Follow the Camino recently caught up with musician David Kinsella who has released an album inspired by Galician music and the Camino de Santiago.
David, can you tell what the Atlantic Arc is and your inspiration for the album?
David Kinsella: The Atlantic Arc as the name suggests is the link naturally formed by the Atlantic Sea. It connects the Celtic countries and regions of Ireland, Spain, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Isle Of Man, Brittany, Portugal. There is a common link between these regions in a cultural, social and economic sense. I have been fascinated by the natural connection and similarities in the Galician and Irish cultures in particular. The most obvious for me is the musical connection and especially as I play the Uilleann Pipes, I have a huge love and interest in the Galician Pipes in particular and also the close relatives Asturian and Cantabrian Pipes.
FTC: What type of music would you recommend for people walking a Camino?
Music for a journey on your own with nature and your thoughts requires a special ingredient. It should not be too fast, slow, sad or deep. It just needs to be a melody to carry you along. I call this “Camino Music”. It doesn’t have any particular structure, just a beat to carry you along. The “Camino Music” should take up the space in your head that is usually occupied with serious thoughts or stress. When I compose music it brings me off to somewhere I imagined I have been before, I get lost for a moment with the help of melody on my whistle and Uilleann Pipes.
FTC: What are you best memories from recording the album?
Composing and recording my album ‘Atlantic Arc’ with great company from Spain and Ireland brought me away across the sea to Galicia. However the best privilege of my “Camino Music” is that every time I play for example the first track on the album “From Leap To Santiago” in front of a live audience in a concert venue or at home in the Slieve Bloom Mountains beside the fire, I close my eyes and my mind carries me off to somewhere on the Camino de Santiago.
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