Interview:

To tell you the truth, I get a little wary when I hear the word “spiritual”. And yet it’s undeniable that music can promote spirituality. As a child I took part in the mass choirs rendering “playing chant”, as we called it, but which is more commonly known as Gregorian. One’s little heart and soul swelled to this stirring music sung in Latin, and on many the occasion I felt united with God. As a performer and writer with Black 47 I would never dare use the word “spiritual”, and yet I’m always seeking that moment when I become totally fused with the music – in particular on epic songs like James Connolly where, in essence, I have to become the man to get across his message of hope and revolution. Once I achieve that state I never have any doubts but that I am enabling the audience to transcend themselves too, although in what ways I’ll never know. When I first read of Federico Garcia Lorca’s idea of “Duende”, I suppose the penny dropped. The idea that you can totally become one with the music you are performing to reach a heightened state. What writer and performer does not reach for such a goal. And on one last note, I write prose and plays and can usually just sit down and do so. With the composition of music and songs, I have no idea where that facility comes from and I’m often in terror that I’ll never write another meaningful one. Perhaps, on those days I’ve lost my connection with the “spiritual”. Rave on.

“It’s undeniable that music can promote spirituality… I’m always seeking that moment when I become totally fused with the music.”
– Larry Kirwan, guitarist and vocalist in Black 47