![]() Spending time amongst members of the IRA leads him down unexpected paths, and he eventually finds himself in a no-win scenario.Ĭlannad were hesitant to get involved with anything political, but they liked the story’s message about the futility of killing and liked the thought that the music could potentially underline that aspect. ![]() The story of Harry’s Game centres on a British spy who went undercover in Northern Ireland during the violent conflict known as The Troubles. He had heard their music and was keen to see it used in the series. The split happened just as Clannad got a new record deal with RCA.Īlso at that time, Clannad caught the attention of novelist Gerald Seymour, whose best-selling book Harry’s Game was being made into a British miniseries. Enya decided to go out her own, embracing the more ambient and atmospheric aspects of folk whereas Clannad stretched towards more contemporary sounds. During that period Clannad got even bolder with their sound, trading traditional acoustic instruments for synthesizers, horns, and electric pianos.ġ982 saw the band at a crossroads. Between 1980-82 another Brennan sibling joined the line-up: their youngest sister and soon-to-be-famous singer/keyboardist Enya. When a folk revival took hold in Ireland, however, folks were more welcoming to their contemporary take on tradition. “People used to say to us, ‘Listen, you’ll not get anywhere doing that.'” “People thought it was a bit mad that we were singing Gaelic songs,” Moya recalled. At the same time, contemporary artists didn’t understand them. Clannad didn’t go that far, but certainly also pushed the envelope of a very conservative genre, and purists hated them. This was obviously sacrilege of the gravest kind. The Dublin-based band Horslips went several steps further around the same time, mixing traditional Gaelic songs with rock’n’roll, creating rock symphonies based on the traditional works. So we were kind of regarded as being traitors.” The only time you were really allowed to add instruments to singing in Gaelic way back, was the harp, and I wasn’t playing the harp like that. ![]() “Gaelic songs were sung unaccompanied,” Moya Brennan explained, “so what we were doing was sacrilege. They started making waves by performing traditional Irish music with musical accompaniment, which gave them a bit of backlash initially. ![]() It brought them international acclaim and cemented their signature sound: ethereal vocal harmonies and haunting melodies backed by a mixture of traditional instruments with layers of synth and occasional electric instrumentation.įormed in 1970, Clannad is a family band consisting of the three siblings Máire (Moya), Pól, and Ciarán Brennan, as well as their two twin uncles Noel and Pádraig Duggan (the latter passing in 2016). They had several releases under their belt, but Harry’s Game introduced them to a mainstream public. When Clannad got their first international hit in 1982 with the atmospheric Gaelic ballad (Theme From) Harry’s Game, they had already been active for some 12 years. ![]()
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