“MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN A GREAT HEALER”
A chance meeting between Lurgan songwriters and the ‘Secret Garden’ track they recorded as a result has blossomed into a charity fundraiser.
Mandi Millar reports
In a real life Sliding Doors moment a chance encounter between two Armagh musicians has resulted in a unique collaboration.
But not only is the resultant recording from Eurovision’s Emma Reynolds and singer-songwriter Eugene Greene a musical treat for fans, it’s also raising funds for local charities, Lurgan-based Knitted Knockers and Cancer Focus NI.
Yet despite both forging lifelong careers in the music industry and both hailing from Lurgan, the pair had never actually met – until that fateful day last year on the Enterprise from Dublin.
“I boarded the train and asked Eugene if I could sit next to him – it was packed that day!” recalls Emma, who’s been a Eurovision Song Contest juror on a number of occasions and even competed to represent Ireland at one stage.
“Anyway, after not too long Eugene said, you’re from Lurgan aren’t you? Turns out he recognised me from our town and we got chatting,” continues Emma who now collaborates with composers and producers all over the world, as well as still performing locally.
“As we chatted we realised we had a lot in common apart from the music as we both have a passion for the arts and creativity.”
But it was when Eugene mentioned a song he had written following the loss of his mother to cancer that the depth their serendipitous meeting was truly revealed for Emma who had also lost her mum to the disease.
“My mother died four years ago this month (April) and although every day’s hard this it’s an especially challenging time around Mother’s Day,” she says.
“Eugene’s song was called ‘Secret Garden’ for he said his mum used to take him to the Clare Glen near Tandragee and she’d called it their secret garden.
“As soon as he said that something in my mind just clicked for my mother and I used to sit on the veranda in our back garden and she’d say to me, Emma isn’t this just like a secret garden!”
Indeed so engrossed were the pair in their conversation about these coincidences and the healing power of music they missed their stop!
“We both seemed to just understand and connect over the profound loss and that’s when I suggested that if he was looking for a backing singer for ‘Secret Garden’ to release as a charity fundraiser track I was happy to take part to compose and perform harmonies,” says Emma who boasts an enviably versatile vocal range.
“I suggested that sometimes you just needed that slight sweetness to sell a song and convey the emotion,” continues Emma who once had to apologise for reducing judges to tears during the All Ireland Classic Ballad Competition with her rendition of what was ultimately the winning entry by composer, another local musician, Susan Hewitt.
“I explained to Eugene that I felt his piece symbolised an inner voice and spirit of someone who had already passed away but was still singing with you.
“I was basing that on my own personal experiences as well as supporting other cancer patients and their families.
“Because when you’re going through something like that your friends don’t always understand. It’s a time when you really need help and music can be so healing. Music has always been a great healer for me,” continues Emma.
“It’s always been my first love – I’d been head choir girl from my school days in Lurgan and much of my time was spent fulfilling singing engagements whether at events or weddings and so on.
“It was a promotional recording I’d made for that work in the early 2000’s which an Irish songwriter had heard and asked if I’d sing his entry in Eurosong to select Ireland’s Eurovision entry for him in 2001.
“I didn’t win unfortunately – though a lot of people thought I was the real winner that night,” confesses Emma who was once told by Louis Walsh that had he been looking to put together a girl band, she’d have been in the running.
Louis’ loss though was the classical world’s gain for it was after her Eurovision experience that Emma decided to boost her repertoire with more classic operatic and contacted one of Ireland’s top teachers for further training. She agreed to give Emma auditions to ascertain her potential.
“In fact she agreed to take me on as a pupil after only two auditions. She told me I had a natural Celtic vocal and was lucky to have such sweetness in my voice as sometimes sopranos even by their 20s can sound much older because they’ve lost that sweetness,” says Emma who’s since collaborated with a range of international writers and producers and recently worked on an opera score with a Chillean film music producer.
It might all be a long way from that veranda in the back garden and that that random meeting on the Enterprise but the common thread throughout is always the music.
“Music is such great company. It’s a great way to pour your heart out if you’re feeling down or if you’re happy you can be dancing a long with it. Every emotion runs through music.
“I’d always wanted to give something back both to music and to the cancer charities which give such support to local people at such a challenging time in their lives.
“This collaboration with Eugene has been the perfect opportunity.”
* Listen to ‘Secret Garden’ Donate and contribute to the fundraiser at www.gofundme.com/f/new-song-secret-garden-for-charity-by-eugene-emma
