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If you ever had any doubts about Una Healy‘s recent flirtation with the charts as a member of girl group The Saturday’s, then your eyes will simply struggle to comprehend what they are seeing on TV’s seemingly infinite array of music channels over the next few months. Yes, our Una has officially stamped her rightful place in music TV’s video rotation playlists for ever, with her group’s cover of the 80’s super hit ‘Just Can’t Get Enough‘ originally made famous by electronic pop synth impresarios, Depeche Mode.
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Una Healy and her ‘Saturdays‘ follow in the illustrious footsteps of The Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Boyzone and Westlife (see the Irish connection there), as their single has been chosen as the lead Charity Single for this year’s Comic Relief campaign in the UK. Comic Relief raises millions of pounds each and every year for charitable causes. Every year it’s always the red nose days and the charity singles that stand out and to have your single chosen as a front for a whole charity campaign is a major coup for Una and The Saturdays. The continued success of this Thurles girl is surely guaranteed, and that should be enough to put a smile on anyone’s face, or even in this case anyone’s nose.
An exciting, new and promising voice has just been sprung on the main stage of the music scene in Ireland. In the vein of singers like Mary Black, Nora Fogarty has just released her first album entitled “One Star Awake“. This long awaited album includes songs that she is frequently asked to sing at her concerts, together with a couple of her own favourite numbers, which radio listeners have heard her play regularly, live, on numerous occasions.
Here is a song from that album, called Caledonia. To play the song, please click the play button on the right hand side below.
[audio:http://www.thurles.info/music/norafogartytrack12.mp3|titles=Caledonia|artists=Nora Fogarty]
Nora is originally from Gathabawn in Co. Kilkenny where she lived with her parents Mick and Mary and her brother Michael. Indeed, she dedicates this album to her parents whose encouragement and support guided her into a singing career. When she was younger her parents drove her the length and breadth of the country to participate in various singing competitions to which she modestly admits to winning quite a few. Nora is a typical Irish country girl at heart, with hobbies which include going to hurling matches with her Dad, walking and watching sports on TV, particularly rugby and tennis matches. She is also a passionate animal lover. Since her marriage to husband John three years ago, she now lives on the Tipperary border, which she admits can cause quite a bit of friendly banter, especially when Tipperary meet Kilkenny in a hurling match.
Nora has been singing for as long as she can remember, but did not begin playing guitar until after leaving school. She claims to enjoys singing songs in a simple Irish style, however her music influences are far more varied, stretching from her own songs to a wide range of other artists. Special treats for Nora include going to music concerts or on family weekends away, experiencing different cultures, meeting different nationalities and in particular enjoying all the different music styles she encounters far from home.
While Nora describes her singing style as ‘simple Irish‘, her fans would not fully agree. Followers, and she has many, describe her as a very professional, individual and with none of the copy cat characteristics one associates with many others in her profession. Nora, as a person, is above all independent, hard working, positive, driven and with a great love for her fellow man. This latter, can be confirmed by those of you, fortunate enough to watch her perform, together with a host of other top Irish recording artists, at the recent live concert for Romanian Orphans in Carlow.
Nora is moving up folks and having heard and watched her perform, Thurles.Info confidently predicts we have not heard the last of this huge emerging Tipp talent.
Note: Her CD’s are available from Resistance Records in Kilkenny or by Telephone 087 – 270 2157
 Thurles town has many well kept historical secrets as yet to be viewed by discerning tourists. Over the coming weeks and months Thurles.Info will reveal many of these closely guarded secrets for the first time, to the rest of the world.
We start here with the O’Fogarty Harp ( Also spelt O’Ffogarty, O’Ffogerty)
Harp Details:
Age: Made in 17th Century (Possibly 1680)
Currently Displayed At: Tipperary County Library, The Source Arts Centre, Cathedral Street, Thurles, Co.Tipperary.
Harp Design: A large low headed design measuring at its longest, 92cm and accommodating 35 strings. At the upper end of the harps pillar four holes mark the place where a plate of gold was once attached. This plate, which is now missing, is believed to have borne the following engraved words in Irish, “This is the harp of Cornelius O’ Fogarty“.
The O’Fogarty harp was owned and played by the gentleman harper Cornelius O’Fogarty (1661-1730) then resident at Castle Fogarty, County Tipperary, and has remained in the ownership of his descendents ever since. Cornelius O’Fogarty was a a musicina of note and chief of his ancient family from Ballycahill, Thurles. He fought in 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne on the side of King James II. He also took part in the defence of Limerick city during the that famous siege and was a close friend of Fr. Edmund Cormack, one of the last Cistercian monks of Holycross Abbey.
General history of the harp in Ireland.
The harp, as an instrument, possibly moved westward from Egypt to Greece and Italy in ancient times, in or around the 6th century B.C. It first appears in medieval Europe in carvings and illuminated manuscripts in about the 8th century. The oldest existing harp, found at Ur in Sumer, dates from 2600 B.C. The tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs contained elaborate golden harps that were used in ensembles and worship. As an instrument it became very popular in Ireland, beginning about the 10th century, where it eventually became the country’s national symbol.
Another of Irelands venerable antiquities, the so-called Brian Boru’s Harp, was almost certainly a harp of the O’Briens. It possibly dates from about the year 1220, having been made for Donnchadh Cairbre O’Brien, King of Thomond, whose death is recorded on the 8th March, 1243. A detailed account of its workmanship is given by Petrie and other writers. In all of these instruments the crosspiece held nearest the player is a hollow resonating chamber. The so called Brian Boru harp, in1782 was donated by Colonel William Burton Conyngham to Trinity College in Dublin and can be found displayed there in The Long Room. It is about 80 cm (32 inches) high, with 30 brass strings.
Like the Cornelius O’Fogarty Harp the sound box is carved from a single piece of willow with a fore pillar made of oak. The harp, and specifically the Clársach (Gaelic word for harp), has long been Ireland’s heraldic symbal and appears on coat of arms which were officially registered as the emblem of the state of Ireland on 9th November 1945.
The image of the harp is used on coins, passports, and official documents of the Irish state. It remains the official seals of the President, Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers of the Government and other officials offices to this day. The harp, in relief on 1928 coinage is based on the Galway and Trinity College harps. A more modified version was introduced when manufacturing our 1939 coinage, and the present Irish euro coins are largely based on this latter 1939 version.
Between 1792 and 1802 John Egan established a factory in Dublin to build harps. It was he who developed the mechanism which connected, for the first time, the string arm hooks with levers, which allows musicians to operate with their feet also.
Some interesting facts about the harp:
- In 1367 a ‘Statute of Kilkenny‘ made it penal for any Anglo Irish or English person to receive or entertain Irish harpers. The fear was that these Irish entertainers were spies that informed the Irish rebels about Anglo Irish movements.
- In medieval Scandinavia the harp was seen only as an instrument for gentry. Any peasant found guilty of playing a harp was condemned to death.
- A harpist uses only the first three fingers and thumb of each hand to play; the little finger is never in action.
- The majority of concert harps used around the world are now made in Chicago, Illinois.
- When the harp is tuned to the correct pitch, the pressure of the strings on the sounding board is approximately 4,400 pounds.
- A concert grand pedal harp today weighs around 80 pounds and is approximately six feet in height.
 Three Irish brothers, born in the picturesque village of Puckane, Co.Tipperary, may well find themselves performing at Barack Obama’s presidential election celebrations in 38 days time. This is following the launch of their, now, household ditty and ode to the Illinois senator’s Moneygall ancestry. The song, “There’s No One as Irish as Barack Obama” which was officially launched worldwide today at Ollie Hayes’s bar in Moneygall, Co Offaly by Tipperary’s Local Radio station, Tipp FM, on the popular Fran Curry’s Classis Cafe live radio show, broadcast direct from Moneygall.
The Band consisting of Ger, Brian and Donnacha Corrigan, are presently living in Castletroy, Co.Limerick and have been gaining infamy over the last two years with their comedy ballad rap style band trading as the “Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys“. The band have made themselves well known to the Irish nation through their regular appearences on RTE’s Podge & Rodge and John Creedon shows. They are also well known through their lampooning of Irish Soccer players, Cork man Roy Keane and Thurles native Niall Quinn.
The brothers were forced to sing for visiting relations from an early age. They admit, however, tongue in cheek, to having received enough therapy to continue a musical career through their adulthood. Gerard, Brian and Donncha are multi instrumentalists who have individually had varied musical careers. Ger played in a rock band in the 80’s and competed in the Irish National Song Contest on two occasions while Brian and Donny followed a more folk style singing carreer which stretches back to the early nineties. The Corrigan Brothers came together four years ago as “Hardy Drew and the Nancy boys” and came to prominence with a rap in the native Irish language called “Cupla Focal” (meaning ‘a few words’). This year saw The Corrigan Brothers embrace the Irish roots of Barack Obama.
They have appeared on TV stations all over the world with this their new iconic song. They have featured in countless documentaries and performed the song on election night in Moneygall Co. Offaly, the confirmed ancestral home of Barack Obama.
Soon to be President, Obama’s Moneygall roots were brought to the forefront last year by Stephen Neill when it was revealed that the Illinois candidate’s third great grand grandfather, Fulmuth Kearney, (on his mother’s side) was the son of a Moneygall shoemaker who emigrated to the US in 1850.
Here’s the video.
And here’s the lyrics.
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
You don’t believe me, I hear you say
But Barack’s as Irish, as was JFK
His granddaddy’s daddy came from Moneygall
A small Irish village, well known to you all
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There’s no one as Irish As Barack O’Bama
He’s as Irish as bacon and cabbage and stew
He’s Hawaiian he’s Kenyan American too
He’s in the white house, He took his chance
Now let’s see Barack do Riverdance
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There’s no one as Irish As Barack O’Bama
From Kerry and Cork to old Donegal
Let’s hear it for Barack from old Moneygall
From the lakes if Killarney to old Connemara
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
From the old blarney stone to the great hill of Tara
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
2008 the White House is green, their cheering in Mayo and in Skibereen.
The Irish in Kenya, and in Yokahama,
Are cheering for President Barack O’Bama
O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
The Hockey Moms gone, and so is McCain
They are cheering in Texas and in Borrisokane,
In Moneygall town, the greatest of drama, for our Famous President Barack o Bama
Toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a loo, toor a lama
There’s no one as Irish As Barack O’Bama
The great Stephen Neill, a great man of God,
He proved that Barack was from the ‘Auld Sod’
They came by bus and they came by car, to celebrate Barack, in Ollie Hayes’s Bar
O’Leary, O’Reilly, O’Hare and O’Hara
There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama
 The Saturdays are a new five piece girl group who are set to take the charts by storm with their debut album ‘Chasing Lights‘. Building on the success of the now immortal Spice Girls and reality TV show winners come superstars Girls Aloud, The Saturdays are starting to prove their might among their female pop star peers.
Their first two singles ‘If this is Love‘ and ‘Up‘ have heralded the beginning of the girls’ reign in the charts. And while Ireland remains synonymous for its successful boy-bands like Westlife and Boyzone, its girl groups (remember Bewitched and Belfire!) have never really fared as well as the boys.
While four of the five girls in The Saturdays are English, they are fronted by Thurles town native Una Healy.
Una should be very well known to our towns residents. She comes from a very musical background and began writing original music and playing guitar at the early age of thirteen. Una also fronted local rock band ‘Unreal‘ for a couple of years and was also a contestant on the RTE reality TV show ‘You’re A Star‘.
Before joining the Saturdays, Una won recognition in 2004 and 2006 by winning the Glinsk Song Contest. In 2006 she released an EP entitled ‘Sorry‘.
From RTE to MTV, Thurles is very proud to see Una achieve the success that has appeared to be so forthcoming for the last number of years. The Saturdays’ debut album ‘Chasing Lights‘ is in the stores now.
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