Irish Praise Songs of Praise


Irish Praise

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This is the Waterfront Hall in Belfast. This wonderful venue

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has hosted musicians and singers from all over the world.

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But Ireland has had its own fair share of home-grown talent too,

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and it's not just a recent thing.

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There's a long tradition of songwriting links that go

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back hundreds of years and include the men

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and women responsible for writing some of our best-known hymns today.

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So, join us now, along with local choirs and congregations,

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to celebrate the songs of Irish hymn-writers past and present.

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Choirs and congregations from Belfast and beyond

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join the Ulster Orchestra for an evening of praise.

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As well as glorious hymn singing, stand by for the Celtic Tenors,

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with an inspirational song made famous

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by Brian Kennedy and Westlife.

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Irish choral group, Anuna, sing a beautiful version of Pie Jesu,

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and worship leader Robin Mark

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introduces us to a brand-new song of praise.

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You're very welcome to the Waterfront Hall here in Belfast.

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We have the pleasure of being led by the Ulster Orchestra

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and our Songs Of Praise conductor, Paul Leddington Wright.

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APPLAUSE

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Now, Ireland has inspired many songwriters over the years,

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including the writer of our first hymn.

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Henry Francis Lyte was a pupil at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen

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before going on to study for the church ministry

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at Trinity College, Dublin.

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He penned many notable hymns,

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including the much-loved Abide With Me,

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and the hymn that we are about to sing,

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Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven.

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Now, a truly inspirational song, You Raise Me Up.

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It was a huge international hit.

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It's been performed by many people,

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such as Josh Grogan, Westlife, Daniel O'Donnell,

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even Aled Jones, and it's one of the favourites

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of our first musical guests, The Celtic Tenors.

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There's something very Irish about the feel of the song itself.

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And of course, Brendan Graham wrote the song.

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It's a song, Matthew,

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that will either raise you up or bring you down.

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It can be about a parent, it can be about the people who raised you,

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it can be somebody who you turn to in times of trouble, like God.

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For me, it's a prayer, more than anything else.

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Darren, what reaction do you get when you perform You Raise Me Up?

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You know, You Raise Me Up is one of those songs.

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Recently, we were on tour with the orchestra in China,

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and of course we did our normal set,

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but the minute that we stood up and sang You Raise Me Up,

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everybody was on their feet. It just seemed to have that reaction.

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There's strong echoes of Danny Boy, that rising phrase.

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There's something about that phrase that I think is also

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a vehicle that goes straight to the heart.

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And James, what about you guys as performers?

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What angle or what twist do you feel that you bring to your rendition?

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The song for me took on a whole new meaning whilst in Kenya.

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I work with AIDS orphans every year as part of a building team,

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but also do music with them, and this song stood out

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because of the words, the lyrics, they took on a whole new meaning.

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"You raise me up to more than I can be."

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# When I am down

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# And oh, my soul so weary

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# When troubles come And my heart burdened be

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# And I am still And wait here in the silence

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# Until you come and sit awhile with me

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# You raise me up So I can stand on mountains

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# You raise me up To walk on stormy seas

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# And I am strong When I am on your shoulders

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# You raise me up

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# To more than I can be

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# When I am down And oh my soul

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# So weary

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# When troubles come And my heart burdened be

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# And I am still And wait here in the silence

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# Until you come and sit awhile with me

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# You raise me up So I can stand on mountains

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# You raise me up To walk on stormy seas

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# And I am strong When I am on your shoulders

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# You raise me up To more than I can be

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# There is no life No life without its hunger

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# Each restless heart beats so imperfectly

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# But when you come And I am filled with wonder

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# Sometimes I think I glimpse eternity

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# You raise me up So I can stand on mountains

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# You raise me up to walk on stormy seas

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# And I am strong when I am on your shoulders

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# You raise me up To more than I can be

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# You raise me up

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# To more than I can be. #

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APPLAUSE

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The origin of our next hymn goes back more than 150 years.

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Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander lived in Londonderry,

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and she had a passion for teaching religion to young people.

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Now, she did this through composing poems and songs,

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and she later published a book called Hymns For Little Children.

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What she did was, she wrote over 400 hymns,

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including There's A Green Hill Far Away,

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Once In Royal David's City, and the one that we're about to sing,

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All Things Bright And Beautiful.

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So, from one of Ireland's writers from the past

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to one of today's hymn-writers,

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Keith Getty, a composer from Lisburn,

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and he's been playing music since he was 10.

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He's written some of today's best-known hymns

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and songs that are sung all over the world.

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In 2001, he collaborated with fellow songwriter Stewart Townsend

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to produce one of our most popular contemporary hymns, In Christ Alone.

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Worship songs like In Christ Alone have become increasingly popular

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in a wide variety of churches.

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Singer-songwriter Robin Mark, who's from Belfast, has written

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a number of songs that are sung in Ireland and beyond.

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It's just been a blessing that stuff that I've written here

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and stuff that's been written in this place has actually gone out

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to all the ends of the Earth.

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The message that you put out there,

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where do you get your inspiration from?

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Anybody of my age, my vintage, if you like,

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has grown up through the troubled years and seen, you know,

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aspects of grace and love against wickedness and evil

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and all that. That's an inspiration, I think, for anyone and, for me,

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a lot of the songs have come out of those experiences.

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When you look at a congregation coming together,

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what difference does music make to worship?

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I think Belfast is a place where music brings people together

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and the worship, their attitude of worship,

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in other words singing praises to the God that they serve and love,

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that takes their focus away from the differences.

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You're going to perform one of your own songs called You Said.

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What is the story behind that?

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The words that it uses were based on some thoughts

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that a friend of mine was sharing with me

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and it's simply this,

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that Christ spoke the greatest words of hope and comfort

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and promise for the future in the darkest situations

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when he was on the Earth. When he was at funerals, that's when he said,

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"I am the resurrection and the life."

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When he was at the death of a friend, he said,

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"Any man that believes in me will not perish

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"and even if he does die, he'll live for ever."

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# This world is broken

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# A ship with no anchor

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# Sailing through space

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# Always unchartered waters

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# Yet we seem to know

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# Where we want to go

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# But we don't know why we're here

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# Millions get lost in their own little journey

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# Some only stay

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# For a few passing moments

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# And the only thing

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# That we know for sure

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# Is some day, our journey ends

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# But you said you are

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# The resurrection and the life

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# And whoever believes in you will never die

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# You are the way

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# You are the truth

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# You are the life

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# Everlasting

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# You are the light

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# You are the word

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# You are the Son

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# Of the Father

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# You said you are

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# The resurrection

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# And the life

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# You said you are

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# The resurrection

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# And the life. #

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APPLAUSE

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The writer of our next hymn was born back in 1819,

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just 25 miles from here in the town of Banbridge, and it was there

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where Joseph Scriven met his sweetheart and soon proposed.

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However, in a tragic accident

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the night before they were to be wed, his fiancee fell from a horse

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and was drowned in the River Bann.

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Brokenhearted, Joseph left for Canada, but grief would follow him.

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After falling in love again, his new fiancee took sick

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and died from pneumonia before they could marry.

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Joseph then received the terrible news that his mother was also

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gravely ill in Ireland.

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Unable to return to visit her,

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he wrote her the comforting words of our next hymn.

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Traditional Irish music and dance experienced a revival with

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the worldwide success of Riverdance at the Eurovision Song Contest.

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That was back in 1994.

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Irish choral group Anuna were part of that phenomenon

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with their distinctive harmonies.

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Today, their repertoire includes reworked ancient Irish songs

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as well as newly composed material by their leader, Michael McGlynn.

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I think one of the things that always attracted me to Celtic music,

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and Irish music in general, was this need for grounding

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and place of origin.

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Does it make a difference performing Pie Jesu

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to a Belfast audience?

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I wrote Pie Jesu in 1998 after hearing about the Omagh bombing,

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which was so horrific, and what I wrote reflects...

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I think, all that we can hope to achieve from prayer.

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You can cry and you can scream,

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but I wanted something which was completely reflective.

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This piece begins very quietly and then it builds to a cry

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and then it fades away to something very simple and extremely human.

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I think to perform the Pie Jesu here in the Waterfront Hall,

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um, particularly at a time when there is stability and, while there

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are always going to be problems in the world, we have peace here.

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And this piece, I think, makes us remember how hard won that peace was.

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# Pie Jesu Domine

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# Dona eis

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# Requiem

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# Dona eis

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# Requiem

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# Pie Jesu

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# Domine

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# Dona eis

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# Requiem

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# Dona eis

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# Requiem

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# Pie Jesu

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# Domine

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# Dona eis

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# Requiem

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# Dona eis

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# Requiem

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# Dona eis requiem

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# Dona eis requiem

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# Dona eis requiem. #

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Thank you, Anuna.

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As we say goodbye from the Waterfront Hall, thank you to all

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of our guests, the Celtic tenors, Robin Mark and, of course, Anuna.

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Thank you also to the Ulster Orchestra.

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We finish with Look, Ye Saints.

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Though you won't associate the tune with Ireland,

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the words are over 200 years old and they were penned by an Irishman,

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Thomas Kelly of Dublin.

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But from everyone here in Belfast, thank you for watching. Bye-bye.

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Next week, Sally visits the Scottish town that has become

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synonymous with the world-famous Paisley pattern.

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She tries her hand at curling and introduces hymns

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and performances from the majestic setting of Paisley Abbey,

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celebrating its 850th anniversary.

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Subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing by Red Bee Media Ltd

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