Evelyn and Dec making music for joy

Declan Sinnott is one of Ireland’s great music influencers, helping the talents of the likes of Mary Black and Christy Moore to flourish. A talented singer and musician in his own right, Declan lives in Bandon and has released an acclaimed new album with Beara-based Dutch singer-songwriter Evelyn Kallansee, writes MARTIN CLAFFEY

A MUSICIAN’S life is so often on the road but Declan Sinnott is happy to call West Cork home.

Declan lives about five miles outside Bandon, a town for which he has developed a huge grá. ‘I’m a bit of a recluse but I do really like Bandon. I like the ordinariness of it. It’s not trying to pretend to be something it’s not,’ he said.

He may call himself recluse but he’s not really. He loves to head down to the town’s Saturday market in the car park. And he’s dropped in to join in the music mornings at the St Michael’s Centre, the town’s much-loved and very worthy charity which puts older people at the heart of the community. ‘St Michael’s does great work. I’ve been there for the music twice. It’s really wonderful.’

And he even joined pupils from local primary school Scoil Phádraig Naofa and their teacher Niamh Murphy to record a festive single, Christmas in Bandon, which raised funds for St Michael’s.

Because Declan Sinnott lives and breathes music.

He has been at the forefront of the Irish folk sound, from his days in the poetry and music group Tara Telephone, to jointly founding Horslips to working with the likes of Mary Black and Christy Moore.

Declan Sinnott spent decades performing live with Christy Moore. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Declan Sinnott’s own musical tastes stretch much wider. At the moment he’s listening to Aphex Twin. But he’s into anything that sounds good. Radiohead. Nils Frahm and the Intelligent Dance Music scene. And pop. He’s a fan of Taylor Swift.

‘Some people say never listen to music made after the 1970s. I rarely listen to music made before the 1970s. I’ve heard it all, I lived through it,’ he says.

And just like he’s continuously listening to new music, he’s always keen to produce, to make new music.

He’s been in the music game for 55 years but feels the same fizz of excitement when he hears something that makes his ears prick.

Last week he was performing in Tracton Arts Centre with Niamh Murphy – the same teacher from Scoil Phádraig Naofa in Bandon – who he has recorded and performed with.

Niamh has just released her latest single Where We Will Always Be, while Declan is convinced another of her songs Down With Your Guard is destined to be revisited and become a future hit (‘I’ve heard two of my daughters walking around singing it to themselves’).

And he has just released an album called Make For Joy with Evelyn Kallansee, a Dutch singer-songwriter living in Beara. The duo will be performing at St Matthew’s Church in Baltimore on Friday March 15th, with further dates planned including Castletownbere on April 6th and Killeady on April 13th among others.

The album Evelyn and Dec have produced Make for Joy has received a very positive reaction and the album is a RTÉ Radio One album of the week.

Evelyn is a singer-songwriter and breathing and meditation teacher, and she first met Dec four years ago as their paths crossed by chance, explained Evelyn. ‘I call it a miracle,’ she said.

‘I was part of an acid jazz band called Tristan for over seven years in the Netherlands, and in 2020 and two days before lockdown my husband and I went to Ireland for four days. Lockdown happened and we’ve been here since.’
Home is now Lauragh, on the Cork-Kerry border on the Beara peninsula, a little piece of paraside, says Evelyn.
Evelyn knew Andre van der Hoff, a saxophone player based in Kenmare, who she had worked with in the Netherlands.

‘He told me Hank Wedel was recording with Declan and there were two songs left that needed a singer. I came in and met Declan.’

Declan said when they hit “record” on the studio microphone, ‘I just thought that’s very interesting, a very, very good sound. I have never worked with someone with a voice like Evelyn’s. It has a European sound but has that Caribbean or African vocal (Evelyn was born in Curcacao, a Dutch Carribean island).’

Lockdown helped bring this musicial pairing together but it delayed their artistic endeavour, too.

‘Four years really is a long time to make an album,’ says Declan. ‘We were in lockdown for the first two years, so a lot of stuff was online. And Evelyn lives two hours from my home too. It was a slow process and there’s an amount of detail you have to go into as a producer.’

The bulk of the album was recorded in Declan’s home studio in Bandon. ‘Essentially it’s a bedroom with lots of equipment. I couldn’t record a full band in there but it has all the equipment I need and it’s set up for me to do what I do,’ says Declan.

The duo will play in St.Matthews Church in Baltimore this Friday.

Declan Sinnott is now 74 and has travelled the world with music, but he only recorded his first solo album in 2012. Putting himself out there front and centre didn’t come naturally.

‘I sometimes still get the anxiety that I had playing the local parish hall in Wexford,’ he said.

Declan doesn’t write to create hits, as such, but he does want his music to be successful. Just like his first music idols The Beatles, he believes popular music can be a high art. And he says that the music of Evelyn and Dec is about eliciting a positive response – the clue is in the name: it’s joyful music.

‘People will like what we are doing or they won’t. We’re not going to be cool,’ said Declan.

‘I think of course as a musician you want people to like the music. You put so much time and effort into making something, it has to effect people.

‘And Evelyn and I made a conscious decision with the album Make For Joy to make something positive. There’s so much awful stuff happening in the world at the moment. People can’t get away from it. We wanted to bring a bit of light into the world.’

Evelyn and Dec play Live at St Matthews in Baltimore on Friday March 15th.