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Press Releases
Heresy Records Dublin to Release Joni Mitchell's 'Both Sides Now' In Irish By Celebrated Singer Caitrioina O’Leary
First Irish Version of "Both Sides Now" Sung by Caitriona O'Leary to be Released in Celebration of Joni Mitchell’s 76th Birthday
On Friday 24th January 2020 Dublin record label, Heresy Records (www.heresyrecords.com) will release a digital single version of Joni Mitchell’s iconic song, Both Sides Now, in an Irish language translation sung by Caitríona O’Leary, accompanied on the recording by guitarist, Dick Farrelly.
Both Sides Now (Ón Dá Thaobh) was translated into Irish by the renowned Dublin-based poet, Gabriel Rosenstock. The song was first performed by Caitríona O’Leary and Dick Farrelly in May 2016 in a production – starring O’Leary - entitled Sweet Fire: The Joni Mitchell Project as part of IMRAM Irish Language Literature Festival and the International Dublin Literature Festival, Sweet Fire later toured throughout Ireland.
Both Sides Now is one of the best-known songs by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. First recorded by Judy Collins, it appeared on the U.S. singles chart during the fall of 1968. The next year it was included on Mitchell's album Clouds (which was named after a lyric from the song). It has since been recorded by dozens of artists, including Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Gang of Youths, and Herbie Hancock. Mitchell herself re-recorded the song, with an orchestral arrangement, on her 2000 album Both Sides Now.
Mitchell is said to have written Both Sides Now in March 1967, inspired by a passage in Henderson the Rain King, a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow. The following quote by Mitchell describes her inspiration for writing the song.
“I was reading Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King on a plane and early in the book Henderson the Rain King is also up in a plane. He's on his way to Africa and he looks down and sees these clouds. I put down the book, looked out the window and saw clouds too, and I immediately started writing the song. I had no idea that the song would become as popular as it did.”
Both Sides Now (Ón Dá Thaobh) marks Heresy Records’ first recording released exclusively for digital streaming and download services. The song will be available on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer and numerous other digital service providers.
ABOUT CAITRÍONA O’LEARY
Caitríona O’Leary (www.caitrionaoleary.com) is known internationally for her intense and passionate performances of Traditional Irish song, folk and Early Music. Her recording of The Wexford Carols, an album of traditional Irish Christmas carols, with the producer Joe Henry featuring guest artists Tom Jones, Rosanne Cash, Rhiannon Giddens, Dónal Lunny and an all-star band reached #1 on the Billboard charts.
She is known for her Irish language interpretations of the songs of Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush for IMRAM (Irisih Language and Literature Festival) and has recorded over twenty critically acclaimed albums with her band Dúlra, and the celebrated early music ensembles Sequentia, The Harp Consort, Joglaresa and eX (the Irish-based Early Music ensemble she founded in 2006). These have been for EMI Virgin Classics, BMG Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Heresy Records, Vox and Avie.
She has worked closely with many of early music's leading artists including, Christopher Hogwood, Ben Bagby, Andrew Lawrence King, Konrad Junghaenel, Pedro Memelsdorff, Hille Perl, Lee Santana amongst many others.
Caitríona has toured and performed around the world, including such venues as the Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall and Cité de la Musique to name a few. She regularly performs at festivals throughout Europe and beyond and has also been commissioned - as music director - to create performances at numerous festivals including Halle Handel Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn,Tage Alter Musik Herne, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Festival Cervantino Guanajuato (Mexico), Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Concerts Spirituels Geneva, Zagreb Summer Evenings Festival, the Split Summer Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Belfast Festival at Queen’s, Kilkenny Arts Festival, etc.
ABOUT HERESY RECORDS
Dublin-based Heresy Records is an art music label founded by former New York opera director and cultural entrepreneur, Eric Fraad. Heresy specializes in thematically contextualized albums of early music, contemporary classical, electronica, world music and folk. The label has created numerous internationally acclaimed recordings including, The Wexford Carols with Caitríona O’Leary, Tom Jones, Rosanne Cash and Rhiannon Giddens, debut and other celebrated recordings by The Dublin Drag Orchestra, The Transcendentalist by pianist, Ivan Ilíc and numerous others.
Upcoming offerings include the premier recording of The Red Book of Ossory by the early music/jazz ensemble, Anakronos – the first recording of this 14th century masterpiece, The Richter Scale by Berlin-based composer Boris Bergmann featuring the sensational pianist, Ji Liu and Strange Wonders, The Wexford Carols, produced by Ethan Johns and starring Caitríona O’Leary, Seth Lakeman, Clara Sanabras, Alison Balsom, Olov Johannson, the choir Stile Antico and several others.
Heresy is distributed across the globe by London-based, Proper Music Distribution and their regional affiliates.
Media Enquiries
(UK): Karen Pitchford, KHJ Communications Ltd
Tel: 44 020 8292 2862 / Email: pitchfordkaren@gmail.com
(USA & Rest of World): Helene Kamioner, Creative Consultants for the Arts
Tel. 1 718 796 9802 / Email: cconarts@aol.com
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