Aoife Scott and her band performing at the Irish Christmas event by Embassy of Ireland Photo: Embassy of Ireland Aoife Scott and her band performing at the Irish Christmas event by Embassy of Ireland Photo: Embassy of Ireland

The piercing cold of Delhi’s winter did little to diminish the energies inside The Piano Man Jazz Club on December 13, where the Embassy of Ireland had invited Irish folk singer Aoife Scott and her band to perform for an Irish Christmas event. The audience hooted, danced and clapped to the rhythms of the bodhrán, as Scott and her band raised their spirits with their lively songs. Outlook spoke to the Irish singer, who comes from the legendary Black Family—one of the most important musical clans of Ireland. Excerpts from the interview:

Q. What brings you to India? Have you been here before?

We have been invited by the Irish Embassy for their Irish Christmas event. We performed at an event in Netherlands when the present Irish Ambassador to India, Kevin Kelly, was an ambassador there. He told us, “You need to come to India!”, and finally we got to come here. It is my third time visiting India, but I’m coming here as a band, along with the other two members, for the first time. It’s only on this trip that we are really experiencing India and its amazing beauty, and we have been blown away.

Q. Which kind of music genres interests you?

I’m very interested in folk music. I’ve been here before to perform at a World Music festival. We played in Delhi, Jaipur and Goa back then. It was amazing to see people from all over the world come together. We all collaborated with each other. I like all kinds of folk music. Irish folk is my favourite, probably. I like Scotch folk too. Music that tells a story is the most important for me.

Q. You come from a long legacy of music and a lot of your family members are musicians. Did singing come as a natural choice?

No! It didn’t. My mother was a singer all my life. Now she is a politician, an independent Senator. I actually got my degree in media. Initially, I worked in the media because I felt a lot of pressure of being compared to how successful my family was. I decided that I didn’t want to be a musician, because of the fear of failure; I was scared of failing. When I got a little older, I realised that I actually wanted to perform and sing. I was very shy as a kid. I probably got up on the stage on my own at 17. From then, for a good few years, I was very nervous because I would get up on the stage with my mother at her shows. Eventually, I got over my nerves.

Aoife Scott performing at the Irish Christmas event by Embassy of Ireland Photo: Embassy of Ireland Aoife Scott performing at the Irish Christmas event by Embassy of Ireland Photo: Embassy of Ireland

Q. Quite a few of your songs, like ‘All Along the Wild Atlantic Way’ and ‘Sweet October’ talk about Ireland and its scenic geography. Do spaces form an important part of your musical imagination?

Ireland is a very inspirational place. I write about Ireland as my breath gets taken away with how beautiful it is. A lot of people who belong there take it for granted. I travel a lot, and I see all kinds of places and then go home and realise that we are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place. I grew up in Dublin, the city centre. Maybe, that’s why I appreciate the beautiful countryside. I live in the countryside now, outside of Dublin. My granddad is from an island close to Giant’s Causeway, a famous Irish place. We used to go there for our vacations. It was an island with nothing on it—no TV, no car. We had to walk miles to get to the place. It made me appreciate the beauty even more.

Q. Is your musical style different from your family’s?

It’s funny that when I sing, I do sound similar to my family because it is genetic. I tried not to change it because that’s who I am and that’s where I’m from. I think, this is why I was afraid to be a musician because I sounded so similar to them and there’s always going to be a comparison. Eventually, you realise that it’s actually okay because that’s where I came from. But then, I do something different—I put a little bit of traditional Irish music into my songs, whereas my mother’s and aunt’s is more contemporary folk. My cousins are very successful in Ireland and are even more famous than my mom and my aunt. They’re rockstars and play more pop and rock.

Q. Your mother is a politician. Does politics interest you?

Yes, definitely, politics interests me, but I don’t think I would have the patience to be a politician because I take everything personally. You can’t take anything personally as a politician because you have to keep your head on your shoulders. I don’t have the right temperament for politics. But I keep track of politics, and I’m addicted to the news. There was an election a couple of weeks ago in Ireland and my mother is going for election again, very soon, so we are all watching.

Irish Ambassador to India, Kevin Kelly, performing at the Irish Christmas event by Embassy of Ireland Photo: Embassy of Ireland Irish Ambassador to India, Kevin Kelly, performing at the Irish Christmas event by Embassy of Ireland Photo: Embassy of Ireland

Q. Are there any political endeavors you are engaged with?

We are really passionate about Palestine, especially my mother. It’s very important to us to speak about it. I talk about mental health as well. I think there should be more funding from charities as well as the government for mental health. There is also huge homelessness in Ireland so I’m very passionate about that as well. These are the three issues that I engage with, mainly.

Q. Do you think art should be overtly political?

I think folk music is very political. As a folk musician, that’s where we come from. We’re there to make people think differently about what they believe. Sometimes that’s not very comfortable for a lot of people in the audience but we’re not there to make people comfortable. We’re there to tell them stories, particularly from history. We’re the storytellers; we pass on what happened in the past to the next generation. It’s important not to forget that, and not to forget what’s happening now and to not sweep things under the carpet. Lot of people want you to not say things that are controversial. Sometimes that’s good, but sometimes, there needs to be a place to be able to say such things. That’s why I do write political songs as well. I think art is always political.

Q. Can art inspire significant political interventions?

Yes, I think it can. There is an Irish band called Kneecap, whose members are Irish language activists and are also very passionate about Palestine. Their music is inspiring the Irish language to have a huge comeback in Ireland. I’m an Irish language speaker as well. For us, to see a band be truly themselves is so important because Irish is a minority language and we’re trying to make it less of a minority and want it to last forever. They’ve just won the British Film Critics' awards for their film—which is about the Irish language—and are on the Oscar’s long list. They are opening the doors for the proliferation of the language, and it is a huge example to me about how music can change people politically.

Q. You have been campaigning proactively for Palestine with your music. Do you want to say anything to fellow artists about this issue?

What people can do is they can speak to each other about it and they can stop pretending that it’s not happening. What’s happening in Palestine is genocide and what is different about this situation is that we can see it live on our phones. But there is a way of turning off, when people feel, “I don’t want to see that, I don’t want to believe this is happening.” I think speaking about it is very important. We must talk to people that might not know about it and keep reading and looking for different sources on it.

Hockey India President Dilip Tirkey expressed his enthusiasm and stated: "This bilateral series against Germany will be a remarkable showcase of world-class hockey. Both India and Germany have a rich history in the sport, and this series will give fans an opportunity to witness an intense competition between two of the most formidable teams in the world.

"It is a great honour to be nominated for the FIH Player of the Year Award again," the Indian defender stated in a Hockey India release.

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BY Apeksha Priyadarshiniofa168