Michael Londra interview

interview by Elsie Escobar

Michael Londra, three words: humble, funny, genuine. Oh yeah, and extremely talented. Some would say he has the voice of an angel. His latest album is a wonderful addition for warming the house for the winter.


I have to tell you how much I’ve been enjoying listening to your CD.

Oh thanks very much I didn’t know whether you had it or not.

You know my daughter has completely fallen in love with it.



Actually that seems to happen all the time. I think my voice is kind of soothing to babies or something.

Yes, you know I’ve been playing it while we’re at home playing. Something that’s also very lovely, is that it’s a Christmas CD, but there’s a lot of music that’s very unfamiliar to me, that I’ve never heard of. In a way it’s allowing me to ease into the season without making it..you know jingle bells and rudolph the red nosed reindeer, that’s kinda in your face.

(Laughs) It’s not that full on! You know I wanted it to have more of a winter feel to it. Obviously I couldn’t sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, it would sound silly.

(Laughs) I don’t think so…that would be very very funny You’re right.

It would.

But I’m absolutely in love with it. It’s gorgeous. You know one thing that rose for me as I was listening to it was the differences in terms of culture and how it connotes to a feeling, like you were talking about. I’m originally from El Salvador, I also have different traditions that I was raised with and although I moved here while I was much younger, there are things that I miss about it. Is there anything specific that pushed you to create this CD to bring a little bit more of Ireland or Wexford to the world?

You know I think it’s a personal thing. When I decided to do it I didn’t’ have a plan like that. I really just genuinely picked songs that either were from home, were from Wexford, Ireland, or they were songs that I originally sang at home. I don’t think that it’s down to geography. I think it’s probably more down to coming from a small town where you have that sense of community, and particularly where I come from there’s a singing community. When I think of Christmas I think of those songs. You know I started to sing when I was a little kid so if nothing else, every year I have that thing, there’s the decision, I’m thousands of miles away and should I try to get home for Christmas, and these songs make it a little more difficult. Nearly every year I opt to go home, when I shouldn’t when I’m too busy.

You know that was something that I was wondering too, for how many years have you been doing your Celtic Yuletide with Michael Londra.

Oh, the tour! You know I kinda fell into that. I finished Broadway on 2001 Riverdance on Broadway. I just didn’t know what way to go, and I started to do some concerts and people started to ask me to do Christmas concerts, and I don’t love being a touring artist. I’m not a natural performer, but I absolutely love the Christmas concerts! You know I turn into this ridiculously annoying 6 foot tall elf, and I get carried away with it. Also there’s the added plus that people come to these concerts to have a good time and to probably sing, you know they probably had a glass of eggnog before they come in. They’re just in a good mood you know? and I love it. I absolutely love it, and it’s always a terrible schedule. This year it’s no different we’re going from Arizona to New Jersey to Florida to Seattle, literally four corners in a very short space of time, but I always have such a great time. It’s always a bit of an adventure.

Is there anything that has been the most memorable for you while performing these holiday shows, because they are filled with that extra bit of emotion.

I guess, I always get a little bit emotional because I’m a bit homesick during these concerts, so there are small moments when I see someone in the audience that’s a little bit upset, not in depressed way, they’re just thinking of someone that’s far away and it’s so obvious because of the song that I’m singing, so it’s those small moments when I connect with somebody that I really cherish. I guess it’s the reason that I still sing. You have to just connect with people. You probably saw that I do a lot of publicity for Concern Worldwide. Without making people miserable I’ll touch of it, and people want to hear a little bit about it. I’ll kinda connect it to a song and when I hear after the show what people say knowing that the next day they’ll go and look up Concern or they’ll look up about Haiti, that’s kind of the reason that I love it. When you make these small connections. You know I’m not Bono, I’m not going to change the world with my music, but I’m able to share, I have a captive audience and a responsibility to use that and talk about what’s going on in the world.

Talking about Concern, what was the moment that made you feel so passionate about what’s going on in Haiti and the way that you are bringing so much awareness to Concern Worldwide?

Concern is part of our lives in Ireland. Because of our history I think, we are very socially aware, so I knew exactly what Concern was my whole life. And then with music stuff got in the way and social consciousness went out the window and then it came full circle about 5 or 6 years ago when I came across Concern here in the US, and they just asked for my help but they were very was clever. They asked me to come on down to Haiti and take a look at what’s going on. And I’ve been to every part of the world, I’ve seen absolute poverty so I didn’t think that I’d be too phased by it. I went down to Haiti, which was an hour and a half flight from Miami, our next door neighbor here in the states and I saw absolute poverty the same as anything I’ve seen in any part of Africa and I was just appalled that these little 5 and 6 year old kids had to walk 8 hrs a day to get a clean cup of water so that they could cook food. Once I got there…well there was no moment. A lot of people ask me how I feel about it, it really doesn’t matter how I feel about it, what really matters is that it’s my responsibility to get on and to get out there and do something. It was absolutely ridiculous that I would have all these people coming to hear me sing and I couldn’t get a small message to them. Once I got to that little island la Gonave off the coast of Haiti and saw that a hundred thousand people were living with no electricity, no roads, no form of communication, no transport and no clean water, and it’s a next door neighbor to the states, that was just a call to action.

I really love the fact that you’ve included that DVD in your album.

Again it’s something small, and that’s my point, that you can do something small. I just threw the DVD on there. I told Concern that I was doing it. Now you know if somebody buys it let’s say in… Tulsa, they’ll pick it up and they’ll play the CD and say what’s this other little thing, and hopefully talk about it over dinner that evening. That’s how you make changes you know.

Your passion is very clear about it, and it’s really nice to see it that way and it really fits very well with the theme of your CD. Which is your favorite song to sing from Beyond a Star?

I have two I guess, Magia Sara, I love because everybody thinks that from my last name I’m italian, and there’s some sort of italian connection, but I’m as Irish as you get, but I pretend that I’m italian for those 3 minutes, and I feel that I channel Bocelli and try to sing like him (laughs) I also love singing the Wexford Carol because it’s from home, and a lot of people don’t know that it’s even Irish and that it’s from Wexford. I would be as much an ambassador for my home time as for Concern. I love it there, even though I don’t live there anymore, I’m there 4 or 5 times a year. I can’t let it go for some reason.

It’s so nice to be able to go back home, I hear ya about that. I read in a questionnaire that you answered and then posted on your blog that you would love to do a soundtrack.

Yeah! That is my all time absolute, definite ambition. It’s funny I did do the first orchestral version of the Passion of the Christ for John Debney. I know John well now because I sang the role of Jesus and it was just the greatest thrill of a lifetime. Here is me from small town Ireland singing with this Hollywood Orchestra, and I have John Debney conducting me and telling me that our Lord and Saviour didn’t have an Irish accent.

That was kind of funny, but ever since then, I’ve been telling John, I send him the odd email telling him, when am I going to do it? When? So hopefully one of these days he’ll get the message. And even when I’m writing, I have another album actually coming out next year, it’s definitely leaning toward that soundtrack feel. It’s the way I think. I can’t watch a movie without listening to every single note of music that comes out and so it’s now terrible for anybody with me to watch a movie. I don’t know what’s going on with the plot, but the music’s great!

Music can really shift your experience of a movie. I was watching a movie the other day it was…um….oh I’m not even going to attempt to remember what it was called, but I was so perturbed by the music because it was very dissonant with what was happening, that I got sick to my stomach.

It’s remarkable what it can achieve. My particular focus, you know at the very end when there credits are rolling? The one that nobody really listens to? but that would be very important to be to have a song there, and I also wanted to see my name in those rolling credits. When I was a kid I wanted to see my name in the rolling credits, and it’s funny because I’ve gotten to do some great things, but it’s a stupid thing like that that I’m looking forward to.

It’s so exciting! But you know you have to wait a long time to see the credits for the musicians.

I know but I don’t care, just as long as I see it. And you know every single person that I know it’s happened to them. i figure I have a while to go, but I’ll make it happen.

You will, I can guarantee it. I have a question for you about Twitter, cause I see you have a twitter account. You messed up your shoulder!

I dislocated my shoulder so badly, oh my god.

How did you do that?

I wish that I could tell you that I was mountain climbing or something like that, but I was putting on my shoes and I fell forward. I have recurrent dislocation so it happens quite a lot, It’s quite disturbing, but this was really bad and they have to put me up and give me an operation. It was pretty awful. However on the Twitter front I have no idea what I’m doing, I don’t get it, I can’t figure it. I may be running from it. I may just kinda say forget it.

I was a very early adopter and I got it then, but now it’s gotten way too big for me. I guess if I was going to give you any advice it’s just like giving a little hello to your friends because they’re watching you?


See I’m addicted to Facebook, it’s taken over my life, but the Twitter, not so much.

Yeah, Twitter is a little harder to get, if you’re in Facebook. It’s nice to know that you’re on Facebook, I have to friend you on Facebook.

Oh, please I’d love that. I enjoy that. We obsess pop culture all day long, when I should be working.

It’s nice because it give you a little bit of an opportunity to expand outward and what not.

It does you know! And I don’t get to see my friends so much because I travel so much. I was in China at the start of the year and I was able to have conversations with everyone on a daily basis. It’s so great.

Do you have an iPod?

I have an iPod. I operate on a Mac. My favorite possession in the world is my Macbook. Over my cold dead body you would take it from me, but I have a Blackberry Bold and I love it! I love the keyboard. And I do have that kind of iPhone envy. I really want one. It would mean giving up my Blackberry.

It’s so great to know that you are a Macbook lover, cause I’m a Mac girl. I just wanted to see what your favorite technology, gadgets are and you use.

The BlackBerry Bold. I actually don’t like any other Blackberries, it’s big, it’s classic and bulky, which I really like. The old keyboard all that stuff. I know that I’ll bend one day for I have app envy. I really want all those lovely apps that everyone keeps flaunting at me. I do have one problem with iPhone lovers, and that is that they tell you that you are stupid for having a BlackBerry. Get off the mountain people. 


I know that once this Blackberry dies then I’ll have that conflict…I don’t know, I don’t know we’ll see!

Is there anything that you would like to share with the readers regarding your CD that I didn’t cover? and you would like to let me know about? Maybe about your concerts?

Well that’s very nice. I just wanted to have a chat and hope that whoever reads this knows that this is a small record, it’s a small feeling, for a small Christmas. It’s not a big showy album, it just makes you feel a little bit warm inside, that’s all.

Beyond the Star is available now in iTunes. Learn more at MichaelLondra.com.