Clancy Legacy to kick off uNi Coffeehouse series

The first concert of the 2012-2013 season is set for Saturday night in Springfield

Irishman Robbie O’Connell, who opened last year’s uNi Coffeehouse Concert Series in Springfield, is back to kick off the new season on Saturday, and this time he’s bringing his cousin, Aoife Clancy.

She is the daughter of Bobby Clancy of the Clancy Brothers and O’Connell is their nephew, and the two are combining their talents to bring listeners the sounds of the Clancy Brothers through their Clancy Legacy performance.

Clancy said while they have successful careers of their own, there are no solos and both will be on stage together for the entire concert.

“We swap verses on songs and do harmonies on the choruses. What we do is go back and forth with songs passed down from family members like my uncles. These are not the rebel rousing songs, but more of the ballads. And we talk and interact on stage and share stories. Our chemistry is good and we get on well as cousins, it’s genuine on stage, not an act,” she said.

Clancy, from a small town in County Tipperary, Ireland, has been performing since her father placed a guitar in her hands at the age of 10 and by age 14 was performing with her father in nearby pubs. She has spent her career performing at festivals and concerts sharing the stage with some of Ireland’s greatest performers, including on Caribbean cruises with the Clancy Brothers. For the past four years, she has toured extensively, performing no less than 200 dates a year throughout the United States and Europe. She has been a featured soloist with orchestras such as the Boston Pops and Cincinnati Pops and, while performing with Cherish the Ladies, collaborated with the Boston Pops on their Grammy-nominated Celtic album.

O’Connell also grew up in County Tipperary, where he began to play guitar and sing at age 13. He soon became a regular performer at the local hotel’s weekly folk concerts and began touring with his uncles, the Clancy Brothers, in 1977 and recorded three albums with them before he launched out on his own. He toured extensively with Mick Moloney and Jimmy Keane, and also with Eileen Ivers and Seamus Egan in the Green Fields of America. His songwriting and performing skills have taken him to Carnegie Hall and won him numerous awards for his many recorded and live concert performances.

But, unlike O’Connell who performed with the Clancy Brothers, Aiofe never did.

“Robbie is older, we’re about 17 years apart, and he began touring with them while I was in high school,” she said.

Clancy said she is amazed at the popularity of everything Irish, especially the music, in the United States.

“I don’t know what it is about Irish music, it’s so popular here and people are so proud to be Irish. I just can’t believe the crowds of people who turn out to listen. I have many people come up to me and tell me about their Irish heritage and that when they visited Ireland they felt as if they had gone home. And I think that feeling carries through in our music,” she said.

Clancy has been living in America for the past 20 years and currently resides in New Bedford. “I’ve moved around a lot, seven or eight times. An agent saw me performing on a cruise with my uncles and booked me to perform in Boston for two weeks, and I’ve been here ever since. But, I do get home to Ireland twice a year,” she said.