Christy Moore

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Christy Moore ..
Christy-liverpool-philh-oct-08-crop.jpg
Christy Moore in Liverpool Philharmonic , October 2008.
Background information
Birth name Christopher Andrew Moore
Born (1945-05-07) 7 May 1945 (age 68)
Origin Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Genres Folk, traditional Irish, Pop
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, Bodhrán
Years active 1969–present
Associated acts Planxty, Moving Hearts, The Dubliners
Website http://www.christymoore.com/

Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is well known as one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, Paddy on the Road (a minor release of 500, although made available again on CD through his website and at gigs in 2010) was recorded with Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan) in 1969. In 2007, he was named as Ireland's greatest living musician in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards.[1]

Contents

Early life [edit]

Moore was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. He was originally a bank employee who wanted to express himself using traditional music. During a bank strike in 1966, which lasted twelve weeks (from 7 May 1966 to 29 July 1966), he went to England, as many striking officials did, but didn’t return when the strike was settled. “I had a wild and wonderful time in England, with no bank manager looking over my shoulder,” he said. Doing general labouring work, he frequented the folk clubs and the Irish music pubs where he met Seamus Ennis, Margaret Barry, Luke Kelly, Mairtin Byrnes and many other traditional musicians.[2]

Musical career [edit]

1972 brought his first major release, Prosperous (named after the village of Prosperous, County Kildare, where the album was recorded), which brought together the four musicians who shortly thereafter formed Planxty: Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, and Dónal Lunny. For a time they called themselves "CLAD", an acronym of their names, but soon decided on Planxty.[2]

After leaving Planxty in 1975, Moore continued on his solo career, reforming his old band on occasion (which he has been doing ever since). He also formed the band Moving Hearts with Lunny and five other musicians in 1980. In 2000 he published his autobiography, One Voice.[2]

Moore's earlier years of heavy drinking, sleeping dysfunctional hours, continual travelling, and often eating takeaway foods resulted in a decline in health, and several operations. Moore's battle with alcohol, and subsequent heart operations have taken their toll. At the end of the 1990s, Moore was requested to reduce his workload for medical reasons.[2]

Some of Moore's songs are heavily influenced by drink and the effects of drink. His song "Delirium Tremens" being a good example. Listening to Johnny Mulhern's song "Hard Cases" causes Moore, in his website chat, to recall the Galway drinking scene with local musicians  Mickey Finn, Pete Galligan, Corky and Terry Smith.

On 17 April 2009, Moore released his first new studio album in four years, entitled Listen, and promoted it through a series of live gigs.[3]

In December 2011, Moore released his latest album Folk Tale and made it available on the Irish music website IrishCountry.ie.

Political and social commentary [edit]

Moore is best known for his political and social commentary, which reflects a left-wing Irish Republican perspective, this despite the fact that his mother was a Fine Gael county councillor and parliamentary candidate in Kildare.[4] He supported the republican H-Block protestors in the 1970s and 1980s with the album H-Block in 1978, the launch of which was raided by the police, and The Spirit of Freedom.[5] He has also recorded songs by the hunger striker Bobby Sands, including "Back Home In Derry", which he wrote based on the music of Gordon Lightfoot's song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". He gives credit to Gordon for this. However, in 1987 he ceased supporting the military activities of the IRA as a result of the Enniskillen bombing.[6]

Individual political songs he has performed throughout his career include Mick Hanly's 'On the Blanket' about the protests of republican prisoners, his own 'Viva la Quinta Brigada' about Irish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and his own 'Minds Locked Shut' about Bloody Sunday in Derry.

Moore has endorsed a long list of left wing support causes, ranging from El Salvador to Mary Robinson in the 1990 Presidential Election.[2] At Glastonbury Festival in 2005 he sang about the Palestinian solidarity activist Rachel Corrie.

With typical Moore social consciousness, he opened the festival marking Ballymun's inception as Dublin's first Fairtrade Town on 23 November 2006. Ballymun, once synonymous with social deprivation and drug problems, is currently the largest urban regeneration project in northern Europe.

Allusions in his songs [edit]

  • The former Bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, is the subject of Martin Egan's song 'Casey' often performed by Moore.
  • In 2005, his popular release "Don't Forget Your Shovel" (written by Christie Hennessey) was referenced in a number 1 UK single "The JCB Song" by Nizlopi: "And the engine rattles my bum like berserk. While we're singin, 'Don't forget your shovel if you want to go to work!'" It was further referenced in the video for the same song; as the line is sung, the characters in the JCB pass a shop called "Christie's Shovels".
  • In his song "If I Get an Encore" he compares Tulsk to hell,"Mountbellew was like purgatory but Tulsk was just like being in hell". Its a reference to a row that broke during one of his gigs in a Tulsk venue.

Musical style [edit]

His solo style includes driving rhythms on guitar and bodhrán as well as slower ballads.

Family [edit]

Moore's brother Barry, whose stage name is Luka Bloom, is also a successful singer-songwriter.[7] His nephew, Conor Byrne, is also an accomplished traditional flautist and tin whistle player, with Christy appearing on his Wind Dancer album.[8]

Memorable events [edit]

An Góilín Surprise [edit]

On 6 October 2006 Moore paid a surprise visit to the An Góilín traditional singers' club in Dublin. There, before fifty or so people, Moore took out his guitar (instruments are rarely used in An Góilín, it being a singers' refuge) and sang songs reflective of the Irish language and socially radical culture of the club such as Na Conghailigh, about the deaths of Tomás and Seán Ó Conghaile off Conamara, and Viva la Quinta Brigada, about the role of the Irish fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.

Desert Island Discs [edit]

In June 2007, Moore was guest on Desert Island Discs,[9] a BBC programme that is often considered an accolade. He selected mainly Irish folk music that had inspired him and spoke of personal and political issues that had shaped his life.

Detention incident, 2004 [edit]

In October 2004, a story in several news agencies revealed how Moore had been stopped and detained by Special Branch officers at the Welsh port of Holyhead.[10][11] The article claimed the singer was stopped in his van with his driver, taken into an office and questioned over the lyrics of his songs. The following day in response to The Irish Times article, Moore released a statement saying: "My driver and I were stopped and held for two hours at Holyhead last Monday, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2002. My driver and I were held separately in two interrogation rooms. I found the whole experience threatening. I was questioned about the contents of my briefcase." Despite initial reports to the contrary, the singer's van, which was full of musical equipment, was not searched. "I was questioned about lyrics of songs and I was asked a lot of personal questions about members of my family and my children and about my home. At no time was I given any explanation as to why I was being held and interrogated in this manner", he added. He said the fact that Irish people are still being treated this way on their way to Britain is very "saddening". "I had hoped to deal with this matter out of the public domain. But seeing as it has become a news item, I feel the need to offer my side of the story. I found the whole affair quite frightening."[citation needed]

Oxegen [edit]

On Sunday 10 July 2011 Moore joined Coldplay on stage at 2011 Oxegen Festival performing the song "Ride On".

Discography [edit]

Solo [edit]

With Planxty [edit]

With Moving Hearts [edit]

Compilation albums [edit]

Video [edit]

DVDS [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Rehab Press Room". Retrieved 2008-09-22. 
  2. ^ a b c d e Moore, Christy (2000). One Voice. London: Lir/Hodder and Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-76839-8. 
  3. ^ "Listen Its Christy Moore". Irish Music Magazine. 2009-03-30. Retrieved 2009-04-18. 
  4. ^ Elections Ireland
  5. ^ H-Block
  6. ^ 14:15 - 15:00 (2007-06-17). "Desert Island Discs - Castaway : Christy Moore". BBC. Retrieved 2012-04-17. 
  7. ^ Article in Hot Press mentioning that Christy and Luka Bloom are brothers
  8. ^ "Christy Moore". 2008-10-26. Retrieved 2009-04-17. 
  9. ^ "BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs". www.bbc.co.uk. 2007-06-17. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 
  10. ^ Melia, Paul (2004-10-22). "Christy Moore 'frightened' by detention at Holyhead". Independent.ie. Retrieved 2009-10-22. 
  11. ^ "Irish singer's port quiz anger". www.bbc.co.uk. 2004-10-22. Retrieved 2009-10-22. 

External links [edit]

Authority control
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