Quizas Quizas Quizas

These are recordings from a concert I did on Thurs 5th of June in the Curtis Auditorium in the Cork School of Music. These are my own arrangements for strings of these songs.

Stockolm Syndrome

No Surprises

Fix You

Hello

Happy

Second time recording this piece, 3 years after the first one! I wrote this in 2011!

Variations Of A Dream

I wrote this song in December 2015, around 6 weeks before I went on my big trip to New Zealand. I had watched the 6 Star Wars movies back to back, and stayed up for 24 hours to do it (8am-8am). I slept for a few hours and was up for the whole day, and I wrote this song that night after severe sleep deprivation!!! It was 14 months later before I had the guts to record it, and I just came up with the backing harmonies for it on the day!

Lyrics:

I'm wired right now!
It's just six weeks 'til I fly away!
And I just went one day,
Without any sleep, now I'm slightly insane.

Oh when I think of my home,
And how I might miss it for all those months,
Then I picture myself,
Roaming 'round in a van in the best country on earth:

New Zealand,
It's the place I have dreamed of, oh since I was a child.
New freedom,
It is what I have wanted for a long long time.
It's the thing I have needed for a long long time.

I'm tired right now.
It's just six months since I finished my schooling.
And I went nineteen years,
Being told what to do, but now I'm finally through!

Then I think of the times,
That I had down through all those years,
And will I miss it at all,
Or will I just move on to a brand new life?

Will I fear what I'll come back to?
Will I miss out on too much?
I must focus on the present now,
And remind myself that soon,
I will be, oh I will be

In New Zealand,
It's the place I have dreamed of, oh since I was a child.
New freedom,
It is what I have wanted for a long long time.
New Zealand,
It's the place I have dreamed of, oh since I was a child.
New freedom,
It is what I have wanted for a long long time.
It's the thing I have needed for a long long time.

New Zealand

We FINALLY recorded this track, after me wanting to record Dearbhla singing it for a couple of years now! This is probably my favourite song of all time! Enjoy the three part harmonies! :-)

Into The West - Der - B Chronicles

So last year I woke up the morning after St. Patrick's Day, after having a few the night before in the local Irish bar. Living out of my car, I obviously didn't have a piano to play, but this Mozarty tune randomly came into my head (while I was having a shower actually!) and luckily I had bought some manuscript in a charity shop to be able to write out the thing in full!

Theme And Variations

This is the story of David from Ghana. He sent many messages to me via Whatsapp and I gathered them all together and tried to put it into a song. There was so much to the story, so I did my best to get it down to five verses and try to include the most important things. This is my first time writing a song from someone else's point of view! The song would be 8 minutes long altogether, so here is part one for the moment!

Verse 1
I was born the 27th of December ’92,
As a third born to my mother, and a 13th to my Dad.
My father was a rich man, and he had himself five wives,
But Dad he didn’t treat them well, and soon some of his kids did flee.
He started spending money on other single women,
The suffering that he incurred, upon our family made me think that

Chorus
I’d travel far through many borders,
I’d walk two thousand miles to the sea,
I’d take my chance on the open waters,
I’d risk my life to escape this poverty.
I’d give my life to be anywhere but here.
I’d do anything to be anywhere but here.

Verse 2
When I was 9 my brother and I did walk to school,
And sometimes in the summer, we’d walk 4ks in the blazing sun.
The scorching earth burned our bare feet, we’d stop beneath a
shaded tree,
The 38 degrees of heat eventually became too much.
An NGO from Switzerland, took care of us for a short time,
But when the programme ended, it left me there to grieve and made me
think that…

Verse 3
I reared some chicks to sell them, and Dad did not agree,
At 14 walked 6k to town, to buy some kerosene.
I’d sell them at the weekends, and still he’d beat me cruelly,
My Mom soon after took the job, and made a plan to set me free.
Our aunt in Nkoranza, she took me in though she was poor,
I helped take care of her animals, but now without my education…

Verse 4
I worked to save some money, to go back to a school,
Three times I was rejected, but by the fourth time was accepted.
But sometimes I was hungry; I couldn’t pay for any food,
This led me to the forests, to find some fruit, some mangoes,
pawpaws.
But when the trees were barren, I’d try to sleep to hide the pain,
How can I learn a thing in school, when I’m so starving I can’t move
but…

Verse 5
Don’t be surprised if I tell you, I slept a year on a mat on the floor,
On Tuesdays wheeled a barrow, to help some people at the market.
The good news is I made it, through junior high school paying my
own fees,
And now I’ve finished senior high, how can I afford university?
This story that I’ve told you, without looking for sympathy,
Is just to raise awareness, to show you that there’s people like me out there

Who’d travel far through many borders,
They’d walk two thousand miles to the sea,
They’d take their chance on the open waters,
They’d risk their lives to escape this war and flee.
They’d give their lives just to be a refugee.
They’d do anything just to be a refugee.

Anywhere But Here Part 1

This is a cover I've been doing for over a year and a half now, and it's just great fun to sing! Andy Williams 1967 hit, and a song I probably know from being in a Fiat Punto car ad... (just looked it up before I uploaded this!) I recorded the piano, flute, African drum, cymbal, and backing vocals all myself! Thanks as always to Dearbhla for photoshopping my stupid face onto another famous artist's photo!

Music To Watch Girls By

This is another cover of a song we always have great fun doing!! Written originally by Laura Izibor, it was unfortunately a bit of a one hit wonder! The usual Dearbhla 7 voice kinda stuff!!!

The Der-B Chronicles - Shine

This was a piece I recorded in the Belle Shenkman studio, Royal College of Music last year, composed by my friend Tara Viscardi.

Brian Hughes 11

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