VARIOUS : RIVERDANCE COMPOSER BILL WHELAN WRITES MUSIC FOR 'DANCING AT LUGHNASA' FILM

Record ID: 388109

  • Title: VARIOUS : RIVERDANCE COMPOSER BILL WHELAN WRITES MUSIC FOR 'DANCING AT LUGHNASA' FILM
  • Date: 6th December 1998
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE) (English) WHELAN SAYING "I think the work, the impact of Riverdance on my life has been obviously cataclysmic - nobody involved in Riverdance, neither the producer Moria O'Doherty nor I, when we did the original six-and-a-half minute piece, had any idea that it was going to have the result it ha
  • Embargoed: 21st December 1998 12:00
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  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AND UNKNOWN LOCATIONS IN IRELAND
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAE63L71Q0RMJ98WDXK95YPMD86
  • Story Text: Bill Whelan, perhaps best known for his Riverdance composition, is one of Ireland's most renowned composers and has worked with many internationally acclaimed artists including U2, Van Morrison and Kate Bush.
    Most recently Whelan wrote the score for Meryl Streep's latest film "Dancing at Lughnasa" which premieres in the UK on Wednesday (December 02) When Meryl Streep kicks up her heels in "Dancing at Lughnasa", spare a thought for Bill Whelan, the film's music composer.
    Whelan was brought in after the dance scene had been filmed and was challenged to write a piece of music that would both show the emotion of the scene and fit the dance steps.
    "Writing if you like in reverse is kind of odd, it's not normally what you're asked to do in film composition.I mean normally there is a piece of music that they have worked to, and perhaps you've written it.But in this case, I was coming in the reverse order and it was a difficult challenge, both from a creative point of view - to find a tune that fitted well with the dance steps they had done, but also from a technical point of view, because it had all been done.The rhythm of the music and the tempo of the music had to fit exactly with their steps as well, so it was both a creative and technical challenge, as as you say - it was quite unusual"
    Whelan has written music for theatre and television for years.He wrote his first major orchestral suite commemorating the film music of the noted composer Sean O'Raida which was conducted by Elmer Bernstein and performed by the Irish National Symphony Orchestra.His own compositional work in films includes 'Lamb', starring Liam Neeson and the score for the Terry George/Jim Sheridan film 'Some Mother's Son', which was the number one movie on release in Ireland and the soundtrack album a top 20 hit.
    But, by far and away his biggest hit to date, is Riverdance.
    "I think the work, the impact of Riverdance on my life has been obviously cataclysmic - nobody involved in Riverdance, neither the producer Moira O'Doherty nor I when we did the original six-and-a-half minute piece had any idea that it was going to have the result it has now had.One of the telling things was...I always had a feeling that if I could get a record out of Riverdance that there would be a good public response to it - luckily I was proved right in that.The original single that we released in Ireland went straight to number one and it was there for eighteen weeks.And it even entered the British charts.I mean here was a piece of instrumental music six and a half minutes long...no record company if you went to them would consider putting it out - but there it was at the top of the Irish charts and in the top ten of British pop charts," Whelan said.
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