Colm Mac Con Iomaire is an acclaimed Irish violinist and composer. He was a founding member of renowned folk fusion band Kila and, at the age of 19 became a founding member of legendary indie rock band The Frames, which led him to tour the world for up on 30 years. He was also a member of The Swell Season. In recent times Colm has been focused on his solo career and has released three albums to great acclaim. Colm has also performed on albums by numerous other artists including on the White Ladder by David Gray and on O by Damien Rice. He has also written music for several movies, TV, theatre, and dance productions. Colm is a passionate champion of the Irish language and very politically engaged when it comes to cultural, environmental, and social justice issues. He’s a guy who oozes wit and wisdom while staying grounded with a great sense of fun and zest for life. Just to say, this podcast is also available as a video version on the Love and Courage YouTube channel and on my Facebook page, just look up Ruairi McKiernan Hitching for Hope on Facebook. And a heads up. We have a surprise special guest half way through the podcast. Colm’s son Darach makes an impromptu appearance and things go a bit off script for a couple of minutes in case you’re wondering what’s going on. It’s a bit more obvious on the video version. It’s only a couple of minutes but it might be confusing. I chose to not to edit this out as we get talking about Darach soon afterwards and Darach makes another fun reappearance later on. So, back to Colm. I first met Colm 10 years ago when he performed at the POSSIBILITIES summit, which I was involved in organising. The Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker that day, and Colm joined Kila on stage for a musical celebration. A day I’ll never forget. We stayed in touch, and over the years, Colm performed and my and Susan’s wedding, which was an incredible honour, he features in my book Hitching for Hope. In recent times he played on Susan’s debut album Into the Sea alongside some other musical luminaries, including Colm Quearney, Justin Carroll, Graham Hopkins, and Robbie Malone. That’s the big focus for me these days, supporting Susan as her album makes its way into the world. It’s an exciting adventure after several years of working on it. I’m including one of her tracks HOLD ON at the end of the podcast for you to enjoy, you’ll hear Colm working his magic on it, so consider hanging back to listen after the conversation with Colm. I’m pleased to say things are shaping up nicely with national and regional airplay for recent singles and people getting behind her by buying digital and signed CD copies of the album via Bandcamp. It’s so important to support independent musicians like Colm and Susan. These days we listen to so much fantastic music, but it’s not always easy for the artist to make money to pay for the costs of recording, production, and album releases, especially now during Covid times when there are no gigs in this part of the world. So you’ll understand why I’m keen to promote Susan and encourage as many people as possible to get behind her debut album, a stunning piece of art and a real labour of love that is available on Bandcamp, and through Apple, Subscribe, share, rate, review and donate to support this podcast. Thanks to patrons who chip in at www.loveandcourage.org Host Ruairí McKiernan is a well-known social innovator, charity founder, campaigner, counsellor, consultant, and author. Find out more via: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn and check out his book Hitching for Hope. He also has another podcast called Creative Souls of Clare.