Songs of the Gospel

Early 2005, saw a very much younger version of myself move to the Emerald Isle from Canada. My reasons for moving were complex. I wanted a fresh start. I wanted to spend a year working in academia. I wanted to live somewhere ancient and green. I wanted to find the magic in life.

For the first time in my life I had closed my eyes and stepped; not unlike ‘The Fool’ in a Tarot deck. I arrived in Dublin via London a little more than a week after the 2004 Tsunami. I took a moment of silence in memory of the dead with everyone else while riding an escalator to my next flight at Heathrow. My heart stuck in my throat: What was I doing? Where was I going? My voyage did not end in Dublin, from there I caught a bus that would take me to Galway on the West Coast of Ireland.

I knew no one at my new destination. Nervous and sleep deprived from a red eye, I made healthy conversation with an older lady on the bus. Night had fallen by the time we arrived at our destination and she insisted on squeezing me into the car with her husband and family to drop me to the hostel where I would spend my first two weeks. I acquiesced on account of not having any idea how to find my way. These were the days before smart devices so my brand new Nokia phone (picked up in Dublin) would be of no help. On arrival, the hostel manager took one look at me and put me in a room to myself for the night so that I could sleep.

Such was the nature of my welcome to life in Ireland. In the coming days I would feel both a complete stranger and a welcome friend in turn. The second day in Galway, I was given the key to my shared dorm room. A sure sign of future friendship was finding Natalie, an Aussie starting a year abroad, who was quietly reading a book-I-loved on her bed. We hit it off as strangers in a strange land and became quick friends.

Our friendship was further cemented over a shared love of Karaoke. We heard that the College Bar at the university was having a karaoke night. Having nothing to lose, we went, we signed up, we sang. I would not realize until later how remarkably bold it was to stand up and sing Alanis Morisette in front of a crowd of inebriated Irish locals. The Irish love of song is world renown.

The next day I started my new job at the university. Word traveled fast and by afternoon a French colleague from a neighboring laboratory approached me to ask in a thick accent,

“I heard you sang at the College Bar yesterday! Would you like to join a choir?”

Reminding myself that I was in Ireland for a fresh start, I decided to check it out. I dragged Natalie with me for moral support. At the appointed time and place, we found an old nondescript building that hid a large room containing a crowd of about 30 individuals seated on wooden chairs around a director.

After the practice, which was beautiful, I met the director. She proved to be a fellow Canadian who looked like Meghan Follows (from Anne of Green Gables) with a bright grin and long dark blond hair. With a mischievous look in her eyes, she proceeded to tell me that as a fellow Canadian she was relieved to have support against the majority Irish. She asked what I could sing. I replied my voice best matched singing Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and that I sang mostly karaoke. I had no clue what I was getting myself into.

Both Natalie and I started in the Alto section. I would almost immediately move to sing with the female tenors. I would find out much later how rare it was to have a choir with female tenors. For a gospel choir though, the additional dimension even with a male contingent of singers, provided for more complexity within the songs.

This is how within a week of moving to Ireland, I became acquainted and joined a non-denominational Gospel Choir. The oldest singer may have been in their 70s whereas the youngest was in their teens. The average age of the choir was probably in their 40s. I had never experienced such a range of people from so many areas of life. We had everyone from professional to street musicians, at least one librarian, teachers, at least one doctor, accountants, artists, shop keepers, scientists, engineers, nurses, and lawyers.

The choir was many things to many people. A musical beginning, a second chance to get involved in music. A break from work, from domestic chores, me time, a social evening, a chance to have a bit of a natter or a laugh. — Richie Byrne

Everyone groaned when they had to learn a new piece but also took the music seriously enough to learn the parts and to practice. In the five years I would spend with the choir I would learn to read music better, to understand dynamics and how to use my voice, and to train myself to improve. I developed a thorough appreciation for music that I had been blind to before this stage in my life.

During that time we also made two trips to France and hosted an assortment of choirs as they toured the world. I was incredibly honored with the choir, and more than a little excited, to accompany the Harlem Gospel Singers while they were on tour in Galway.

The world of singing and choirs is incredible. The talent of musicians is surreal. There were definitely the religious few within the choir but the music was being sung for the joy of music and with a reverence to music as opposed to for a religion or for God. I learned who Moses Hogan was (bless him!) and to sing as part of a harmony on Beatles songs and others. The hair would rise on the back of my neck when the choir did amazing things in harmony. This also spoke of the talent of our director. She could pull our voices into the most amazing blends.

After leaving Ireland, my deepest regret has been that I have not found a choir of the same caliber. I realize just how lucky I was to have been a part of their lives even just for a few years and how many life long friends I have made as a result. Since then, music has stayed a constant in my life as I sing the old choir songs to my children at bedtime.

The Galway Gospel Choir retired this year after singing for 18 years. As a buddhist, I know the one constant is change. In my heart, there will forever be a ghostly gathering of like minded souls with voices laughing and echoing in harmony as they perform together. The spirit lives on.