Camilla Griehsel (lead female vocalist with interference) will premiere her new solo show MAMASOUNGE:SOURCE, on Friday 28th April for the Ballydehob Jazz Festival 2023 – on the same day she is releasing her new double album (25 tracks) also called ‘Mamasongue:Source’
Camilla was lead vocalist of 80’s Norwegian pop group ‘One 2 Many’ and a founding member of West Cork Super Group Dogtail Soup, Camilla will alongside a group of world class musicians perform ‘SOURCE’, a show which weaves stories of magic and mystery between tangos and lullabies, gospel and blues and laughter and tears, on stage at the Ballydehob Jazz Festival Hall on the opening night of the Festival.
Camilla is a singer-actress born in Sweden and has been living in Schull, West Cork with her family for the last twenty years. Camilla is best known as the lead female vocalist in the legendary Irish band Interference , who along with singer Fergus O’Farrell created Dogtail Soup, a band she formed with her husband, the late singer-songwriter Colin Vearncombe (80s hit-maker also known as Black), Paul Tiernan (International Troubadour) and Maurice Seezer (twice Golden Globe-nominated film composer). She is also a Principal singer in the Cork Opera House and a graduate of the Cork School of Music.
With over thirty years of professional experience from pop recording artist to avant-garde opera, from traditional jazz to South American folk, Camilla is dedicated to bringing people together and connecting hearts through the power of music:
“I am drawn to the universal emotions in performance. As we travel from culture to culture, we find parallels in the way music resolves into nurture, love and joy from keening laments to the comfort of a lullaby. From a mother’s tongue comes the primordial language of song beyond words.”
MAMASOUNGE:SOURCE brings together music from diverse cultures that transcend the constraints of ethnology, time and place to show that, through performance, a song’s true meaning can be deeply felt, regardless of its language. For Mamasongue, Camilla was joined in studio and will be joined onstage by some extraordinary musicians including Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu , who has recorded with artists such as Nigel Kennedy, Interference and Steve Cooney and performed with Sinead O’Connor, the Buena Vista Social Club, Loah and Baaba Maal. In 2021 Niwel’s global reach was cemented with his guitar work on the Grammy award winning album ‘They’re calling me Home’ by Rhiannon Giddens and Franceso Turrisi.
Also on the album and joining Camilla on stage will be South African bassist Concord Nkabinde, a performing and recording artist, composer, arranger, record producer, and an educator. Nkabinde has worked with many South African and International musicians such as Johnny Clegg, Abdullah Ibrahim, Colin Vearncombe aka “Black”, Miriam Makeba, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Phil Manzanera, Lionel Loueke, Hugh Masekela, Roy Ayers, Ernie Smith & many more. He received the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Jazz in 2006.
Eamonn Cagney is an Irish percussionist, composer, performer and educator and is recognised as one of Ireland’s premiere musicians. Along with collaborating with many artists, ensembles, choreographers, composers and performers, he leads his own groups Treelan and RITHIM. He has recently worked with: Iarla Ó Lionáird, John Spillane, Afel Bocoum, Mel Mercier, Míchéal Ó Súilleabháin, Julie Feeney, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Roger Doyle, Conor Linehan – Abbey Theatre, Loah, Karen Casey, Martin Tourish (Altan), and of course Camilla Griehsel and Niwel Tsumbu. He has performed worldwide over the last 20 years and his deep experience of world, jazz, Irish traditional, improvised and contemporary music inform his numerous original projects and collaborations.
Rory McCarthy is a piano player and keyboardist from Cork. He graduated in 2012 from UCC with BA Hons in Maths-Music and completed his MA in music performance at the Cork School of Music in 2022 with first-class honours. Rory has worked consistently since 2012 as a session player for a number of well-established Irish musicians including Brian Deady, John Blek, Marc O Reilly, Niall McCabe, and Pa Sheehy. His talent has taken him to studios in Nashville and Memphis and on tours across the UK and continental Europe. Rory also composes for screen and stage productions, including Screen Ireland Short Films.
