Ceol na gCapall
Barbara Gray: composer and keyboards
Wilbert Garvin: uilleann pipes
Barbara Gray works as a freelance composer, publisher and keyboard player. She writes and publishes original music and drama for schools, and is a regular scriptwriter for a children's programme on BBC Radio Ulster
She has undertaken commissions from clients ranging from BBC, Collins and Royal Mail to those requiring music for creative dance and figure skating.
Last year she was commissioned by Macmillan Cancer Relief to compose and record music for a fundraising dance event, which was backed by Michael Flatley, and raised ?26,000 for the charity.
At the weekend, Barbara exchanges Radio Ulster for Radio Royal, when she presents a programme from the studio of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Originally from Belfast, she graduated in German, Spanish and psychology from Trinity College, Dublin. She then spent a postgraduate year at Queen's University, Belfast and moved to Co.Antrim to teach for a few years, before leaving to set up her own music business.
One of her fellow teachers, however, was Wilbert Garvin, a zoology graduate of Queen's University, where he took up a post as lecturer in the schools of education , biology and biochemistry, having also left the school classroom.
Like Barbara, Wilbert is also a native of Belfast, and both have a wide range of musical experience. They were both classically trained and play a few instruments each. Wilbert first started on the highland pipes at the age of 11, moving on to the uilleann pipes some years later and becoming a founder member of Na Piobairi Uilleann in 1968.
Both have also strong links with choral music and renaissance music, which has undoubtedly had an effect on their musical performance.
Working together to create and develop their own musical style of Celtic atmosphere, Wilbert and Barbara have been performing as Ceol na gCapall for over a year. They have played live on radio, including a performance which was broadcast from the Belfast Festival. They were also invited to play at recent events commemorating the 200th anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion of the United Irishmen.
Their debut CD' Breath of Fresh Air' on the Lochshore label of KRL (CDLDL 1281 ) consists of 12 original tracks composed by Barbara, portraying the various moods of Irish history. They wanted to use the unique sound of the uilleann pipes, which so perfectly complements Irish melodies, and to blend that sound with modern electronic instruments such as keyboards and guitars. The addition of acoustic guitar and viola helped to create a decidedly poignant and thought provoking atmosphere, making 'A Breath of Fresh Air' quite different from other albums.
The music is difficult to categorise, but it is very visual and has caught the attention of programme and film makers and a few advertising companies. Barbara would love to work on a film score, having had some experience of composing background music.
There is an apparent simplicity in their sound, despite the intricate interweaving of melody and countermelody, which they feel represents the Celtic knot work design. Nothing is there as a'filler' and percussion accompaniment is kept to a minimum, giving the solo instruments a dominant role, each displaying its own unique style of interpretation and ornamentation of the basic melody. The melodies are clear and memorable and, while mainly Irish in origin, also display Scottish and early English influences.
They conjure up evocative images of the past, and two tracks in particular would have particular significance for those in the New World-'To America' and 'Thoughts of Home' . Barbara and Wilbert hope that their individual style of music reaches across race and creed to find the inner soul common to us all.
