Irish singer Róisín O has described spending lockdown in Kerry as ‘magical’ as she also opened up about songwriting with her brother - The Coronas frontman Danny O Reilly.
“Rebirth” sounds too dramatic. “Reinvention”? Too much like something Madonna would do. “Reimagining”? Too pretentious. Róisín O’Reilly, or Róisín O, as she’s known to the music-buying public, views it in much simpler terms. “I would see it as a bit of a relaunch,” she says of her decision to revert to her solo guise, after spending the last few years as one half of the band Thanks Brother. “Thanks Brother was amazing, but it was always in the back of my mind to go back to Róisín O it was just about the timing and the right songs. I think when these new songs came along, it was just inevitable; they were just Róisín O songs. They didn’t fit with the Thanks Brother sound, and I felt like I had to sing them. It was a bit of a no-brainer.”
Assn of Irish and Celtic Festivals (@IrishCeltFests) December 6, 2020
The association comprises more than 170 Irish and Celtic festivals from across the U.S. and Canada that incorporate Irish culture, music, education, food and dance. There will be more than 25 festivals taking part.
“This will be a beautiful concert even if people have to celebrate the holidays in a different way this year,” said Squirrel Hill native Mairin Petrone, executive director of the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, who reached out to the association about collaborating on a virtual event. “The pandemic has been devastating, but this concert will allow us to reach beyond our wildest dreams and connect people from Ireland with other festivals around the world.”