Musician advises young players how to get work

Editorial Department • Published 18 Feb 2010 10:06 0 Comments

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Cormac O'Kane, second from right, as featured on the forthcoming album cover of his band, Kyron and the Strangels.

A successful musician and television theme tune writer from Fermanagh is encouraging musicians and bands to attend an open day early next month hosted by an organisation which helps them get paid performance work.

Cormac O'Kane, who is originally from Irvinestown and now works in Belfast, credits Live Music Now (LMN) with giving him a start in music years ago. "They offer paid work to musicians and it really helped me get a foot in as a performing musician," he said.

Cormac runs a recording studio in Belfast called Rhubarbrecording which provides recording and mastering facilties to most of the major broadcasters and record companies.

He is about to start work on the cast recording of the new Marie Jones-Martin Lynch-Pat Gribben musical "Dancing shoes" featuring the George Best storywhich is opening in the Grand Opera house this summer.

His band, Kyron and the Strangels, is also releasing a quirky rock album next month.

Recalling his early career, Cormac said: "I started out playing in shows at the Ardhowen Theatre as a teenager when it first opened. I also gigged around all the bars in Fermanagh with my brother Feargal and our school friend Gareth Nethercott as the Supreme Pontiffs for years before moving to Belfast".

"There we found Live Music Now really helpful in trying to develop our act when we were looking for new places to play.I studied for a classical degree in Music and more or less fell into into jobs as a musical director for The BBC, Channel 4 and RTE on various music and entertainment programmes".

Cormac has written music for many television shows and indeed has made a name for himself writing theme tunes. Most recent have been the BBC Blueprint natural history series and Stephen Nolan's Panic Attack quiz show.

He has worked with a huge range of famous names including Marianne Faithful, Jools Holland, Paul Young, Sinead O'Connor and even Basil Brush!

Live Music Now was founded in 1977 by the legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin. Having devoted much of his time during the Second World War to playing for the Allied Armed Forces, often in severe and inhospitable conditions, Yehudi Menuhin resolved to continue to bring the uplifting and healing powers of music to people who do not normally have access to it. The organisation promotes the development of young highly-skilled musicians, delivering more than 3000 participatory performances and workshop projects a year across the UK.

Live Music Now (LMN) is recruiting musicians based in Northern Ireland for their national music outreach scheme. The selected musicians will get paid to perform interactive concerts and workshops in a range of community settings.

The charity organisation wants to reach out to talented musicians in Northern Ireland. It will ask them to consider outreach work as a musical career and train those selected to work with an extraordinary range of audiences including the elderly, children with special needs, patients in hospitals and hospices, young offenders, prisoners, early years and adults with physical and mental disabilities.

Sarah Derbyshire, Executive Director, said: "Live Music Now is aware of the huge demand for high calibre musicians to perform in a range of community settings - including education, healthcare and the justice system. Part of our remit is to support musicians as their careers are developing, with training in outreach skills and paid performance opportunities. We are delighted to be initiating this recruitment programme in Northern Ireland, which we hope will attract many young musicians from across the region."

LMN will host the open day in Belfast on March 4 at 3pm at the Black Box, 18-22 Hill Street for musicians to find out more about the scheme and how to apply. There will be a performance by former LMN Singer/Guitarist Guillermo Rozenthuler and support from LMN staff who will be able to answer questions and help with application forms.

For more information about the recruitment process, visit: www.livemusicnow.org Musicians who are interested to apply should also check whether they are eligible to apply on: www.myspace.com/livemusicnowuk.Email: ireland@livemusicnow.org

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 18 Feb 10

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