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WATCH Our Lady Queen of Peace School win ‘Choirs for Christmas’ competition with heart-warming Dolores O’Riordan tribute
Choirs for Christmas – Our Lady Queen of Peace School Choir in Janesboro has won the ‘Choirs for Christmas’ Lyric FM choral music competition in the primary school section. Pictured above at the announcement. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick
Our Lady Queen of Peace School Choir’s touching rendition of Dolores O’Riordan’s ‘Angela’s Song’ helps them claim top spot as ‘Choirs for Christmas’ best Primary School choir
Our Lady Queen of Peace School Choir in Janesboro has won the ‘Choirs for Christmas’ Lyric FM choral music competition in the primary school section. Our Lady Queen of Peace School Choir, a young enthusiastic musical group from the Janesboro primary school paid tribute to Dolores O’Riordan performing ‘Angela’s Song’ in a choir competition.
James Malone, a music teacher at Our Lady Queen of Peace told I Love Limerick, “There was a really high standard in the competition, so we were listening to some of the tracks and there was just amazing talent from one end of the country to the other.
“So we weren’t expecting to get very far in it, the children certainly weren’t expecting to get very far, we were just thrilled to record a song.”
But James was delighted to announce Lyric FM would be paying a visit to the school to tell the children they were the Primary School section winners of the national competition.
“We were thrilled to find out that we have won the primary school section. Today, the children are about to find out that they’ve won. Lyric FM are going to be coming to the school, and we’re going to surprise them with the good news.”
The group were honoured to perform a rendition of ‘Angela’s Song’ from ‘Angela’s Christmas’ which holds a special place in Limerick City’s heart and serves as a tribute to the late musical icon, Dolores O’Riordan.
James Malone told I Love Limerick, “We wanted to pick a song that had a Limerick connection so we could sing about our hometown.
“The song was the last song recorded by Dolores O’Riordan, so it held a special place in our hearts.”
James said the group were grateful for all the help received on the performance, he said, “We had Anna Jane Ryan from the Limerick School of Music volunteer to help us with some of the music, and we had teachers, SNAs rowing in, even family members who came to help record. We were really lucky, it was really a community effort.”
The video of the choir’s rendition of the song was seen by more than 30,000 people on I Love Limerick’s Facebook page with the performance leaving an impact on viewers, one saying, “Well done to all involved, absolutely beautiful,” and another saying, “Thanks for sharing this! We are so proud of all of our children!!”
The performance even caught the attention of Cranberries Italia, a Cranberries fan page in Italy who commented, “Fantastic choir for this amazing tribute for a stunning, emotional song, well done, and happy Xmas to all of you from Italy.”
Pictures: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick