O'Reilly's Christmas song finds wings
A Cavan singer songwriter Róisín O'Reilly is looking forward to a busy Christmas with a trio of treats.
Firstly her four-track Christmas EP, 'Hush Be Still' has just been released. Co-written with Brendan Graham, 'Hush Be Still' showcases the stunning voice of the former member of Anúna. The song garnered huge attention when it was released last year as a fundraiser for Syrian refugee children.
Róisín has performed two special arrangements of the track live to feature on Christmas specials on RTÉ Radio One and TG4 over the festive period.
Recorded live in the National Concert Hall for Sunday's Miscellany's Christmas special, this version features a sensitively understated arrangement by renowned composer Gavin Murphy for O’Reilly where she is accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
"It was a real privilege and an absolute honour to have the song arranged for orchestra by the composer Gavin Murphy who works a lot for RTÉ," she said.
She also sang The Wexford Carol for the Christmas Miscellany.
'Hush Be Still' also struck a chord with TG4 producers, as they choose the Irish language version for its Christmas Eve TV Special. Buan do Ré was adapted for Róisín by Donegal poet Eilín Ní Bhaoill, and it also features on the EP.
This TG4 broadcast, recorded live in Galway Cathedral, features a special choral arrangement. The Galway City Chamber Choir - directed by Stephen Carroll - accompanied O’Reilly for this performance.
"That was also a lovely thing to do as a choral arrangement was composed for that by the prominent American choral composer, Roger Emerson," Róisín tells The Anglo-Celt.
Hush Be Still eschews the schmaltz often associated with Christmas songs and seeks to brings it back to the Christian mesage at the heart of Christmas. As the opening line from the title track so succinctly puts it: "On that first Christmas Eve…you called out to me."
Róisín explains how the song was inspired by a "meditational experience" she had while attending Midnight Mass in December of 2020. Hush Be Still explores how that moment left Róisín feeling like she had somehow been transported back through time to the stable in Bethlehem, a moment captured by the lyrics: Was it only a dream? That’s not what it seemed when I sang and our hearts beat as one.
"God is surely in this as this song seems to have found wings without me doing that much at all," Róisín tells the Celt, adding she "really loves" the Irish version.
The EP is completed with two other spiritual recordings, Mary’s Lament and Then Will My Heart Arise. The latter is a lyric by Graham which he put to the melody of Norwegian festive perennial Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker, by Adolph Brorson.
Hush Be Still, the Christmas EP from Róisín O' Reilly is available on all digital platforms now. Physical copies can be ordered via Róisín's official website www.roisinoreilly.com Orders received after December 16 will not be dispatched until January 2.