Iarla Ó Lionáird: 'I feel like I'm groping around in the dark a lot of the time'

'I've always embraced the challenges but that is not to say that there aren’t times when there's a lot of hand-wringing'

Sat, 09 Dec, 2023 - 02:00

Mary Cate Smith

I grew up in the Gaeltacht of Ballyvourney. My mother and father are still hale and hearty, thank God. They had 12 children, would you believe?

It was noisy. At one point, there were 17 people living in that house.

I was raised speaking through Irish. I didn't get any English until I went to primary school.

I don't believe in fate. People have predispositions but a lot of the time, life extinguishes that part of them — for many reasons. I have a tendency to daydream.

Parenthood is very challenging. Speaking for myself, I don't think you're ever really good at it. I feel like I'm groping around in the dark a lot of the time.

In music, I’ve tried to work outside my comfort zone be it onstage doing opera or working with an orchestra. I've always embraced the challenges but that is not to say that there aren’t times when there's a lot of hand-wringing and ‘what the hell have I gotten myself into’ type thoughts.

I’m more proud of my family than anything else. I don't know about my own achievements, I just muddle along, try to continue working.

When you work in The Arts, you never really get where you want to go. At some point you have to say; ‘I did my best.’

I enjoy being curious. I'm not inquisitive but I like to find out about things, how they work, what they mean, or if they mean anything at all. I can be fairly silly sometimes. People think I'm really serious and I am — but I'm not.

I would turn to my wife Eimear more than anyone else. She's a very creative person, she’s a jeweller. What I do is so easy by comparison. You can erase my work in a split second and do it again in the studio.

I'm pretty sure my kids don't see me as some sort of philosopher, I'm confident of that assertion. They don't expect me to impart any wisdom at all but I would say to them to dream big. You have to keep your feet on the ground at the same time and you can do both — because that's what humans do.

Iarla Ó Lionáird performs in 'The Hunger' composed by Donnacha Dennehy and directed by Tom Creed, in 2016. Pic: Jack Vartoogian

My father is a wonderful man. I won’t ever be a tenth of the man that he is. It’s never really bothered me that he's a hard act to follow. But he used to say; ‘Sáidh ar aghaidh go dána’ or ‘be bold.’ Just go for it. It’s so hard to do sometimes. It's very important to give things a go.

When I started making music commercially, there were record deals and tour support. People were buying records. There are many ways a musician can make money today, but it's not by selling records. It's by touring, writing for films or games.

If you love it, you will do it anyway. There have been plenty of times I've wanted to stop because I’m tired of being in front of the public.

There are some glorious moments to be had but it's also a difficult place to be. You have to be tough, to really want it.

One of the things I love about this generation is that they're not afraid of kind of cultural criticism. I was very fearful of what people thought.

I've made some mistakes in my life and I wish I hadn't. I hear people saying; ‘I wouldn't change a thing. But I would. I was hurt and I hurt and if you could avoid doing those things, you would wouldn't you?

I have plenty of regrets. I've had trauma in my life, which was difficult but I've come through it. As you get older, you become a bit more philosophical about all this stuff.

We've turned huge chunks of the planet into concrete jungles and we've turned the rest into farming areas, and there's very little space for anything else in between.

The biggest surprise I have is how beautiful the world is. I was in West Kerry for my holidays just watching the clouds on the mountains and valleys, I'm endlessly astounded by them.

When you're a parent, you suddenly have an additional set of persistent worries. They're always somewhere in the back of your mind — the wellbeing and safety of your kids — especially as mine are now starting to move out into the world. That's what scares me most.

I have done a little bit of writing here and there for radio and for this and that. I'm not saying I won't do some more. Although maybe there might be people out there on bended knees praying that that doesn't transpire.