THE ROAD to Taobh le Taobh, the new EP from two stalwarts of the Galway music scene - Pádraic 'Joycey' Seoighe and Niall Teague - began somewhat by chance one day in 2018.
Sitting in a doctor’s waiting room, Padraic read in a local newspaper that Comórtas Amhrán Nua-Chumtha, the Irish language songwriting competition, was seeking applicants. Pádraic and Niall entered ‘Ar Saoire’, which imagined the plight of a refugee going across Europe with his family. The song won the contest, and later represented Ireland in the 2018 Pan Celtic Song Festival in Letterkenny, winning that competition also.
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The pair took it as an omen to record the song and release it as part of an Irish language song EP - Taobh le Taobh. It features six tracks, opening with the title number, based on a poem by Pádraic’s aunt, Baba Ban Uí Loinsigh, on the occasion of her son’s wedding day; followed by 'Ar Saoire', the song which started it all; then 'An Ghaoth Anoir,' a song about a fisherman who longs for the shore; 'Ní Fhágfaidh Mé Gaillimh', 'An Dealg Elaine'; and closing with 'Amhrán Pheter Mhichíl Báille', a sean-nós song written by Pádraic’s great-grandfather.
Joining Pádraic and Niall on the EP are Neil Fitzgibbon (fiddle ), László Pásztor (double bass ) and Paddy Kerr (bodhrán ). It was recorded at Paddy Jordan’s Recording Studio nearby in Ardrahan, with Paddy as engineer.
Taobh le Taobh will be launched at a livestream event via Facebook.com/paddyjordanrecording on Thursday December 17 at 9pm, with Pádraic and Niall, and friends, perfuming songs from the EP. It will be available as a CD from Pádraic and Niall (details to be announced on Facebook ); as a digital download from CD Baby and iTunes; and as a stream on Spotify.
