text: Rob Jastrzebski photography: Marnix Heijnemans saturday, 15 & 16 april 2000

Interview Niamh Parsons: "These songs are living in me"
'Gifted with a smoky silken voice', 'One of those voices': these are some of the typifying descriptions of Niamh Parsons, one of the 'shining stars' at the sixth Celtic Shop Folkfestival in Holland, April 2000. In an earlier review at Green Linnet Xenophile artist profiles, the Scottish balladeer Archie Fisher is quoted, saying: "A voice like hers comes along once or twice in a generation". Those credits make it obvious that the organisers of the festival made an excellent choice by inviting this great singer. Niamh Parsons was born and raised in Dublin and, like many artists from Irish origin, she was surrounded by music from a very early age. She made her first steps on stage at the 'Brazen Head pub', situated in the Irish capital. From that moment on she grew quickly into the scene of traditional Irish music. Today Niamh's repertoire is best described as a mix between traditional and contemporary.
	Niamh Parsons

Songs of life
Niamh has performed with several artists and in the early 90's she met Dee Moore, a songwriter and bass-player from Belfast. This meeting resulted in a partnership in both music and life. Together they founded the band The Loose Connections and soon the debut-album 'Loosely Connected' was released. "Shortly after the recording of that first album I joined the traditional Irish band Arcady in July 1992", Niamh tells. "I have been performing hundreds of times with them, as well as with the Loose Connections. However the Loose Connections were subject of change soon after the first recording. I think several dozens of musicians passed before we were able to put a band of four to six members together. Anyway I always loved to sing and I really enjoy to be on stage and to share my feelings with the audience in a musical way."
	Graham Dunne, Niamh Parsons and Dave Munnelly

	Regarding those feelings it is obvious that Niamh has a weakness for sad songs and ballads. "That's true", she admits. "A lot of my songs are sad, but I love this kind of songs. Music is an excellent medium to express your emotions. These songs are 'living' in me. Sometimes my inspiration comes from experiences of life. My own life that is. For example, in 1998 my marriage with Dee ended and I'm not with the Loose Connections anymore since then. For a moment I considered to give up my musical career, but that thought was only very temporary. I just can't live without singing. So I started a solo-career and now I'm exploring new grounds. And I can tell you that I'm enjoying singing now more than ever before in my life. The title of my latest solo-album translates this feeling: It is called 'In my Prime', which means: 'In my finest hour'."
Dave Munnelly

Festivals
In my prime, was released early 2000 and is Niamh's second solo-album. Her first one: Blackbirds and Thrushes was released in 1999. Other albums featuring Niamh are Loosely connected (1992) and Loosen up (1997) with The Loose Connections and Many happy returns together with Arcady (1996). She has performed at several big folkfestivals around the globe and in April 2000 she reached the Dutch city of Bergen op Zoom, performing together with Graham Dunne on guitar and Dave Munnelly on accordion and piano. Niamh describes the festival as 'very special': "There is a very special atmosphere in the theatre here to perform. The connection with the audience is very direct. And that for me is one of the most important things of singing on stage."
	Dave Munnelly, Niamh Parson and Graham Dunne
text: Rob Jastrzebski photography: Marnix Heijnemans

message from Niamh Parsons to the CelticCafe		read the next interview with Ronnie Drew