outing is approaching rapidly and is the highlight of the year for the choir, their Annual Concert, which will again be held in the Fáilte Suite of the Welcome Inn Hotel on Friday, March 27th at 8 p.m. On the night the audience will be treated to the competition songs "Carrickfergus" and "Drunken Sailor" along with many other songs never before performed by the choir including "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears", (with lead vocal by James Garvey) "Down by the Riverside" and "With a Little Bit of Luck". As last year the choir will be joined by Mary O'Sullivan, soprano, from Dublin and David Durham, baritone. Mary performed with the choir for the first time last year and such was the amazing reception to her performance that the choir had to invite her back again. David has performed many times with the choir, even in Germany when we visited Castlebar's twin town of Hoechstadt some years ago. It is always great to have him back. Also performing on the night will be the choir's own harmony group composed of James and Joseph Garvey, Colin Kneafsey and David Loring. So, definitely a date for your diary, a night not to be missed! Tickets are on sale from any choir member and also in Downtown Records and The Welcome Inn Hotel, and are very reasonably priced at €15.