Natalia O'Shea

Natalia O'Shea
Background information
Also known as	Hellawes
Born	(1976-09-03) 3 September 1976 Moscow, Soviet Union
Genres	Folk-rock, folk, celtic
Occupation(s)	Linguist, songwriter, singer, harpist
Instrument(s)	Vocals, harp, guitar
Years active	1998–
Website	helavisa.ru

Natalia Andreyevna O'Shea (Russian: Ната́лья Андре́евна О’Шей, née Nikolayeva, Russian: Никола́ева, known as Hellawes, Russian: Хелависа; born 3 September 1976) is a Russian harpist, singer-songwriter, linguist, lead singer and leader of Melnitsa (folk-rock), Clann Lir (traditional Celtic folk) and Romanesque (folk). Earlier she took part in the Till Eulenspiegel project (folk), for which she was a vocalist, author and co-author of many songs.

Biography

Natalia is a linguist, and expert in Indo-European languages especially Celtic languages. She has a PhD of philological sciences and was an lecturer in Lomonosov Moscow State University. Earlier she worked in Trinity College in Dublin (Ireland). Natalia has been living and working in Ireland (Dublin) and in Switzerland (Geneva) since 2004, but periodically she returns in Russia to take part in concerts of "Melnitsa", "Clann Lir" or in solo concerts.

O'Shea has been appearing on the stage since 1998. She is one of the most popular folk-rock singers on the Russian scene and cult author-performer in the youth (and especially in student) midst of Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and other cities. Also she is a very popular singer for the players of role-playing game movement.

The Hellawes's songs have spread through the Internet and have won recognition of listeners long ago in many cities of Russia and outside.

Personal life

On August 21st, 2004, Natalia married James Cornelius O'Shea, who was at the time a member of staff at the Irish Embassy. On July 22nd 2008 Natalia O'Shea gave birth to a daughter, Nina Caitríona O'Shea, in Geneva (Switzerland). On April 15th 2011 she gave birth to their second daughter, Úna Tamar.

Discography

Hellawes

• Running to Paradise (Melanar, 1996)
• Дорога сна (The Road of Dream) 1996
• Лунный день (The Lunar Day) (Melanar, 1996)
• Сольные записи (The Solo Album) 1999
• Леопард в городе (Leopard in the City) (2009)
• Новые ботинки (The New Boots) (2013)

Melnitsa

• Дорога сна (The Road Of Dream) (2003)
• Master of the Mill (2004)
• Перевал (Mountain Pass) (2005)
• Зов крови (Call of the Blood) (2006)
• The Best (2007)
• Дикие травы (Herbs) (2009)
• Ангелофрения (Angelophrenia) (2012)
• Алхимия (Alchemy) (2015)
• Химера (Chimera) (2016)
• 2.0 (2019)
• Манускрипт (Manuscript) (2021)
• Символ Солнца (Sun Symbol) (2023)

External links

• Helavisa.ru (official website)
• Brief Biography