Put yourself in her shoes. Tina, singer, songwriter and flautist with the McSherry family group Tamalin, struggles for years to see the release of its debut album, right? Now, Rhythm And Rhyme has finally hit the shops and what does she find? Amongst all the kudos praising her "stunning voice" one critic claims Tina's vocals sometimes "lack depth" and that whenever her singing fails, in this respect, brother John is hauled in, as a clearly highly talented piper to sustain the momentum and propel the album beyond the mire of relatively insipid pop. More to the point, Tina knows that many people may feel that this criticism sums up their response to the re-packaging of Tamalin, from its original base as a group of pretty pure traditional musicians to suddenly becoming a fashionable, female-fronted pop band - and pretty in a different sense - in the tradition of The Corrs. Tellingly, Tina grows tense at even the mention of the Corr family. But first she responds to the criticism that her vocals are shallow.
"When I read that I just thought `what a load of shit'," she says. "When I sing, I know how I feel. If that one critic doesn't get it, it's not my problem. I certainly don't think that, as a person, I lack depth. I am extremely deep, in every respect. Imagine having to even say that! But it's true, I am a woman of substance. And as for the notion that John is being pushed into the background to make way for me, I would hope that people can see, from this album, that he is a brilliant musician and that we all share the spotlight. We all write and play the music and each instrument is of equal importance. That's what Tamalin is all about."
That said, Tina admits that when she writes a song such as In The Morning the voice she is giving vent to is primarily her own, Largely because it focuses on a failed marriage. "It relates to my own experience" she says, tentatively. "It's about a relationship where, no matter how much you try to make everything right [. . .] you know nothing is going to change. So, it's about wanting to get out and not have the courage, the strength. It's like, in the morning I'll get the strength, in the morning I'll leave."
The more Tina McSherry speaks of this situation, the more her voice fades into whispers, as though her spirit has suddenly been sapped by even the memory of that marriage. So is one of its after-effects the fact that Tina now feels the failure of that relationship was purely her fault? Is that the real sub-text of the song In The Morning? "Maybe it is. And, yes, in a way, I do feel it was my personal failure. But I am gradually starting to change that, break out of that cycle of feeling," she says. "And the whole thing is so complicated to be a part of, even though the lyric in the song may be simple. I didn't even write anything down, those words just came to me as they are, with that tune and we put an arrangement to it, for the album. That's why I can say, in all honesty, that my music comes from deep inside me. Though, revealing myself in that way also leaves me feeling self-conscious, like I'm betraying the man involved. At first he was chuffed when I sang the song but he, obviously, didn't understand what it was about. And even that, to me, says it all about that relationship."
When the focus shifts to why she and the rest of the McSherrys wrote the relatively vengeful Words, Tina remains reticent, finally admitting she's "not allowed" to talk about exactly who is under attack when she sings, "Lazin' in your holy bed/You know why the streets run red/So tell us where do we go wrong?" Why? "I'd love to say who the song is about but we don't want to be seen putting down other musicians," Tina explains. "Yet the point is that a lot of people write songs about situations they don't know anything about, such as Northern Ireland. In Words, when we write the lines you quote or talk about those who say: "listen to these words of mine/ Now that I've graduated up the line" that's about people who get on in life and think they can pontificate about something like the North. So, it could be anybody we're talking about."
"All I'll say is that we are from West Belfast and we've got those people who are from way outside it all, never experienced anything directly then go and take sides, put one side down. There's no balance there, whereas, in Words we try to achieve that balance, and it's more subtle. But, having said that, I'm not saying our music is shaped by the fact that we grew up in a particular political situation in Northern Ireland. The traditional music we play in Belfast is the same as we'd play anywhere else in Ireland. At that level we are one culture, though, obviously, each region has its own defining features. And as with rock bands from the North, such as Therapy?, there is a harder edge to the way we play, which probably has something to do with the political situation. But music takes you above all that, which is what I feel happens when we play."
Tina's reference to rock reveals another seminal influence on Tamalin. The new album may include a reading of Crazyman Michael which can be compared with the version by folk-rock icons Fairport Convention but they "are even more influenced by rock bands like Led Zeppelin", according to Tina. "Led Zeppelin are a definite influence on all of us, especially in terms of their folk-blues foundation, which is more what they're really about than heavy metal. That's why, on the album, we do Poor Tom," she explains. "And I myself also like Crowded House, Radiohead, Oasis, Paul Brady. But, as a band, we also listen to a lot of Breton, Balkan, Celtic music, in general, and probably will never forget the day we were brought to see Planxty, by our mother, back in 1981. But as with bands like Planxty and the Bothy band, who really revolutionised Irish traditional music, I don't think music should be divided up into "is it traditional, folk or pop?" categories. Tamalin definitely can't be, because we are influenced by that whole wide range of music, even though we are acoustic and very traditionally based."
The latter comment, of course, leads us back to the question of why Tina grows tense when comparisons are drawn between Tamalin and The Corrs. "What comparisons? Musically?" she says, a layer of astonishment seeping into her voice. "We just don't hear it at all. People make the comparison and may think we're being pushed along those lines, in terms of marketing, but we started recording this album before The Corrs took off. And, as traditional musicians we can get up and play traditional music all night long like Altan, Nomos, so, in that sense, we're not anything, musically, like The Corrs. They're just a pop band with a wee bit of traditional music thrown in. We're traditional musicians. We're not The Corrs. In fact, there is nobody else doing music like Tamalin!"
Fair enough. But what, finally, is Tina's response to the claim that there is a fine line between commercial compromise and prostituting one's talent in the name of success? Does Tamalin have to worry about crossing over that line?
"That comment comes from the same critic, in Folk Roots, who doesn't like my voice. And although, OK, I'm not totally happy with the album, it is a representation of our music at a particular point in time," she says. "But we're not about to prostitute traditional music. In fact, we're as true to our original musical base as we ever were because, as I say, pop and rock is part of all that. No, we don't play straight traditional music all the time. Why should we? We're a band who want to be creative in as many ways as we can be. Thankfully, for Irish music, the strong tradition will always be there, with people playing in sessions and the music being handed down in that way and so on. As it is, on the album, when we play tunes like The Reconciliation, or whatever. But Tamalin should also be allowed to go in the direction we've chosen. That doesn't mean we are prostituting anything. Besides, what is a `pure' tradition? And who are these people, critics or otherwise, to decide, for the rest of us, what is `pure'? It's terrible to impose that rigidity on any musician. And we'll never give in to that. What Tamalin do may not be pure traditional music but it is pure, in terms of who we are and where we come from."
Tamalin plays with Brian Kennedy, Sinead Lohan and Clannad in the Gael Force concert at the Point on Saturday. It then goes on tour with Brian Kennedy, playing the University Concert Hall, Limerick (Sunday September 21st and Monday 22nd), Leisureland, Galway, (Wednesday 24th), Athlone RTC (Thursday 25th), the Forum Theatre, Waterford (Friday 26th), the Olympia Theatre, Dublin (Sunday 28th, Monday 29th).
