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Music At Maddens Podcast
Music at Maddens podcast from the snug upstairs in Belfast’s home of trad. Yarns, pints and laughs with well known faces from the trad music scene. Locals, visitors are all welcome to join in the chat - with Lynette Fay.
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Music At Maddens Podcast
Music At Maddens Podcast #006 - Fiddles, Family & Finding Your Voice with Sinéad McKenna
Welcome to a new episode of Music At Maddens Podcast with me, Lynette Fay.
This week we welcome Sinéad McKenna to the podcast.
Nestled in the rolling hills of the Clogher Valley, where County Tyrone meets Monaghan, a most unusual musical incubator took shape - a converted chapel where the McKenna family raised seven children, each one a musician. Fiddle player, singer and composer Sinead McKenna takes us on a captivating journey through this extraordinary upbringing, where tunes and songs were as natural as breathing.
From first picking up the fiddle under her parents' gentle encouragement to playing at festivals and sessions across Ireland, Sinead reveals how deeply the musical traditions of her borderland home have shaped her artistic voice. The conversation weaves through cherished memories of learning from older musicians who carried tunes learned by ear from radio broadcasts, and how these experiences instilled in her a profound respect for the stories behind the music.
The path from family sessions to acclaimed performer wasn't without challenges. Moving to Belfast meant stepping out from behind the protective circle of her brothers at sessions, finding her own voice as both musician and performer. The pandemic period became unexpectedly transformative, rekindling Sinead's appreciation for musical community and spurring her creative development through projects like the Duncairn Collective.
With disarming honesty, Sinead shares the vulnerability she felt while creating her debut album, describing herself as "such a bluffer" navigating the unfamiliar territories of promotion and business. This authenticity extends to her evolving stage presence, where initial nervousness has blossomed into confident storytelling and connection.
As Sinead prepares for international performances in France and Japan, her story reminds us that tradition isn't merely preserved - it's constantly renewed through the authentic voices of those who carry it forward. Subscribe now to hear more conversations with Ireland's finest traditional musicians and discover the living heritage that continues to inspire new generations.
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Music at Maddens McKenna, falter o' Sinead. So a Tyrone fiddle player, singer, composer. Ah, sinead, you've got it all. Ticks all the boxes and we'll talk about the album, and there's so much to talk about. But first of all, I was interested In growing up in a house With all siblings and the parents playing music. So did you? Did you just start playing the fiddle, basically in the cradle?
Speaker 1:well, basically, like it was kind of we just it was put in, the, put into our hands, like we were told oh, here's the whistle, here's the fiddle, and give it a go. And we were brought around the place for lessons. And I suppose it's great growing up because you always heard it in the house, even if it wasn't someone playing it, it was always coming through the radio or um daddy's tapes or um just music in the car and cds. So it was great that we're always kind of um immersed in the music from a very young age.
Speaker 2:So it would have been your, your daddy and your mummy just playing music. Yeah, when you were small, obviously you weren't playing music at that point.
Speaker 1:No but we were very lucky they both had a really like strong interest in it and, um, that kind of was handed down to us like from an early age and they kind of inspired us to to play it and to use it to our advantage and like socialize with it. So it's kind of that's why we got into. It is by going to sessions and meeting people around the age and bringing it into school and trying to play it and what kind of you know what recordings would have been on the go in your house.
Speaker 1:What's?
Speaker 2:your earliest memories? Was there an album? Was there an artist you'd listen to?
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. I always remember hearing Cheda playing in the car and on the way to Tupper Curry for festivals and the Danann Fluke Beoga like just any band, I suppose, that were kind of up and coming at the time, and even older bands like Four Men and a Dog, plankstay, didanon and the Bothy band, like it was. They were the prime listening sources in our house at the time. So I suppose now we still listen to them and we still play the music that we learnt from those three days growing up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just to give our listeners, viewers, an outline of your family. So your daddy plays what's his instrument.
Speaker 1:So dad plays the banjo, eugene plays the fiddle, daniel plays the box, james plays concertina, I play fiddle, peter plays the pipes, ciarán plays the fiddle and the harp and the piano and Catriona plays fiddle and piano. So it's a hectic household. You know yourself now. You don't have a dull moment. There's always a clattering match in some room in the house but where would you even have got?
Speaker 2:would you have had space to?
Speaker 1:or like silence or peace to. I don't think mum and dad got any peace now To practice If it wasn't music, it was something else. But there was always a fight in our need to get into one of the rooms if we had to practice for something, or else there was a fight to get us to practice with one or the other.
Speaker 2:So I don't know, it was good and I suppose we had the space in the house to do it and, um, like, we all learned from each other at the same time, which was nice yeah, because you you grew up in a, in a house where you were doing up the house at the same time, and then you all growing up in the house was kind of like an, an ongoing project, just you know what was that like?
Speaker 1:so actually our house used to be a chapel and, uh, daddy started renovating it whenever we were toddlers and we were living out the back of the chapel in the vestry and there was a. There's probably a few tunes played out there and a few notes played, and that was kind of the start of it. You know, I don't really have any early memories, but it's how the boys do, but I know that mummy would always say that we were out playing and kind of practicing at the back of the vestry and then as the house got built, we would have moved into the house and then it kind of just evolved from there and it was great like and it's nice to have that even bit of history like, and even now, like you'd have some tourists stopping at the house and they're like oh my god, can we come into your house? Like our parents got married. I'm like, oh, that's a fiver at the door there. Not really, but it's good crack, because there's always something happening around the house.
Speaker 2:So if your house was a chapel, you could work out who sleeps or lives on the altar and who's up in the gallery, and all that.
Speaker 1:So we used to say to Dad on a Sunday, so we don't have to go to mass. Decided on a Sunday, sure we don't have to go to mass, sure we can not just stay here. It's like the Zoom masses now date from home. We were doing it from an early age.
Speaker 2:I think you might have head on to another business there as well, I swear oh my gosh. And then how did it come that you? Chose to play the fiddle.
Speaker 1:I suppose daddy's uncles played the fiddle and he always wanted us some of us to play the fiddle and he started off by giving Eugene the chance the oldest brother to go around and learn and then I suppose we just picked it up and if we liked it, we kept with it and we didn't, we just maybe chose something else. So I really love it and I suppose it's opened so many doors for me, especially like having the family environment where we all, like a few of us, play the fiddle. It's opened so many doors for me, especially like having, um, the family environment where we all, like a few of us, play the fiddle. It's lovely and, um, we're so lucky that we can learn from each other and we can criticize each other in the house, and we're definitely good at doing that now, whenever something's going well, you'll know, but whenever something's going bad, you'll definitely know.
Speaker 2:Like that's great that's great and, you know, it seems that it's given you a really healthy relationship with your siblings as well, because you genuinely do enjoy playing tunes together definitely like.
Speaker 1:We have the same interests and same social life and a lot of us have the same friends, and it's definitely a big part of growing up now because you know you connect deeper with them and you can relate more, especially through it's not just your sibling, they're your best friends as well, which is lovely so.
Speaker 2:I'm really interested in that Sinead because you're growing up in a family and you have a big family. There's seven of you, so you have six siblings and you're growing up there playing the tunes together in the house. Can you remember a time whenever you went outside the house or to the first festival or the first FLA and realised that this wasn't just something we do, this is something other people do as well, and that there was a network and a bigger community there?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I suppose growing up we did practice in the house, but we wouldn't have sat down and said, right, we're going to play for an hour here, because you know yourself, siblings, you'd be scrapping the bit out at the same time. So trying to get us to sit down even for duet or trial practices, A few broken bows, have you A?
Speaker 1:few broken bows sitting on tin whistles and badness and a bit of crack, but at the end of the day, when I'd say, out of the house and we went to festivals our earliest memories are going to Tubbercurry, the South Slago summer school, and bringing the caravan down for the week and plonking her up and going into the town and sharing the music with other musicians and it was lovely because there was times where we did have our own kind of tunes that we learned growing up from our teachers like Laura Began or Aidan O'Neill, and when we went down to those type of festivals and we played them, we were bringing that from Tyrone and it was something that we could share with other people and it was something that we'd seen. Oh, this is nice that we actually this is maybe a bit different that we actually are a family, but at the same time it was lovely because sorry, I can't talk last year yeah we're upstairs in Madden.
Speaker 2:So there's a bit of a feed coming up From downstairs. We're missing the crack. Clearly there's a bit of a sing song going on downstairs.
Speaker 1:I'm raging now. It was nice when we went to those festivals, because it kind of opened up. We're like okay, this is a social thing too. We can share this with other people, and other people are interested in the music that we play.
Speaker 2:Something really interesting. You said there, you know, going to the Lakes of Tipper Curry in South Sligo, which is really really well celebrated, really well respected festival as well. The music of Sligo, whether it's the Coleman fiddle playing or the flute playing of Sligo, is known as a style throughout the country and further afield. Um, and then you think about the idea that you were exponents of tyrone and monaghan music coming from the area you come from, because you're from cloughar, the cloughar valley in county tyrone, which straddles like that area of tyrone, but also you're right on the monaghan border as well and your mummy's from monaghan, yeah, and so we'll talk about that in a minute. But when you were exchanging or sharing music that you had learned, which was rooted in the place you're from, like were you aware of the fact that you were passing something on, or was there a pride involved in you in you doing that, maybe something you didn't realize at an early?
Speaker 1:age. I don't know. I don't think we really understood at the time. I think we just thought we're learning tunes and we're playing them out publicly and I think it's more. It's not really the tunes that come from Moosey, but the style of playing, because the tunes that we learn come from all over Ireland and they're handed down from, like the older generation, which we're so lucky for and especially in Trone there's so many older people that don't get enough attention and don't get enough appreciation for the music that they have shared throughout the years. And like we're so lucky that we grew up and we got to hear them in the likes of Danulla or Hayden's.
Speaker 2:Bar. Who would you have heard? Who are those people you're referencing?
Speaker 1:I remember listening to. I think his name was Jim Ward or Joe Ward and he used to come in with a hat and he'd play the ball around, but there was the likes of him. He grew up with that generation. They understood rhythm and they understood. They really appreciated the tunes from what they were because they had to go through the process of learning them by ear and then, especially when music came from America, they learned it from the radio and then they shared it.
Speaker 1:Um, but I think it's so nice that that a value for the music and appreciation like that they had, the older generation had, and you could hear it in their music as well, whereas sometimes I know like and I'm guilty of it as well because when you're playing you kind of just bat through the tunes out and then you're going on to the next and maybe we don't spend enough time like actually researching the tune, we just learn it and then we move on. But, um, I think as I've got older now I really really do like appreciate more like the root of the music and how much we need to like invest our time in like understanding, like the composer and the history and the place that it's came from. And I'm trying to put that into my own play now, when I'm sharing music on platforms or in performances, I want to understand where those trains came from and why it's important.
Speaker 2:What do you think that has given you? Being able to recognise that that's something you needed to work on, something you needed to research. And then, when you do research, undoubtedly you're learning from that experience. When you put the work in, you definitely do benefit from it. So how have you benefited from it, both as a person and then in your playing?
Speaker 1:I think as a person it's made me connect more like with the, with the musicians, that like the composers of the tunes and the musicians that play them, and it's really made me put a value on music.
Speaker 1:You know, like I never thought like my parents always say, growing up you know you'll appreciate this when you're older and you don't actually understand it until you're older yeah, and I'm like right, okay, like like you, you might complain about having to learn it and then, when you're older, you're like god, that's actually lovely, like you know that that's nice, like that's a gorgeous piece of music and you really relate more to the composer.
Speaker 1:And when you learn from where they wrote it or where they wrote it and I suppose I'm trying to bring that in now to my own playing when I'm trying to play music or sharing the context of music on a stage, that I'm not just going up and sitting down and playing the tune and then leaving, that I can share with the audience what I've learnt as well. And I suppose, like I'm trying to write music as well, but it's it's not as easy as you think, but when you, when you sit down, you're trying to like put yourself in the shoes of um, someone who can think about why this piece of music might be important, or like why are you writing this piece of music? Like, instead of just like writing down a few notes, like you want to put a bit of emotion and put a put a bit of thought into the work.
Speaker 2:So it's all about the story, yeah, and what you're and what you're carrying on, because, at the end of the day, that's what this tradition is. It's a deeply rooted, uh, really old tradition, it that tells the story of who we are and, I suppose, with your compositions, where we're going to and what we're going to become as well. Um, you've mentioned there the, the area you come from in Tyrone, uh, clagher Valley, and I was thinking ahead of talking to you today. I've never asked you this question, even though I've known you for an awful long time. I do wonder for anyone who hasn't been in that area.
Speaker 2:As I've said, you straddle the Tyrone and Monaghan border. Your mummy and daddy are an inter-county marriage, so there's a lot that comes with that as well. But down around there you have there's like a real kind of spiritual area and Knockmany Mountain, particularly because that's a Neolithic site. You know, we know the importance of Newgrange, but there's one which is really a hidden gem at the top of Knockmany Mountain. You grew up in the shadow of that mountain. Yeah, has it had any effect on you, that area, or knowing the understanding, the place where you're from?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's a really, really undermined part of Tyrone and especially in the Cloughar Valley.
Speaker 2:Most people drive through Aachar, Cloughar Five mile town, six mile across, seven mile round. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And that's all you hear when you say you're from Aachar, but there's so much more depth to it when you say you're from Aachar Cloughar, there's so much more depth and I suppose people won't know that and they're spending time with it and they can connect with it. But I suppose we grew up like about not even half a mile from Lough Manor and I'd say we go, we go there like once a week and as children, like we were there every Sunday or every every weekend great walk now hard on the legs.
Speaker 1:So I mean, I wouldn't advise it if you were, if you're, if you're looking something easy to do on a Sunday. But it is a mountain, yeah, exactly, it's a literal hill. But I suppose it's funny because when I tell my friends, oh yeah, we'll go up Knock Manny, it's like it's just a nice wee walk, and then you bring them up the hill and they're like this is not a, this is not a walk. But then there's some people you say, oh, let's go up Knock Manny, like it's, it's, it's a great like. I say I say them oh, it's like it's a big hill, like. And then there's some people are like that's nothing at all, like, so it's all like.
Speaker 1:It's funny how some people think it is like it's really hard to do, but, um, no, it's lovely, there's a, there's a, it's really nice. Um, there's a really nice site on it because there's a tomb at the top and it's Queen Anya's burial site. And uh, when we were younger, growing up like, we would always be peeking into the tombs and seeing these big tombstones and we weren't never really understood why they were there, and I suppose it's only recently, like I suppose and it comes with the music as well. Like you, you're trying to understand your own area and you're trying to, like, understand these, this, these parts of history that, like you're so close to and, like they don't, you don't learn about in school, which is such a shame because, like I feel, like those areas in primary school you should be learning about Understanding who you are Understanding, yeah, and connecting with that.
Speaker 1:But no, I do really love it and I suppose it's a big attraction for Knock Money is that they have the bluebells and people come there in May to see them. And last year, whenever I was writing my album, I was really trying to understand the nature of the area and I was trying to write a song about Nagamani and it really made me realise this place is just absolutely gorgeous and you just want everyone else to have that insight on the area when they come and visit. And then we have Carleton's Trail, so our house actually is part of Carleton's Trail because it's a chapel, right.
Speaker 2:The Rites and Stories of the Irish Person, volumes 1 and 2. Have you read them?
Speaker 1:No, the mechanics come visit. No, it's called. Our house had two names it was St Mary's Chapel and it was Johnson's Chapel. I think the name on the trail is Johnson's Chapel, so people would start in Glouher and they'd make their way around. Or you can start anywhere you want, but it's part of the trail anyway and you'd make their way around. Or you can start anywhere you want, but it's part of the trail anyway and you'd have people stopping by and reading the soundpost and then moving on to the next area. And William Carleton was a great poet from the area and I suppose he connected so much with the nature and with the people and he's still a prominent figure in poetry today.
Speaker 2:And the thing about him, the magic about him, was that he wrote in the Hiberno English that the people spoke in the area, because I remember studying that book at university and when I was reading it I could just hear my granddad talking. I could just hear it. Everything was just so authentically like my granddad and I knew it's like these people from like the south of England. How are they going to understand this? But it was just brilliant to see yourself um reflected so much in the pages and in the stories and and everything about it. There you are, your house is part of that, it's part of that trail. It's amazing, that's unbelievable. And then on ahead over as part of the carlton trail, you have um favor, royal wood and saint patrick's chair and well like it's. It's such a richly, historically rich area. Of course that you come from and I I love that about your first album was that you very much celebrated who you were as a product of that area, and the monaghan tunes and monaghan fiddle playing was very important to you as well. So can you tell me a bit more about that? And now I have a couple of words from our very kind sponsors, rí Rá Irish Lager, now Rí Rá. If you haven't heard about it. It kind of sums up the unpredictable development that Irish people are so very good at, particularly here in Maddins, in the heart of Belfast. So Rí Rá celebrates the best bits of being Irish by creating reasons to talk, to meet, to grá, to bant, to hear, to be heard, to be le chéile just that little more often. So music at Maddins dig it and dig in tóse agus an ish scúpla fachal a cháire for eight teams. And so Music at Madden's dig it and dig in tassa, because now there's a couple of things to say for 18s and over and please drink responsibly. A couple of things now for our hurry and for the music at Madden's. Music at Madden's is sponsored by Michael Roy Guitars perfectly balanced, superb craftsmanship, wonderful clarity and tone, a truly unique sound. It's only natural to want one michaelroyguitarscouk for more details. Fáil comhaith go an ish o ar a hóirí an fáil críil to seo. A few words now from the sponsors of this podcast Music at Madden's, dunvill's Irish Whiskey, proudly connected to its past and enthusiastically embracing its future.
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Speaker 1:So like growing up we would have been, we had the brilliant opportunity to go to like amazing fiddle players um, such as laura began, um, and like we grew up listening to donald mckay and, uh, cheta sean, michael wayne, um, a good Scotstown man, scotstown, yeah. So we were so lucky we got these opportunities to learn from those musicians. So I suppose we went to Laura Began growing up, and across the road was her sister, monica, and we would have went to Laura for fiddle lessons and then Mumma would have threw us into the car and brought us over for a few singing lessons from Monica. So we were so lucky. We got to connect with the singing and the music.
Speaker 1:And I suppose when I was growing up, sean Michael Wayne was doing his research on the James Whiteside Collection, which is a musician.
Speaker 1:I think he was from Monaghan, but he moved to America and his recordings were found and brought back to Monaghan where Sean did his research on it.
Speaker 1:He did a PhD and he brought those tunes to life through a recording in Our Dear Dark Mountain and the Sky Over it and when that album came out we were just absolutely like, just so excited and we took those tunes and we learned some of them and like we still play them now and I suppose when I was doing the album, I was just delighted that I could and bring some of them into the recording. So I played the boys from the boys of Carrie Crow, which is the town land that my mum grew up in and it's also the town land where dad's two uncles came from, two fiddle players. So I just thought this couldn't be any better, like I have to do it so and yeah, no, it's brilliant and I suppose growing up like there was five boys in our house and five boys in my mum's brother, jane's house, so my uncle, and when I think of the boys of Carrie Crow I think of all of them running through the bog catching frogs or like making huts in the bog.
Speaker 2:And you know it's nice because like you didn't write the tune, but you can connect with. You know what I mean. So it's lovely, which that's what it's all about. Is that carrying it on? Yeah, and it becoming relevant to you in a in a different way? Yeah, and you mentioned there that brilliant collection of um Sean McElwain's, and celebrating the Sleave Bay area, which again, is another, I suppose, unpolished diamond that we have along the border region, and I think some work's being done there to make sure that it should be celebrated. It's celebrated as it should be, but songs as well, sinead, because you're not only a fantastic fiddle player and we'll talk about your style and what you have developed in a minute but songs are so important to you too. You know, where did that come from? Was that because of the melody? Was because of the words? Was it because of the singers how did you? Or just because you could sing?
Speaker 1:I suppose mommy just took us to monica like as a just maybe as a time filler or just to see if we could maybe explore this part. Who's and who's this now? Monica, monica Began, so she's Laura's sister, so there's a big family of them. There's Colette, there's I forget half the name now but they're all brilliant musicians. They're just like a family and they just appreciate the music so much and they brought so much to that area in Kirkcairn. And Laura's father was a big figure, pat Began. So he was a big figure in preserving and promoting the music in the area. But we went to Monica, me and I think it was Ciarán and Catriona.
Speaker 1:Daniel was kind of bribed into it but he never took part because he was looking at a quad at the time and I remember Mum saying I'll buy you the quad if you go to the singing lessons, and he says no. Or else it was Daniel, yeah, and he says no, or else it was Daniel, yeah. Daniel says to mum oh right, if you buy me a quad, I'll go to the singing lessons. And it never happened. But I suppose that's just how it started out, naturally. Like I remember the first time I sang at a session it was, oh god, what was it? Was it Banks of the Callan Banks of the Callan, sweet Kitty Town?
Speaker 1:Liddice yeah, yeah, yeah, an RMA song absolutely, I know I haven't looked back, though it's a gorgeous song.
Speaker 1:It's a great song though and I remember like just naturally, like so I would have learned songs just for the fun. And I remember in primary school, like whenever my principal was from eh, my principal was from Fermanagh, but my teacher at the time was from Armagh, a good Cady woman herself, and when she heard that I knew this song, I remember in primary school all the children telling us Nate knows this song about Armagh. She came in and all the children were like sing it, sing it, sing it. And I was like, oh God, right, here we go and I started singing it. And that was just the first time singing like two pairs or like people my own age and it was. It was hilarious like, but it was actually like it kind of inspired me to, just it kind of encouraged me just to keep learning and to. It's mad how that one memory sticks out, though yeah, but it was.
Speaker 2:It's the memory that started you off realizing that there was a talent there and people wanted to hear you singing as well.
Speaker 1:I suppose you don't want to. You don't know if you want to sing it and I suppose when you get that feedback from other people Same in music it encourages you. I remember after that and my parents were so sly At sessions, kilted sessions my dad would say There'd be a few local old people Sitting around the session. He'd say we culture sessions? My dad would say he'd there'd be a few local like old people sitting around the session. He'd say like wee Patsy, he wants to hear you sing. Now. He put in a special request and then I'd be like, oh god, like that do I have to? And and then, um, I looked over at him, wee Patsy, and there's nothing about it. Patsy didn't even know I sang, but dad would make this up.
Speaker 1:So I would sing at sessions and I was sitting there but I felt guilty and that's how that's, that's kind of another reason why I started singing, just that he kind of he didn't bully me into it, but he, you know kind of guilt tripped me like wee patsy came all the way here to he just knew.
Speaker 2:He knew what buttons to press exactly, but it worked.
Speaker 1:Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2:yeah, there you go well he knows his daughter well.
Speaker 1:Oh, he's hilarious and mum would be the same. But they did it for the best. Do you know what I mean? There was no badness in it, but it was funny because it worked.
Speaker 2:It was encouragement, really but also you have a serious talent, so why would you not share it? And I suppose that encouragement is what you need to get started as well and like not only have you recognized that you have the talent, you know you're really putting yourself out there. Recording an album is no mean feat, um, and you did that with freelance, as I mentioned. You know your, your songs that you that meant something to you as you learned along your journey or on it, and tunes that have meant something to you as well, even though they're you know they're played everywhere, but they're, they're personal to you in a way. But why did you want to record and why? You know you're a well-known musician now, um, and sought after as well Sinead, you're touring um, you're a teacher as well, uh, but why did you want to go down the path of um, of playing music like this on stage for audiences, yeah, I suppose, um, I kind of really naturally evolved when I started college in Belfast we were always growing up playing at flas festivals, sessions A family band.
Speaker 1:Family band and when I got to Belfast I was still enjoying doing all those things at the weekends, but it was different because I couldn't hide behind the brothers that sort of way. When I came to Belfast I was right, I'm put out here, I can go out to sessions if I want or I can just decide to stay at home. And I think the first year I went out to the odd session but I didn't know anyone like up here it was. I knew some people from home that were also studying, but, um, it was kind of during the lockdown when I really really missed the music and I took for granted the amount of music that was happening up here and, uh, it really made me like appreciate what we had to offer and especially, like you know, there's no point sitting about the house go out and connect with these people and find out like, learn from them and understand them and understand the and appreciate and make use of the great music that we have here in the city.
Speaker 1:And when that lockdown was over, I just wanted to be out every night of the week and that really like just my love for the music and my love for like connecting and like making friends in the place, it just grew so much. And then I suppose there's great work happening over at the Duncarne Arts Centre and they really give an amazing platform for young musicians in the city just finding their way in the culture.
Speaker 2:You've been part of that collective, haven't you? The Dunkern Collective, where they bring together it's about 15 musicians from every sort of background, all types of instruments, and the idea is that you're constantly learning from each other and playing together. What have you got from that experience?
Speaker 1:It's unreal. There's so many musicians and genres that I would never have looked at before, until Ray asked me do you want to be part of this collective?
Speaker 2:That's Ray Giffen, who's the artistic director up there and he's doing great work with them.
Speaker 1:He's bringing musicians from all over the country and he's bringing us together for four weekends in February and we just write music or we share music and we play music. It's very open, there's no judgment, and it's so special because we've been so comfortable with each other now that we can just sit down and write songs or tunes and we can mess about with it and have the crack and some of it sounds amazing and some of it also sounds brutal. You would never share. But it's the learning process. That's the biggest thing that we've got out of it, you know and knowing that we can do this, and it gives you a good confidence boost when you come out of those things because you're just so motivated to go out and write your own music and to start like opening up.
Speaker 2:You can see your eyes just lighten up whenever you're talking about it. So clearly you've really enjoyed it. And then how has that helped you as? So not just as a musician, not just as a singer, but also your stage presence, because whenever you are going out gigging, something you have to learn is the bits in between, and a lot of musicians would prefer to play another tune straight off without talking, because talking is not their most comfortable or not a very comfortable experience for them. So how have you handled that part of it?
Speaker 1:I suppose you just learn and you learn from you, learn from your mistakes and I suppose, like I always ask my mum, or my mum will always tell me actually I never ask her she'll just tell me she's like you can do this better and that there was good. But also like you talk too much at this time and I was like, okay, that's fair enough, and I always take. I love criticism because it means like I take it in and you always feel like you're ready for the next step then but it's great, like you need someone in your life like that. That just tells you how it is like and, um, I suppose it kind of prepares you for the next stage.
Speaker 1:I suppose, like if I compared myself to the stage presence I had maybe four years ago completely different, because I wasn't I didn't have the same confidence. I probably didn't have. I was probably riddled with nerves and going up and just wanted to belt out the tunes and then leave and just pretend it never happened. Where now I'm? Like I really enjoy it and I love like having the yarns on the stage and having the crack with the audience and just telling a few stories and a few bad jokes.
Speaker 2:Where do you think that confidence has come out of? Because you know there's a couple of things there. You mentioned coming to Belfast and going to sessions and you know you're walking in on your own. You don't have your brothers there anymore for the backup. So your shield is gone and here you go, you for the backup. Um, so your shield is gone and here you go, you're coming in. There's no force field anymore, um, and you're a bit vulnerable and you're sitting down and you're also a young woman and it's. You know, it's not a big thing for young girls to be coming in and sitting in at sessions. It's changing, thankfully, um, and probably because you're adding your voice to that as well and you're you're fiddled to that, um, but how have you built up that confidence?
Speaker 1:I suppose, just from just putting yourself out there and you know what's, the worst that can happen is like there's there's so many nice people in the music scene and there's everyone so welcoming, and like when you understand that, like you kind of feel like you're in your safe space and it kind of builds you up then to be your own person and just who cares?
Speaker 1:like just be yourself and I suppose that's the best attitude to have, like, at the end of the day, we're all, we're all in the same ocean of musicians, we're all trying to learn and we're all trying to do our thing and just be nice to everybody and like, if you see that and understand that, you can be yourself, and especially, that reflects them when I go on stage. I think I think that, like, if people are paying to come and see me, like they must like me or else like I mustn't, like I can't be myself, do you know?
Speaker 2:And that sounds too graphic. What do you think it is that sets you apart, though? Because you know you've Sinead McKenna, the fiddle player, sinead McKenna, the singer. You have been nominated for the rte folk awards. Uh, your album has done brilliant business for you as well. It's been highly acclaimed, um, and really really genuinely sought after um, and you know you went. You went after it as well, you. You launched it everywhere you possibly could, you know, but you put in the work, shenade. It was a lot of work to get. Make sure that it's one thing making an album and having a product. It's another thing making sure that people know that it exists. It's there. You know there's not a lot of airplay and radio for trad music as we know, um, so what do you think it is about you that sets you apart?
Speaker 1:well, I think, like when I was doing the album, like I thought it's all or nothing, like I have to go in and just do my best and like just have the courage to not care what people think on social media, put it out there and put yourself out there like what do you have to lose? You only really get one chance when you're like your first album is your first and you only get your.
Speaker 1:You only get to do it one time because it's after that, you know, it's kind of your like initial, like it's your initial like right, this is who I am. And I suppose I was like, well, if I have to do it right, like I need to do it properly, do you know? So, um, I was so lucky I had the support of my brother, eugene. Like he really really like helped build me up because there was something like I was teaching full-time and like I was coming home in the evenings and there was nothing worse I could think of than sitting on the laptop and writing out sleeve notes or like getting in contact with people.
Speaker 1:Just pure fear, because I didn't really know what I was doing. I was like you're only learning as you go along, when it's your first album. And I suppose Eugene, he's had a bit of experience with the Blackwater and he was like no, this is how you do it. He kind of guided me along the way. And Lauren, his partner, lauren O'Neill, she was great and the two of them really like I them enough for the, the confidence that give me and like the, the preparation, going forward, and like knowing what to do next instead of just releasing it.
Speaker 1:And that's you like? No, you have to do these things. You have to book venues and you have to follow up make posters and I learned how to use canva. It's great, and did you? Feel completely pushed out of your comfort zone 100% and like even asking people for advice. I was so like nervous because I was like, oh, like, I feel like if I asked them for advice, like they're, like, they're like why, how does she not know what she's doing?
Speaker 1:but, like you, you don't know what you're doing nobody does no, like you feel like such a bluffer, but I kind of am you know what I mean. Like you are a bluffer until you learn like we're all just kind of like sailing along, we're're all bluffing. Life's a bluff, honestly. Honestly, I'm still bluffing, though, and no, but at the same time, though, like I've learned so much now where I feel like if I was doing it again, I would do it completely different, or I would have more confidence in my like abilities and stuff, and like even like to arrange music, like it's such an enjoyable process.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't wait to see what happens next. But then we are talking to the same blade who, uh, pulled the fiddle out and uh, was it a flight? You were delayed and you pulled the flight out, pulled the fiddle out in, uh, the middle of the airplane and started playing tunes. Somebody made a video and this went viral, was it the whole? The family was on their way to New York. Were you for a?
Speaker 1:for a load of gigs we were playing playing out in New York for our aunt. He just has a few connections. And she says, look, if you just want to come out do a few concerts, it's a bit of a crack. And we said, why not? Sure, it was after the lockdown. I think we were kind of itching to get away.
Speaker 2:McKenna family band was born.
Speaker 1:We just brought the instruments with us. We thought, why not? Like it's a bit of crack and um, I suppose we were waiting on the flight for about 20 minutes and me and Daniel looked at each other or someone said, actually would you play a tune? And I was like, oh, here, we'll probably be leaving soon. And then we looked at the clock and we're like, oh sure we'll have time for one. And we literally played one and sure the the whole flight was recording it. And the next day I looked on the phone and sure it was hilarious. Like people were saying well, like it was all over social media, and I did not know what to expect. And then I was getting phone calls to do like interviews for the radio back at home and I didn't know what was happening because like it was this literally about two minutes of crack on the plane and it turned into a bit of a social media frenzy something bigger.
Speaker 2:But you know you mentioned, uh, learning how to use canva, their social media, not taking comments on well, negative comments on board, um, seriously, and not letting them in on you. Just how big a part does social media have to play? And I suppose the digital world have to play now and being a musician, getting your music out there and being successful I suppose if I had my like, if I had my um choice, I would love to not be on social media.
Speaker 1:But you really it's your biggest tool as a musician, like if you know how to use social media, you're all. You're already halfway there, like, and I suppose, like you kind of have to just utilize them all to the best of your ability. Like be that pest on your Instagram, putting up the stories, sharing the posts, putting up a few videos and like like the. It's the last thing you really want to do is to be annoying people. But also it's you have to think for yourself like what it might benefit you in the long run. So, like I know even like putting up videos, like I've been asked to a few gigs out of them and asked to go abroad and you don't regret. You don't regret it then in the long run because you're like well, that's actually about like opening up doors for me and why would you close them for yourself when, when that's just a thought in your head, all people, people might think this and people might think that like just do it, it's only a bit of crack brilliant advice, just do it.
Speaker 2:It's only a bit of crack. You can see that in a t-shirt.
Speaker 1:That's your, that's your merch now you can start your merch stall Sinead. Right, you had this idea first.
Speaker 2:We'll go half first see, the decency is hanging out of you. Honestly, it's been so good to talk to you today. You too, thank you what's next for you?
Speaker 1:I have a busy summer planned, just teaching and teaching at Belfast Rad and in a lovely festival in the south of France, in Tocan, and me and Peter are heading to Osaka in Japan for seven weeks. So that'll be good crack, don't believe you. I need to learn how to not be a picky eater though Osaka with the brother, with the brother that's the best.
Speaker 2:Peter who plays pipes.
Speaker 1:Peter, yeah, so we're going out for the expo. It's on every four years and we're kindly invited by Matthew O'Castle to go out, so looking forward to that fantastic well again.
Speaker 2:We'll talk to you again on the podcast. Go raibh míle maith agat, sinéad, and I know you're no stranger to Madden's either.
Speaker 1:Oh, no be, míle raibh be ti ar raibh be ti na chóinian sá. Yeah, taith a labas agam sa chál like most musicians practically lives.