Shining a spotlight on Christine Tobin

The ICC is delighted to “Shine A Spotlight On”…. the spellbinding, multi-award-winning vocalist and composer Christine Tobin who, over one weekend will present three sublime original concerts…   

Saturday July 19th “Returning Weather”   Doors 7.30pm 

This concert will feature the music from Christine Tobin’s most recent album “Returning Weather” in which she imaginatively weaves song, spoken word and breath-taking music, from diverse disciplines, creating a unique multi-dimensional sound, which blend influences from folk, 20th-century art, song and jazz.  Using the themes of homecoming, dwelling, landscape, belonging and return, in this concert Christine uses her personal memoir to chart a journey of returning home to Ireland after many years of living abroad. The songs are based in the Irish countryside of County Roscommon, around Boyle and Ballaghadereen … These are songs of Leaving and Farewell and this is the music of Homecoming and Return. 

Line-up: Christine Tobin vocals & spoken word; Aoife Ni Bhriain, violin; David Power uilleann pipes & whistles; Phil Robson guitar & electronics; Steve Hamilton piano.

Sunday July 20th “Letters Home” Starts 3pm 

Letters Home is a documentary film, which will be interspersed with live music and songs played on stage by Christine Tobin & Phil Robson. The film features images and clips from interviews with Irish Elders based in County Roscommon, all of whom emigrated to the UK during the 60’s -90’s, to find work and then returned home to Ireland. You will hear them recount their stories and experiences in their own words. This concert will celebrate experiences of immigration and will pay tribute to the contribution Irish immigrants who came to work in England, made to Britain and to the Irish economy back home. Popular songs of farewell from that era will be sung by Christine -  some of the songs you’ll hear her sing will be “Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore”, “Mountains of Mourne” and “Come Back Paddy Reilly”. (Running time 1 hour including live songs). 

Sunday 20th July, “Sailing To Byzantium”. Doors 7.30pm 

This concert Sailing To Byzantium will feature a selection of 12 beautiful settings of poems by W.B Yeats taken from Christine’s award winning album of the same name, for which she won a British Composer Award, (IVORS AWARD). The poems are chosen from Yeats’s early work through to his final collection and include love poems such as When You Are Old, written for the unattainable love of his life Maud Gonne;  also Yeats’s poems Sailing To Byzantium and Long-legged Fly’; plus a chance to hear Christine’s awesome interpretation of Yeats’s “The Wild Swans at Coole” and her haunting rendition of  “The Song of Wandering Aengus”.

Christine’s works with the poems on a deep intuitive level creating music that draws you into a world of hypnotic soulfulness. This programme also incorporates pre-recorded readings of Yeats’s poems by actor Gabriel Byrne and you’ll also have a chance to hear some of Christine’s compelling versions of Leonard Cohen’s songs.  

Christine Tobin has been described as a musical free spirit who blurs the lines to create her own unique style that manages to be both earthy and ethereal. The rich palette of harmony and colour draws on influences from folk, jazz and twentieth century classical, from Miles to Messiaen.

Line up - Christine Tobin vocals, arrangements & composition; Gareth Lockrane flutes; Phil Robson guitar; Steve Hamilton piano: Kate Shortt cello; Dave Whitford double bass. 

What the press say about Christine Tobin

“A masterclass in songcraft. One of the most gifted and original singer/songwriters in today’s jazz world.” BBC Music Magazine

“Tobin has followed a studiously personal path as a singer and songwriter that has won her the kind of accolades bestowed on only a few. This rare and thoroughly personal artist is, a one-off.”  The Irish Times

“What sets her apart is her intensity and the sheer beauty of her voice, a deep soulful thing that she seems to summon from somewhere deep inside…”. Time Out Magazine

 Tobin’s vocals, veering from acrobatic to sultry, are tailored perfectly for the material, her evocations of time and place precise. Classy and lovely.” The Observer ****

 “There’s a thrilling, dark timbre to Tobin’s voice that moves you like no other singer."  The Guardian

“songs with emotional impact, melodic hooks and ecstatic refrains. …. by turns yearning, bucolic, elegiac, apocalyptic and deliciously romantic, and draws on the folk and European art song traditions as much as Tobin’s jazz background.” Scotland’s Sunday  Herald                                    

“The voice is a killer” Folk Roots Magazine

What The Press Say about “Returning Weather”

“Terms such as “singer-songwriter” – hardly do justice to Christine Tobin. When you can compose, arrange, pen lyrics, reinvent the songs of others with the sort of range and facility that Tobin has, what on earth do you call yourself? Tobin, the Irish vocalist and composer is best compared to holistic artists such as Kate Bush or Björk, although she doesn’t really sound like either. In a career now spanning four decades, with long stints in London and New York, where she was feted for her unique sound, Tobin has blazed trail after trail, whether composing her own songs, setting poets Yeats and Muldoon to music, or rearranging Leonard Cohen and Carole King. …Returning Weather is starkly beautiful, veering from abstraction to romanticism to folky minimalism, and Tobin’s voice, filled with humanity and warmth, draws it all together perfectly”. Irish Times

What The Press Say About “Sailing to Byzantium”..

“Her voice, robust and subtle by turns but characterful throughout, is of course to the fore, but it’s her empathetic arrangements, crafted around each text with the skill of a watchmaker, which make this sonically impeccable disc unique. “ ***** Sailing To Byzantium - BBC Music Magazine 

”It's a tribute to the quality of Tobin's writing that there are no weak spots in this excellent collection" The Guardian ****

“What sets her apart is her intensity and the sheer beauty of her voice, a deep soulful thing that she seems to summon from somewhere deep inside” Time Out.

“Christine Tobin's utterly singular music fuses with the amaranthine force of WB Yeats's poetry to create one of the most transporting jazz releases in aeons. From the iridescent colours of “The Wild Swans at Coole” and the statuesque tranquility of the title track, to the subtly ornamented melodic line of “The Song of Wandering Aengus” and the deeply poignant “Long-legged Fly”, the album's unique sound-world and intense depth of feeling completely seduce the senses”.  The Arts Desk ***** Album of the Year. 

To find out more about. Christine Tobin visit her website on https://www.christinetobin.org