Granuaile; [1985, revised 2004] duration 48 minutes

A collection of orchestrated songs composed by Shaun Davey based on the life of ['Pirate Queen'] Grace O'Malley, the 16th century Irish woman chieftain whose galleys dominated the seas off the Mayo coast. The folk-style songs chart her eventful life during a period of turbulence and change in Ireland, the end of the old Gaelic order; songs of love, loss and defiance sung by Rita Connolly, with  featured uilleann pipes, acoustic guitar, Irish harp, percussion, harmony vocals and piano. Includes the songs 'The Spanish Armada', 'Death of Richard-in-iron' and 'Ripples in the Rockpools', a regular part of the Irish schools syllabus.

Granuaile running order;

1] Clare Island; orchestral introduction.

2] 'Dubhdarra', Grace's childhood, song to her father

3] 'Ripples in the Rockpools'; Grace's first marriage.

4] 'Defence of Hen's Castle'; Grace and warfare.

5] 'Free and Easy'; trading voyages.

6] 'Hugh de Lacy'; recue from shipwreck.

7] 'The Hen's March; Grace the gambler and imprisionment.

8]'The Death of Richard-in-Iron'; Grace's lament for her second husband.

9] 'Sir Richard Bingham'; the governor of Connaght, Grace's enemy.

10] 'The Spanish Armada'; the wreck of the Spanish fleet on the West coast of Ireland, 1588.

11] 'The New Age';

Grace's meeting in London with Queen Elizabeth 1 of England.

Granuaile Concert Performances; First public performance at the Lorient Interceltic Festival 1985, followed by the Belfast Festival [with the Ulster Orchestra] and Tombee de la Nuit, Rennes. Has been performed on numerous occasions by the RTECO in the National Concert Hall, Dublin [on one occasion for a run of three nights], in Sligo, Cork, and in Grace O'Malley's townland of Newport, Co. Mayo. Was filmed for television at a special performance in St. Alfedge's Church, Greenwich, London, sponsored by Murphy Stout. Most recent performances with the Ulster Orchesra at the Waterfront [2002] and in Chicago as part of St. Patrick's Day celebrations by Old St. Pat's Cathedral, at Chicago Symphony Hall [2004].

Granuaile Concert Requirements

Chamber orchestra, [suggested minimum strings 8/6/4/4/2, single woodwind, trumpet, horn, tymps+1 perc, piano]

Female vocal soloist

Male harmony vocal

Uilleann pipes/whistle soloist with chanters in D and C

Acoustic guitar soloist

Harp soloist [irish nylon strung harp]

Percussion soloist

Amplification for vocals [x2], pipes, guitar , harp

Stage monitors for frontline, piano and percussion

[On one occasion choir and narrator were added]

 

 

 

WORK IN PROGRESS

 

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