Stephen James Smith and Enda Reilly
Arise and Go! is a groundbreaking collaborative project by poet Stephen James Smith and folk musician Enda Reilly, which explores Irishness through re-interpreting the poetry of Padraic MacPiaras, Patrick Kavanagh, W.B. Yeats and Luke Kelly who all had unique views of what it is to be Irish. Highly recommended by Hot Press as one of the folk albums of the year in 2011, two original works are also presented and the Cd also features guest musicians Colm Ó Snodaigh (Kíla) and Elder Roche.
A live performance video of September 1913, as seen on RTÉ Television’s No Country For Old Men documentary about WB Yeats’ and The Works show in November 2012 is a co-production by Myles O’Reilly of Arbutus Yarns, Bob Dixon Photography and Smith & Reilly and can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/MrStephenJamesSmith.
Buy the CD in Celtic Note Dublin or on CDBaby. http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/smithandreilly
Tour:
The tour has brought Stephen and Enda to the Irish House in London as part of the Irish celebrations during the Olympic Games 2012 including a gig in London’s Troubadour and a gig in Stroud in the Cotwolds as Stephen arrived direct from Euro 2012 Football with his Trappatoni chants much to the amusement of the welcoming English folk. They went to Paris where they they played a concert in conjunction with Tullamore Dew and survived! The lads have played at The Spirit of Folk Festival in a wonderful Hobbit-like Storytelling mound in Co. Meath and Meeting House Square for The Saint Patricks Festival in Dublin where they shared the stage with Kila and were delighted for Colm O’Snodaigh to join them as he does on the Record of Arise and Go! The rest of the Irish part of the tour has centred on the poetry hotspots around Ireland and has taken them to Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Cavan.
What’s the Story?
The collaboration began at a great festival called Knockanstockan a few years back in Wicklow, Ireland. After discussing poetry during the day, Enda sang his version of September 1913 at his gig that evening and spontaneously from the crowd Stephen began to recite the poem aloud. They liked the result and have since dubbed their new genre Spoken Word Sung Verse. They have been featured on two "best of CDs" of Dublin’s best music nights, Nighthawks and The Brown Bread Mixtape and have performed at many poetry and music nights around the Country.
Arise and Go! is available on itunes and in Celtic Note, Nassau Street Dublin and on CDBAby for our friends across the Atlantic.
Press:
“There’s majesty, presence and an indefinable magic emanating from every second of this album..........If it raises not a tear to your eye or lump in your throat, then take care your soul has left you..........this is breathtaking.........a work of genius” Tim Carroll, Folkwords
“these recordings are alive with subtleties and minute relationships that reward repeated listens.....These recordings are spoken word, song, and written text all at once, — a collaboration that takes away nothing from any genre. Instead, it makes a successful harmony between them.” Mark Noonan, Critical Flame
“It's a powerful album which makes you think about Ireland in the past and present and for me breathes new life to poetry.” 2UIbestow
For further information Contact:
Enda Reilly: +353 (0) 85 7802999 or [email protected]
Stephen James Smith: [email protected]
and visit www.smithandreilly.com
More about Enda Reilly
Dublin singer and songwriter Enda Reilly writes in both English and Irish, and his Irish songs can be heard regularly on RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta and RTÉ 1. Enda has most recently won the Christie Hennessy Song Competition with “Follow The Water” a co-write with Christine Deady (currently receiving airplay on Radio Kerry) and earlier in 2012 had appearances on TG4 and BBC2 NI. He has represented Ireland in Inverness at Nós Úr a minority language song competition 2009 and his song Dónal Ná Fág sung by Aoife Scott represented Ireland in Liet 2012 in Italy. In 2011 the poet Stephen James Smith and Enda released Arise and Go!, a collection of poetry and original works performed in a unique way blending spoken word and song, a project which is going from strength to strength with their video of Yeat’s September 1913 being aired on RTÉ TV’s show The Works and featuring in a documentary on Yeats called No Country for old Men. As covered in an article in The Sunday Times in November 2012, he also reaches out to younger generations through his Climate Change Songs Workshops initiative, bringing fun songs and environmental issues into schools and other groups, through Irish and English. 2010 saw Enda facilitating songwriting workshops with The Monaghan Song and Poetry Writers Group, culminating in production of their album “Hands Together”. He also plays regularly in Dublin with the fun-loving collective known as The Lazy Band in Dublin, has recently joined The Gospel Project and The Urchin Collective. His next project after Arise and Go will be in the Irish language, for which he’s currently recording. www.endareilly.com
More about Stephen James Smith
Stephen James Smith is a remarkable spoken word poet and a bit of a legend in Dublin. Not only is he a multi award winning poet and playwright but also former Cúirt International Literary Festival Grand Slam Poetry Champion. He is also the MC and organiser of the excellent weekly Glór Sessions @ The International Bar. In 2009 he proudly represented Ireland at the Vilenica Literary Festival Slovenia and in 2010 at Wiersze w Metrze Poland. In April he was invited by Culture Ireland to reciting in the iconic Nuyorican Poetry Café in New York. He has performed at numerous literary festivals, such as the Dublin Writers’ Festival, the Festival of World Cultures and the Electric Picnic to name a few. His poetry has been translated into 6 languages now and he has been published in several journals around the world. His ABSOLUTE Fringe play Three Men Talking (co-wrote with Colm Keegan & Kalle Ryan) was nominated for Bewley’s Café Theatre ‘Little Gem’ Award. His poetry can even be found on an American University syllabus!
Stephen is a truly hypnotic presence onstage.
www.StephenJamesSmith.com
www.myspace.com/mrstephenjamessmith
Having said all that your judgment is more important!
"Steve’s poems thrill me, energise me, and delight me. Truth rings crystal clear. Don’t stop Steve. Don’t stop." Pat Ingoldsby
"Stephen James Smith is a ball of hydrogen gas that should be pumped into every household across the land. He knocks seven shades of shite out of all the usual “birds and bees, whey and cheese” nonsense you find at poetry readings" - Jinx Lennon
