Ó Cheartíar Mo Chroí: Music of Tradition and Passion

Ó Cheartíar Mo Chroí

is a traditional Irish folk band with contemporary Celtic influence in music and song. A repertoire of original songs that weave a rich tapestry of Irish history of life and trials of surviving in Ireland to humble beginnings in Australia. A 5 piece with a range of instrumentalists and musicians who paint the scenes, embedding a passion for story and song. Ó Cheartíar Mo Chroí create the mood with haunting sounds as they flow with the music through the ballads and take the audience on a journey to a forgotten past.

Seaicilin Cailleach,

Jacqueline, a singer-songwriter and musician has created the stories and songs from her ancestry and from people she met on her travels through Ireland who shared their stories. The lyrics are a myriad of threads intertwined to create a patchwork of stories that portray Ireland’s past. A cast of ballads and some witty comical ditty’s fused in good old Irish fashion to create a web of emotions that will ignite a passion in your heart, stir the fire in your soul and conjure a hearty contagious belly laugh. Jacqui has performed at various festivals and events throughout Australia and overseas on numerous occasions and has been well received. People particularly value the original songs and compositions.

A curiosity and an innate yearning for Ireland, a mystical force eventually saw me heading to the Erin Isle. A deep and unexplained connection to Ireland and Irish people from childhood and into my adult life. A yearning that led me into the Traditional Irish Folk Music scene. As I was a singer song writer a friend from Limerick asked me to write him a song about Ireland as he was missing home. I wrote the song and sang it to him with the melody. He loved it and said I had described his feelings in connection to his longing for his homeland. He read the lyrics and looked up at me and said ‘How did you do that? You got me on the page’ Yes because it was my feelings and yearning for Ireland. A place I’d never seen but had a soulful connection and longing for that I wrote about.
I’ve met and established close friendships with Irish people along the way. One Irish man wandered into town and was hanging out in the folk music scene and the Irish Club. We jammed and played music together and went to the Irish sessions. We’d sit talking for hours about the history of Ireland and all the worlds wrongs over endless pots of tea. He returned to Ireland so of course I had to go and visit. The first time I arrived in Ireland I felt like I’d returned home and felt a sense of deep belonging and connection. About 8 years later and after two trips to Ireland I decided to explore further and started my ancestry research. Lucky for me a cousin who I hadn’t seen or heard of since we were children contacted me via ancestry. It was great to reconnect and the added bonus was that she’d been doing our ancestry for at least 10 years. There it was, my soulful connection to Ireland explained as I have Irish ancestry. I am in Australia as a result of the Irish who came before me from 1834 onwards as convicts, free settlers and orphan girls who were transported to Tasmania, Van Diemans Land.
I have discovered and explored my ancestral trail through Tasmania and Ireland through Ancestry. I did more research with genealogist’s based at the various libraries throughout Ireland and found more information. There are so many stories and so much history to be told so as a singer songwriter I have taken a few of the stories so far and turned them into songs. My aim to create the songs and music in traditional Irish Celtic fashion to enhance the theme and forge mood and expression to capture the Irish connection.
My journey has been amazing thus far and continues as there are many more tales to be discovered and told. Although many stories are tragic and one can only imagine the trauma experienced, especially for the child convicts and orphans.
My Songs:
Orphan Ships is about our Annie Love who was from County Wexford. During the Irish starvation the family lost their home and father dropped dead on the side of the road from starvation. Annie and her mother were to remain at the poor house until there was a call for 2 more shipments of Irish orphan girls to go to Tasmania, Van Diemans Land. They boarded a ship, The Calcutta, at Plymouth where they united with all the other Irish Orphan girls and set sail for Van Diemans Land. They stayed in the port on board the ship for 4 months whilst being trained as domestics and learned to read and write. They were then contracted out to farmers and other businesses as domestics, nurse maids and other chores allocated to female roles. Annie never returned to her homeland and never saw her mother again. She eventually married and had a family but she longed and yearned for Ireland forever in her heart.
Maggies Lament:
Maggie was born in Aberdeenshire and moved to Ireland, Ballinasloe with her parents where she was raised. She went back to Aberdeenshire with her parents on a family visit. She met a man, Richard Peckitt, whom she married and had a child, a son, Thomas. Maggie discovered some things about Richard and he was not the man she’d once thought. Bigamy was a hangable offence. She left him and returned to Ireland to her family. Times were hard, her parents’ elderly and the family were struggling so Maggie took it upon herself to find a solution. One that saw her and her baby transported to Van Diemans Land.
Free to Stroll: Under English reign for 800+ years the Irish suffered hardship and great loss of land, home and resources. Many who survived the starvation were transported to Van Deimans Land for petty theft, mainly food trying to survive. The irony is that Ireland was plentiful in resources, especially food in fresh crops but the English were shipping out by the tons and leaving the Irish to starve.

Emiliano Brandolini

is a guitarist, musician and singer song writer and when not performing with Ó Cheartíar Mo Chroí he
plays his own originals and an extensive repertoire of world music. Emi is of Italian heritage and is well-versed in Italian traditional and contemporary folk music. He has played at various festivals over the years and is a well-established and renowned musician in North Queensland. Emi grew up playing music and singing with his late mother who was an extraordinary vocalist. Emi has deep ancestral roots in music with his grandfather, mother and her siblings all singing and performing through the great depression and second world war in Europe to entertain the community.

Martin Hungerford

is a multi-skilled and very talented musician with an extensive history in music and has been performing for many years at various folk festivals and music events around Australia. Martin plays button accordion, bag pipes and various wind instruments including flute, whistle, clarinet, saxilo and mandolin. Martin performs as a musician in various categories including folk, jazz, medieval, sea shanty’s and musical theatre and has a myriad of fascinating genres to bolster his repertoire.

Debie Djembe

is a well-renowned musician who favours the drum and in particular the African culture of drumming. Debie is well immersed in the African Culture of drumming and has been taught by African masters who have imparted their knowledge and skills thus allowing and enabling Debie to teach. Debie plays various drums and with Ó Cheartíar Mo Chroí plays the Darbuka and the Udu drum which has a beautiful sounds and resonate with the Celtic theme of music. The Udu drum adds the haunting echoing sound of the depths of a heartbeat to the songs and enriches the emotion and passion imparted to the audience.

John Deegan

from Ireland has travelled the world performing with his traditional Irish folk music and renowned as an international artist. John is a guitarist and performs live regular concerts throughout Ireland. John also teaches music combined with the skill of writing and composing traditional Irish Folk style. John is a professional musician who is often called upon to accompany professionals in concert and recording studios as a back up musician and vocal harmonies. John has performed in Australia on various occasions when he has travelled throughout the country. It’s an absolute pleasure to have John accompany us, Ó Cheartíar Mo Chroí at the Townsville Folk Festival in 2024