A view from the stage.

Posted by J Eoin on January 22, 2012

The end of 2010 brought a remarkable year to close and set up a number of new directions, musical and personal, that were to be explored in 2011. In September 2009, I was diagnosed with a vocal node on the right hand side of my larynx. I was at the final stages of finishing the main vocals on the new album and Gerry Diver and I started to notice the odd drop out and missed note on my vocal takes. Initially we put it down to tiredness as I was touring away a lot and working on getting the album finished when I was back in London. When this apparent vocal strain started to impact on my live set, I realized there was something more serious happening to my voice and made an appointment with my doctor who suspected a node and referred me to the ENT clinic in Kings Cross. I was seen by a Mr. John Rubin who confirmed the presence of a vocal node which was preventing my larynx from closing properly and therefore reducing my vocal range and tone. He appreciated that, as a professional singer and regular performer, I needed immediate surgery to remove the node and booked me in for an operation. Through a mixture of good luck and some gentle prodding by Mr. Rubin I was given a date for the following week. The operation was a success and at a post operation check up in January 2010 I was formally discharged from his care. Through a strict regime of vocal exercises and regular use of steam inhalation my voice recovered quicker than anticipated and I was able to take part in my first gig at the end of March, a solo performance for ‘Hooley For Haiti’ which was organized by Absolute Radio and held at the Rock Cafe London raising many thousands of pounds for this worthy cause. With my voice back to its regular form I finished the vocals on the new album during May of that year. My voice was gaining in strength all the time and I once again had the confidence to return to regular performing. I was booked to play at Minogues in Tulla, Co. Clare, Ireland in August of that year by the Island Music club. This was my first ‘proper’ gig in Ireland since I had left all those years ago and it’s importance was not lost on me. It turned out to be a magical experience all round and the songs and the banter felt natural and still as relevant as always in that quiet and reverent back room in Co. Clare. Back in London that October I opened a show at Milfords in the Strand and it was like I had never been away. With the album almost finished and settling comfortably back into the live arena, 2011 was certainly something to look forward to.

And the wheels keep on turning. At the beginning of 2011 I received a call from World singer and fusion artist Najma Akhtar who was considering a new collaboration. She had recently released an album with Gary Lucas in the US and was looking for a London based guitarist to develop new material. I had previously worked with Najma in Jacquelyn Hynes’s innovative World Fusion group ‘Taraba’ in 2007/2008. During the first six months of 2011 we co-wrote and arranged a number of songs, both original and traditional, and recorded a series of demos. This is work still very much in progress and the material has been placed with a number of labels for consideration.

In February 2011 I received an email from Vojtech Jindra in the Czech Republic. The rest, as they say, is written in the blog! Working with John Orsulik and his Czech wife Yana we were able to put together a series of gigs around the Czech Republic with a pick up band from Prague, get the final mixes of the album played on Czech national radio (myself and the band listened to the hour long programme live in the van on the way to a gig!) and sow the seeds for future returns to this wonderful and intriguing country. Pavel, Jana’s brother who runs a music shop in Prague, helped in promoting the album through his outlets and provided materials to enable us to sell CD’s at gigs and collect email addresses for the mailing list. Everybody wanted to get involved and make this initial foray into the Czech Republic a success all round. And they did. The generosity and enthusiasm with which they approached this project meant that we were able to establish a positive rapport with our audience and it helped win us many new friends and some genuine support in the Czech Republic. There are plans to return again in 2012 with October being mentioned as a possible date and also an agreement with Czech label Keltskahudba to release a live album compiled from material recorded at the Zlin gig in June 2011.

Over the years living and working as a musician I have rehearsed with, played with and toured with a broad spectrum of creative personalities and genuinely brilliant people. There were always ‘one or two’ who stood apart from the rest but the vast majority of the musicians. producers and other professionals I have been involved with have been hard working and dedicated individuals who were able to share in the passion of the moment on the stage and in the studio. Back in August I played the Bethnal Green Folk Day as a duo with a friend and musical colleague I have know for a large part of my London life. Jacquelyn Hynes and myself have played together in a number of different line ups but that day was something completely different. We rehearsed a set featuring just guitar, flute and voices and the pared back arrangements and the spaces in the music resonated deeply in both of us and held the audience completely spellbound. Since then we have performed at a number of other events including Folk Rising at Cecil Sharpe House in Parkway and this month (January 2012) performed our debut London gig to a sold out Green Note Cafe in Camden.

And so 2012 begins in earnest. I’ve finished recording a new song with Gerry Diver that will complete the final shape of the new album. Having had the time last year to finely tune and hone some new songs, one stood out in the live set and quickly became a firm favorite among regular gig goers. Shifting around the track order and including this new recording while freeing up a couple of tracks for optional free download has given a different weight to the album. It ‘hangs together better’ as we might say among ourselves. Pending the completion of the artwork and album cover, the album is due be released by Crescent Moon Records.

With other material in the pipeline including an exclusive new album featuring Jacquelyn Hynes and myself and gigs penned in for both solo and duo shows this year there is, as the cliche goes, everything to play for. My thanks to all of you who have supported my various projects and musical incarnations over the past few years.

Keep in touch.

J. Eoin.

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