By David Hennessy
The Celtic Harps will bring some Irish music to Saturday night television with their appearance on The Voice.
The Celtic Harps- made up of Fergal O’Hanlon, Ryan Lynch, Adam O’Shea and Ruairi Kelsey- started as a vocal harmony group in London and have performed around the world including on cruise ships.
They have also performed for the American TV show, Ireland with Michael which goes out on PBS and has featured big names such as Nathan Carter.
On Saturday night they will be seen singing for judges Will.I.Am, Tom Jones, Leanne Rhimes and Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones of McFly.
We caught up with Fergal, Ryan and Adam from the group last week to chat ahead of their audition going out.
Fergal says: “We’re excited for family and friends to see it.”
Adam adds: “I’m intrigued to see what sort of response we get.”
What made you want to appear on The Voice?
“I guess we got contacted every year,” Ryan says.
Adam continues: “Yeah, they kind of reached out to us initially and we were like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. Why not give it a go?’”
Fergal adds: “They seemed very interested so they kept getting us back for more rounds.”
Adam continues: “Yeah, it’s such a long process.
“So much goes on in the background, months’ worth of calls and video chats and sending in auditions of different songs. There’s such a dense process, I think, in comparison to what most people would assume: That you just rock up on the day and you get on stage and you have a live audition, but you’ve probably sung for them about 10 times before that.”
How did it feel to be singing in front of the judges?
Ryan, from Strabane, says: “It felt a bit like Black Mirror stepping out.
“The set’s incredible.
“The television studio is amazing.
“They’ve got all these LEDs in the floor and up the walls and then there’s screens all around you. It’s kind of like a cocoon of light and sound.
“Then in front of you it’s just people, people, people, people, and cameras, it’s just all around and it’s and there’s stuff going on on the ground below.
“It just felt crazy.
“We’ve all performed on so many stages around the world but never in a TV studio so that was kind of a big first for us. I think that was almost like an outer body experience. It was mad.”
Adam, from Tramore in Waterford, adds: “Yeah, it was surreal. I think there was so much adrenaline and so much build up that it’s all kind of a blur.
“I remember walking on stage and then I remember us finishing but everything in between is a blur, a bit of a fever dream.
“You’ve got so much adrenaline that it just passes in a flash and even now trying to remember it’s like, ‘Did we really do that?’
“So it’s going to be so interesting for us, I think, to watch ourselves because I almost have no memory.”
Fergal, from Galway city, says: “We don’t know how we sound or anything but we’re looking forward to it and hopefully we sound okay.”
Ryan: “You never know how you’re going to turn out on these TV shows or how they put it together so I guess it’s going to be interesting. I’m kind of nervous.”
The Celtic Harps started when Ryan and Ruairi were performing in a London production of the musical, The Clockmaker’s Daughter. From there they decided to form a duo.
Ryan says: “I describe the group like Il Divo meets The Pogues.
“It’s very much like Irish trad music at the core but we also take elements of modern stuff and give it a trad makeover, something a bit different.
“I don’t think there’s ever been anything quite like that on any sort of reality TV shows ever.
“And I feel like there’s a real surge of Celtic/pop/ folk music at the minute especially in Ireland, but it’s getting outside of Ireland as well.”
The group has been going for six years but two and a half years with its current line-up.
Ryan says: “After COVID we had a bit of a bounce back and it just went really busy which was amazing, because all the live performances, theatre, everything stopped.
“After that, there was such an appetite to see things again so we really benefited from that, but it was hard sitting at home for basically two years.”
While the group started in London Ruairi, from Cork city, is the only member still based in the UK. Fergal, Adam and Ryan are in Galway, Waterford and Tyrone respectively.
Adam adds: “We just want people to see what we do and hopefully enjoy what we do.”
The Voice continues at 8pm Saturdays on ITV and ITVX.
For more information on The Celtic Harps, click here.
