Local musician chats to Derry News about her recent graduation, her latest single and her time on the Voice UK

Lara Ní Dhomhnaill has recently graduated from Ulster University with a degree in music as she sets to embark on the next chapter of her life.

Chatting to Derry News, Lara says she found her confidence in her music over the past year and is now ready to pursue her dream career.

Lara, originally from Dungloe in Donegal, said she was always singing when she was young despite music not running in the family, "I have been singing for as long as I can remember.

"Then, I started playing guitar when I was about ten or eleven. All through school I was always part of the musicals, too.

"I have three older sisters but no one else in my family is musical, it’s just me. I would love to have music in the family but it’s just me."

Lara continued to love music throughout school and in her fifth year, Lara and two other girls in her class decided to form a band called Evergreen. This decision led Lara and the girls to the Voice UK stage.

The 21 year old continued: "We were a three-part harmony group, we did some local gigs and posted covers on Facebook and then we were very lucky to be scouted for the Voice UK.  

"We went on to do all the auditions for that, the producers came to our school in Dungloe to audition us. I have to say it was class. 

"We went through something like six rounds of auditions and we got a blind audition to be on TV. 

"We were lucky and got a turn from Will.i.am, so we were on his team. We were only 17, it was an amazing experience. 

"We didn’t get through after the battle round but after we came off the show, we got a lot of publicity which was great but this was just before Covid. 

"We were supposed to play at a festival with big name artists and a few other things but Covid hit just a few weeks after our audition was on TV; it was such bad timing."

Due to Covid, the band couldn’t gig, they couldn’t practice together and one of the other girls in the band made the decision to focus on her nursing career as a result of the pandemic.

"We decided to stop playing as a band," Lara continued. "That was when I decided to start doing my own music, writing my own songs and focusing on a solo career.

"I began working with Magy’s Farm, which helps local musicians as they embark on their music careers, and I started my university course in Music at Ulster Uni.  

"Magy’s was great. I hadn’t been writing my own songs and it was a real push and definitely gave me more confidence."

Lara wrote her first song during Covid, using the time to work on writing her own music.

Lara now gigs performing her own songs and hopes to bring her music across the country

"Magy’s farm encouraged me to write my own songs. It was daunting, I initially found it hard to write a song, I thought, ‘Where do you start?’ 

"But once I wrote the first one, I found it a lot easier to write the rest. That would have been just January last year. 

"It gave me the belief that I am good enough to pursue music if I just keep going for it and working for it. It was a great stepping stone in my musical career."

Lara said her taste in music is really different to when she was young and she didn't listen to the type of music she writes now, " Growing up, I had a totally different music taste to now. I don’t know how I came to listen to what I do now.

"I wouldn't say I'm influenced by a particular artist or artists. I love folky music and now I write folk/pop songs.

"I try to write as often as I can. I feel like if something sounds alright, I’m like okay that’s good, I don’t really know where it comes from," she laughed.

Lara graduated from university in May this year with her degree in music. Just one month later, Lara released her debut single in June, Back Down. 

Lara graduated this summer from Ulster University with a degree in music

Lara added: "At the minute, my plan is to move to Belfast to gig as much as I can, and try to further my music career. 

"The Derry music scene is really good and close-knit and is great for gigging locally but it is hard to get permanent gigs.

"I gig when I’m home at the moment too at Leo's bar in Crolly; they would be a family bar, really known for music and the home of music artists.

"Every month they host a gig providing a platform for up-and-coming young artists. People travel from all over the island to do the gig. I would be close with them and gig there every couple of months; it's fantastic experience.

"I will keep trying to gig as much as I can; to get my music out there. I am working and saving at the moment but music is my dream."

You can follow Lara's journey via her Instagram: lara.odonnell

Lara's single, Back Down, is also available via Spotify, iTunes, Apple music, Youtube or via the link: https://open.spotify. com/track/ 01jm9mcLHcg9lOuP5NLSu8?si=7PZ_ T0NTTFmh9-ovQUTr1Q&context= spotify%3Aplaylist% 3A37i9dQZF1EpfklpwuaxQM8