Iarla Ó Lionáird in conversation with Peter Gabriel

As part of Vocal Chords Iarla visited the home of world renowned singer Peter Gabriel to talk to him about the voice and what singing means in his life. They share a wide ranging discussion about the voice and singing. He talks about his journey as a singer and what performance, song and singing means to him and Gabriel shares his favourite music, from the Beatles’ ‘Love me do’ and songs of the “Pakistani Pavarotti”, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to his key musical influences including Otis Redding and Nina Simone. The Vocal Chords Special – In Conversation with Peter Gabriel was broadcast on RTÉ lyric fm, on the 26th of December 2014, as a special and marked the beginning of the Vocal Chords journey which will continue the next year with the series beginning on May 1st 2015. You can hear the show via the RTÉ catch up player here.







“I think everyone, musical or not, should learn to sing and find out about their voice…..I think it’s an understanding of interpretation, as well as delivering melody.” – Peter Gabriel



Vocal Chords: In Conversation with Peter Gabriel has won the silver award in the Best Music Special category of the New York Radio Festival. We were up against amazing programmes, so we were delighted to be recognised. Thanks to Iarla O’Lionaird and Michael Gallen for the recorded interview with Peter Gabriel, and to Amy Millar for the beautiful mix in studio. You can read more about the award here.



In this preview of the programme Gabriel describes his relationship to poetry and lyric writing around the song Mercy Street and the poet Anne Sexton.





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