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Where Irish music is a way of life
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| Traditional music: Cara Dillon will be at the Millfield next week |
Miriam Craig talks to Cara Dillon, an Irish singer who lives and breathes traditional music.
"I'm completely happy with what I'm doing. It's not really a job to me because I'm 100 per cent excited about it," says Cara Dillon, whose crystalline vocals have been earning her acclaim since she won the All Ireland Singing Trophy at the age of 14.
Her pure voice has drawn comparisons with Eva Cassidy and bears some resemblance to country singer Alison Krauss. In 2004, Dillon, from County Derry in Northern Ireland, beat Enya and Sinead O'Connor in a public vote to win Best Irish Female at the Irish Meteor Awards, and this year she has been nominated for the same category.
"I suppose I was about ten when I started performing in public, although it's difficult to know because I'm from a very small town in Derry where music is a way of life, where you're performing in pubs and with your family from a very young age, and everyone is encouraged to give it a go. I've been at it my whole life."
By the time she was 19, Dillon had replaced Kate Rusby in folk group Equation and signed a deal with Warner Records. But she and fellow band-member Sam Lakeman (later to become her husband) left the band before the release of their debut album because of musical differences, signing a separate deal with the same label.
Then, after four years in California, Dillon and Lakeman returned to the UK, where they parted company with Warner for good.
It was then that the awards started rolling in again, as Dillon's eponymous solo debut album, released in 2001 on the Rough Trade label, won two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - Best Traditional Track for the song Black is the Colour, and the Horizon Award for Best Newcomer. The year 2002 also saw Dillon winning a Big Buzz Irish Entertainment Award for Best Traditional Act and a Hot Press Award for Best Roots Act.
It is only now, at the age of 31, living in Somerset with Lakeman, that Dillon feels free to make the kind of music she loves. "With a record label you are at its beck and call. You have to look for hit singles. It was a very exciting time, but nothing really prepares you for the compromises you have to make. People can hear in the music that it's not passion. Now we're able to go our own way and make the music we want to, the songs I've been singing since I was little, traditional songs, and songs we've written ourselves."
The way Dillon talks about making music as something we' do makes it clear just how essential her partnership with Lakeman is - he has produced all three of her solo albums - and she is quick to concede that they are essentially a duo. "Ever since we were 19 we've been working closely together. Sam's great in every aspect of his life except going on stage. So it's a great partnership.
"Sam writes the music and I write the lyrics. Sam manages us as well. He takes quite a lot of the responsibility away from me. I'm quite happy to sing and be on the front of the records but I definitely wouldn't be doing it without him."
Far from causing conflict, the fact that husband and wife work together makes touring easier. Dillon says: "It's really fantastic the way we work together. We were best friends before we even started going out. Going on the road is brilliant because we get to have so many experiences together and have someone to share it all with.
When you get back it's hard to put into words how great it was. Lots of the fellows in the band have very sad faces for the first few days because they have to leave their girlfriends, so I do appreciate how lucky I am."
Even the addition of six-month-old twins Noah and Colm doesn't seem to disrupt the work-family balance. Dillon says: "I think whenever it comes to going on tour properly we'll probably take them with us and see how it works out."
After years of not being quite at ease with the demands of the music industry, Dillon and Lakeman seem content with the compromise they have reached between traditional music values and mainstream appeal, with about half their material drawn from traditional song and half written by themselves.
Dillon says: "I think I'll always be a folk singer - that's the kind of music I do. With the last album we dabbled in more crossover songs which were play-listed on mainstream radio" - the track Never in a Million Years on Dillon's 2006 album After the Morning was playlisted on BBC Radio 2 - "But in the end we didn't try to please anyone."
Fortunately for them, now is a particularly good time for folk musicians, with artists such as Karine Polwart, Tim Van Eyken and Julie Fowlis making an ever-bigger splash. Lakeman's brother Seth is one of the artists at the forefront of this resurgence with his recent album, Freedom Fields.
Yet Dillon finds it strange when people talk about the recent trend being something of a folk revival: WIn Ireland there's never been a folk revival because folk and traditional music have just always been there. The idea of a revival is alien to me."
Revival or not, the Dillon-Lakeman musical team will no doubt pass on the passion for a life suffused with music to their children. Dillon adds: "We've got a recording studio at home so we record albums from here. Music really is a very important part of our lives."
Cara Dillon will be playing at the Millfield Arts Centre on Wednesday at 8pm. Tickets priced £16 are available from the box office on 020 8807 6680.
2:04pm Tuesday 22nd May 2007
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