Cissie Parlour - Derry's phenomenally talented singer

Derry Feis is 101 years old this Easter. To celebrate the turning of its second century, Derry Now will feature a weekly interview with some of the incredibly talented stalwarts of this unique cultural event. 

Occasional Feis competitor, in his youth, Jarlath Parlour, shares his immense pride at the achievements of his mother, the legendary Cissie Parlour, in Feis Footlights this week. 

 So absolutely vivid was Jarlath Parlour’s description of the atmosphere in the Guildhall during Derry Feis singing competitions back in the day, it could be visualised with ease.

However, son of the phenomenally talented, Cissie Parlour (née Conaghan), Jarlath was very self-deprecating when it came to his own participation in Feis Dhoire Cholmcille.

Cissie Parlour and her original singing teacher, Rose McCormick (Mrs Edward Henry O'Doherty).

“My personal experience of Derry Feis is pretty limited,” he laughed, “because, unfortunately, like many boys, all I wanted to do was play football. 

“We were ‘encouraged’ to a certain degree to participate in the Feis,” added Jarlath. “My older brother, Damien, was a very good singer. He won loads of trophies.

“My mother, because of her own singing skills, had the three of us, Damien, Radal and me, singing in the Feis. We went to Mr James McCafferty for our singing lessons. 

“I also had a brief spell learning Irish dancing with Mr Brendan DeGlin, which I gave up when I realised I could not put one foot in front of the other and I was more interested in football. 

“I would have been involved in Derry Feis through school too. I went to the Christian Brothers’ Primary School and we would have been involved in school projects which were entered in the Feis. At St Columb’s College, I remember doing a Feis  group history project on the Siege of Derry,” said Jarlath.

Damien Parlour with his mammy, Cissie.

But, Jarlath said his main memories of the Feis were going along to watch his mother sing.

He recalled: “We would go along because, even though we were not particularly interested in operatic singing, which would have been her style of singing, we were just filled with pride every time she sang. We went along to see her and we went for years and she just kept winning.

“I have loads of photographs of all the trophies my mother won. For me the Feis was more about my mother and the success she had and the pride that filled us with. My father, Leslie, like us all was immensely proud of her and very,very supportive.

“My mother was originally from Orchard Row off Foyle Road. She also sang in Michael Mason’s choir in St Patrick’s Church, Pennyburn and with the Foyle Singers, another one of his choirs.  Occasionally she sang with the Cholmcille Choir too. That took up a big chunk of her life as well.

Talented singer Cissie Parlour dominated Derry Feis.

“The Feis was just great craic. We used to go along too to enjoy the fun because there were lots of other young people there as well. It  was a chance to meet up with people and maybe meet some girls, if you were lucky enough. It was a great social occasion. It was something people did. It was a great place. It was a way of meeting people and having fun as a young boy and as a teenager,” said Jarlath.

Jarlath spoke about the “excitement” of his mother’s competitions.

“I remember the competitions that she was in. They were absolutely filled with talent. There might have been 20 other competitors up against her. The quality of the competition and the number of entries was amazing.

“We would often be sitting there, in the Guildhall or St Columb’s Hall, at some of the big competitions. I can recall us sitting late into the evening waiting for competitions to start or finish, simply because of the number of competitors. It was great and the excitement and the cheering and the roaring that you used to get because the audiences were enormous, was fantastic. 

“The Derry Feis trophies were wonderful too.  Another thing I remember is that you used to get a smaller trophy along with the big trophies. I have a number of those at home belonging to my mother. Because the competitor would have to hand back the perpetual cup or trophy after a year, they were given a smaller one to keep. 

Ardnashee choir to hit the right note at Derry Feis

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“In addition, if you won a cup on three occasions you could keep it as you had won it outright. My mother had several trophies which she won outright,” said Jarlath with evident pride. 

“Everybody knew my mother and she was energised right up to the very end," said Jarlath.

“She was very friendly with Una McCafferty, Sally McCandless and Patricia McLucas. They were always very great and one of the things I noticed was, even though there was great competition between them all, there was also great support and great craic and interaction among them.

“They were very, very supportive of each other. They had a great camaraderie. They used to mimic each other singing because each of them had their own unique way of singing. 

“My mother was very powerful so some of the others would mimic the power of her voice and how she used to look up at the sky when she was hitting the high notes. She would then mimic someone else, so there was great craic among them mimicking each other and enjoying the fun. No-one begrudged anything to anybody,” said Jarlath.

Then there was the year Jarlath’s brother, Damien, who was a boy soprano and his mother both won Feis trophies in the same year.

Cissie’s first singing teacher was Mrs Edward Henry O’Doherty, then James McCafferty.

Jarlath said: “Right up to her later years she was still attending singing lessons. She would have gone to Neil Carlin, the retired opera singer who sang with the Vienna Opera.

“The key to her success was not actual talent, it was the fact she never took it for granted. She was constantly trying to improve. She always had doubts and insecurities and was always nervous before she went on stage but as soon as she hit her mark on stage she sang like a bird. She was flying.”