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Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Tolü Makay: ‘It may take 10, 20 years but I'll sing a James Bond theme'
The Nigerian-Irish singer on embracing her uniqueness and the viral performance she saw as a sign to keep following her dreams after quitting her job at Google You've got to dream big, says Tolü Makay. The Nigerian-Irish singer has long held 'sing a Bond theme song' as one of her greatest ambitions – and after a recent performance with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, it seems just that little bit more achievable. 'It's been on my vision board for a long time,' the soul-pop singer says, acknowledging how a number of listeners insisted that she should join the pantheon of Bond singers after hearing her stunning rendition of the Bacharach/David classic Walk On By. 'The fact that people are seeing it now too, I'm like, 'OK! Thank you!'. Now, obviously, there are steps to that: you have to be one of the best or biggest stars of the time,' she adds, undaunted. 'So I'm like, 'OK, we need to figure out how this will happen. Maybe it'll be another 10, 20 years – but it's gonna happen at some point.''
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Tolü Makay on camogie, music, mental health, and finding purpose
Episode 16 of the Insights with Seán O'Rourke podcast features Nigerian-born, Offaly-raised singer-songwriter Tolü Makay. They share a fascinating conversation about her journey through music, identity, mental health, and the courage it takes to follow your true path. Tolü Makay has emerged as one of Ireland's most compelling musical voices, known for her soulful sound and deeply personal lyrics. From singing in church as a child to her viral rendition of the Saw Doctors' N17 with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, she has captivated audiences across the country. But her story goes far beyond the music. A former Google employee, Tolü left the corporate world to pursue her creative passion—something she now describes as "100% her life." Speaking with Seán about her move from Nigeria to Offaly at the age of five, Tolü says that it's difficult to know exactly how the move shaped her. "I studied Psychology, so I feel like a lot of things that do shape you come down to your environment and also just the genetics of your make-up as well," she muses. Although she was young when she arrived in Tullamore, she does recall the feeling of being slightly different from her surroundings, describing a moment that she heard a young boy asking his mother about her skin colour. Despite this "underlying humming" feeling, Tolü threw herself into her new community, playing camogie with great enthusiasm. "I loved camogie! I was brilliant at it, I thought I was great at it, because you have to be fast. You need to know how to dodge the ball, catch the ball, and get the ball into the net as well. I really enjoyed it, I really wish I had actually continued." Although she enjoyed her time playing camogie, it was music that called to Tolü as a teenager. Growing up in a religious household, she says that music and religion were intertwined for her family. "Music was always around, in the context of the religion that I grew up in," she explains. As a young teenager, though, she expanded her relationship with music, stepping outside of the church and trying out singing competitions. When she finished school, Tolü headed to Galway to study Psychology before moving to Dublin to attend Trinity for her Higher Diploma. Unfortunately, the tuition became too expensive, leading her to a job in the corporate world. Now, she says she may return to education one day and continue her dreams of becoming a Neuroscientist: "We'll see how life pans out." During this time, music remained a passion for Tolü. Although it wasn't providing financial stability, she says it was the thing that sustained her. "Music was the thing that I needed for myself," she explains. "Music was a way for me to express and relate myself to people, so I needed that." Eventually, her years of working and studying full-time led to burnout, and she decided to take the leap and pursue music full-time, leaving the stability of the corporate world for her passion. Thankfully, this leap of faith paid off. In 2021, the singer was invited to record a rendition of the Saw Doctors' N17 with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, which led to a performance at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, appearances on The Late Late Show, The Tommy Tiernan Show, as well as a number of festivals and corporate relationships. "It made me want to dream bigger," she says. "It made me want to know that a girl from a really small county, a really small town, can become one of those stars that you see on TV."
Irish Times
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Clarinettist Julian Bliss: ‘You're running a business. A lot of musicians don't learn that side early enough. It can be overwhelming'
Julian Bliss is singular. He began his clarinet career around the age of 12 and has been before the public, working with major orchestras and playing in large venues, ever since – which is to say for nearly a quarter of a century. This is not uncommon in the world of the piano or the violin, but it's hard to think of any other clarinet player whose career has had a similar arc. Bliss began with Mozart, whose Clarinet Concerto – which the composer wrote at the age Bliss is now – he plays with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra tomorrow. He'll be using the deeper-toned basset clarinet, which has been wresting this work from the more familiar clarinet in A, which has fewer low notes. READ MORE 'Every instrument has mainstays,' he says, 'and the Mozart is certainly one of them. I think the first time I learned it must have been 2001 or 2002. Having lived with it for a long time, your interpretation changes quite a lot – not even intentionally sometimes, but just as you grow and develop as a musician. And also as a person, your thoughts, your intentions, the way you play, hopefully it gets better and better over time.' Not long ago Bliss listened to an early recording of himself playing the concerto, 'and I was very struck by some of the changes. These things might be very subtle developments in my playing or things that I think I've got better at. But also just different musical choices'. He's never bored by it, 'because it's so well written that even in performance you can find different things to do in terms of musical choices that can really bring it alive. And of course when you work with different musicians, different orchestras, different conductors, that also has a big influence'. Bliss goes deeper. 'You must always stay active in your music making, using your ears and watching, for example, how the strings might shape a phrase compared to how you would normally do it. If you listen out for those things, it then informs your own playing. It becomes then a real dialogue. That's always an exciting thing to be able to do.' He has never had regrets about being a prodigy. 'I do remember just having the best time as a kid. Nobody ever told me that I should be worried or nervous or apprehensive about it. And so it was always just the most fun thing for me. Quite often I'd get to leave school. Maybe that had something to do with it. I know this isn't true for some musicians, but being on stage was, I guess, my happy place.' The Covid times made me at least realise how fortunate I am to have this opportunity. Yes, of course, there are certain schedules where it becomes quite gruelling. But then you get the opportunity to stand on stage in some fantastic places with some fantastic audiences In a certain sense, musical performers are like athletes who have to stay fit. Clarinettists are athletes of lungs, lips and tongue as well as fingers. 'I'd like to think I'm not too much older now, still being 35,' Bliss says. 'Those things haven't really started to take a toll yet. Ask me in another 10 or 15 years: the answer might be different. 'In many ways I almost think I'm just getting started. Of course you say this every time. You feel you're in a better place than you were five years ago musically, personally, and that you're playing at a higher level. So, yes, you have to stay in shape. That's a given.' Bliss describes himself as 'a very self-critical person', but he comes across as someone who always keeps in touch with positive angles and sees learning opportunities wherever he can. Julian Bliss: The Julian Bliss Septet play at the Tramway Theatre, Blessington, on May 17th as part of West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival Unlike a large proportion of successful musicians, he really enjoys travelling. 'I love the opportunity to see the world and to be able to do that through music by playing concerts. I try not to take it for granted, though of course it does become your normal. It's important to take stock and, I guess, realise how fortunate we are to do it. 'The Covid times made me at least realise how fortunate I am to have this opportunity. Yes, of course, there are certain schedules where it becomes quite gruelling. But then you get the opportunity to stand on stage in some fantastic places with some fantastic audiences. 'So for me, it makes it all worthwhile. And to be able to see the world at the same time, that's quite something. I'd like to think I'm fairly good at having the energy when I need it. And I've developed the skill of being able to sleep anywhere at any time.' [ Irish drummer Kevin Brady: 'Most nights you're able to hear great live jazz. But we need something like classical has in the NCH' Opens in new window ] The actual playing, of course, is quite distinct from managing a career. 'You are running a business. It's a fact, and I think a lot of musicians don't learn about that side early enough. It can be quite overwhelming. We have to wear a lot of different hats, on the business side, the administration side, the performing side, rehearsing side. We have to be able to juggle all of these things. It's a learning curve. 'I was having a very long discussion about this with a friend of mine, another musician, the other day. If you think about all of the people in the world that graduate university with a music degree – whether that's music education, music performance, whatever – and then you look at the number of jobs or opportunities out there, there are more people than jobs. You have to learn very quickly and you have to have a certain type of personality.' And Bliss acknowledges the way the reality of the career can be distorted by rose-tinted postings on social media. While still a teenager the musician became an artist of the wind-instrument company Leblanc , which traces its origins back to 18th-century France. This brought an opportunity to design a new clarinet. 'We thought some of the intermediate-level instruments were not as good as they could have been,' he says. 'So we set out to try and design a new instrument that really gave those advancing players a fantastic, professional-level instrument at an affordable price, using computer-automated manufacturing. 'In the very early days my feedback was all very musical, in terms of, 'I'd like a darker sound,' or, 'I'd like the intonation on this note to be lower.' Which is very frustrating to engineers. Because they're, like, 'Just tell me in numbers: do you want this bigger or smaller, or what do you want?' Fairly quickly I became very interested in the engineering side and really got involved. [ 'It's really a coup': Irish Baroque Orchestra to make BBC Proms debut with Handel 'Dublin' oratorio not performed since 18th century Opens in new window ] 'I worked with that company for 18 years. It was a fantastic time and really taught me a lot, as did being part of a very large corporate company, being involved in meetings about the instrument, and the marketing and the branding and the sales, from about the age of 15 or 16. I'm still deeply appreciative of everyone there who was very open and very willing to teach me and listen to my ideas, as young as I was.' The Julian Bliss Septet, who play at West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival next week, grew out of the idea of 'recording some arrangements of Benny Goodman tunes for clarinet and orchestra. I started to go down that rabbit hole in a way I hadn't done before. And I thought it would be nice to add a rhythm section, and bass would be nice, too. And before I knew it I thought, 'Okay, how about just starting a band of my own?' I learned most of it by doing it, which I think is a great way: throw yourself in the deep end. 'I remember the first time actually calling a tune that we hadn't rehearsed and then thinking, 'We haven't talked about how are we going to end this. There's seven of us on stage: it's going to be a disaster.' Of course it was completely fine. It's interesting how you can communicate what you want without actually saying anything. And then I really embraced that element of not knowing what's going to happen. I think that's when the magic really happens.' Julian Bliss plays with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under Swann Van Rechem in Mozart Masterpieces, at the National Concert Hall , Dublin, on Thursday, May 8th; the Julian Bliss Septet are at the Tramway Theatre, Blessington, on Saturday, May 17th, as part of West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival
Irish Examiner
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Culture That Made Me: Music maestro David Brophy picks his touchstones
David Brophy, 53, grew up in Santry, Co Dublin. In 2007, he was appointed principal conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. He has conducted orchestras at major international events, including Queen Elizabeth II's state visit to Ireland in 2011. He was made principal conductor with Cologne's WDR Funkhaus orchestra in 2024. He will conduct the Irish Chamber Orchestra for A Midsummer Night's Dream, May 27-June 2, Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, Lismore Castle, Co Waterford. See: Brothers in Arms I remember aged 13 or 14 buying Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. The lyrics are great. There's outstanding hooks and guitar riffs on it. I can still hear that opening guitar riff on Money for Nothing, with those parallel fifths, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. A world opened up to me – it was music you didn't necessarily hear on Top of the Pops. It's well put together – all the tracks lead from one into the other. It was the first album I got that made me listen to music differently. It's amazing. Vivaldi's Four Seasons I didn't do classical music at school. The first classical music thing I bought was aged 17. I stumbled across Vivaldi's Four Seasons. I listened to that so much the spool on the tape eventually gobbled itself up. They were the days when music was perishable. Riffing and the notion of a small group of notes that becomes arresting finds its beginnings with Vivaldi's Four Seasons. There's a lot of music in it that has been used by rock musicians over the years. Jon Lord Great musicians I've worked with over the years have listened to lots of different types of music. I worked with Jon Lord at the RTÉ Concert Orchestra many years ago. I remember having a drink with him after the gig, and we spent the whole evening sitting in the Shelbourne bar talking about Beethoven. He didn't wanna talk about everything else. He wasn't interested in talking about Deep Purple. I see music as a continuum. I don't see a huge difference between Vivaldi and Deep Purple. The Shining Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining The music in The Shining is amazing. Stanley Kubrick married music and tension in a scene in a way no other director has done. That scene where Shelley Duvall's character comes down the stairs – and Jack Nicholson has been writing whatever novel he's been writing – and she sees written across all the pages, 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.' All that music you hear in the background is from Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. I love that film – the lighting, the cinematography. The acting is unreal. All the scenes are the perfect length. There's a look off it. It's cleverly done. It's one of those films I know inside out. Woody Allen Years ago, I was a big Woody Allen fan. I was first attracted to his films because he's the underdog. I identified with him. I was bullied badly at school and have all my scars that we all have from school. That dry New York wit, the droll underdog sense of humour made me laugh all the time. I didn't relate to swashbucklers in movies, but I related to Woody Allen as a teenager. Enda Walsh Mikel Murfi, Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea during a photoshoot for Ballyturk. I'm a big Enda Walsh fan. I remember in particular seeing Ballyturk with Stephen Rea, Cillian Murphy and Mikel Murfi, three legends on stage. I felt reassured leaving it because I felt, oh, somebody else sees the world like me. I find the world of his plays completely normal. He taps into the deep psychosis we walk around with all day long. Stephen Rea sang in the play. His mic came down, like one of those microphones that come down in boxing arenas. I spoke to Stephen afterwards, and he goes, 'Oh, Brophy, if I'd known you were there, I'd never have sung.' Benjamin Britten I did a foundation course in Dublin College of Music back in the late 1980s. I got exposed to Benjamin Britten. He was seen as being scary, very modern music. I remember buying his Sinfonia da Requiem and his Cello Symphony, which blew my mind. It wasn't atonal, but it was weird music, unlike music I'd heard before, using an orchestra with all the instruments. I don't know why somebody who had a diet of chart music and a bit of Vivaldi suddenly jumped into Benjamin Britten, that's quite a leap, but I became fascinated by his music. Under the Moon I started working with traditional musicians, and delving into the world of trad, in my mid- to late-twenties. I bought Under the Moon by Martin Hayes with Steve Cooney. I remember listening to it and pennies dropping, thinking there's a circle here between all the baroque music I'd be listening to and traditional Irish music. It's a seminal album for me, still a go-to. It's fantastic. Mise Éire Seán Ó Riada saw himself taking central European avant garde music to Ireland and exploring that world. He did something embryonic but simple, like that opening chord in the strings, which is just tremolo. Everyone's moving their bow very fast. That creates huge expectations straightaway. Then you get the opening horn solo on Roisín Dubh. It's very clever, very simple. He managed to distill traditional elements and put them in an orchestra context. He took trad – music from an oral tradition, domestic music, played in your house by your family, or played in the local pub – and he made it cinematic. That's the genius of it. He gave it a brand new canvas. BB King I went to see U2 on their Lovetown Tour. They played at Dublin's Point Depot in late December 1989. I was blown away by BB King and his band, who supported them, that night. At the time, I didn't realise the legend that BB King was. He had all these amazing jazz/blues musicians from America in his band, there playing at the Point. My jaw hit the ground.. It was unreal. I'll never forget the sheer sense of virtuosity. Grigory Sokolov Around the same time, I went to Dublin's Concert Hall to see the great Russian pianist Grigory Sokolov. He played music by Rameau, an eighteenth-century French composer. On the grand piano there are three pedals. The left pedal is called 'the una corda pedal', the softer pedal. He used that pedal in a way I've never heard in my life. The colours he got from the piano – I was completely mesmerised. One of the best concerts I was ever at. Simon Rattle I saw the English conductor Simon Rattle conduct in Dublin last September. He was on tour with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Germany. The magic is in what he doesn't do. He knows exactly what is the minimum he needs to do with the orchestra. Like, if you look at Usain Bolt's cheeks when he runs, his face is unbelievably relaxed. That sense of being able to let go to create something amazing is what Rattle has. The best people don't try. They just do. They've got that flow. Read More Matt Cranitch takes a bow for lifetime of musical achievement
