Adopted Galwegian Christof finds his musical direction

Galway has a strange magnetic quality. In conversation with people, it’s remarkable how many will tell you that they’ve lived in the city for longer than they planned. This is very much the case in the artistic community, where newcomers are charmed by the kindred spirits they find. They might have come here on a hunch or a whim, or a story they heard, but something stronger makes them stay.

Christof Van Der Ven could well fit into that kind of story. The Dutch singer/songwriter came to Galway over three years ago, found the welcoming music scene to his liking and has stayed since. Christof sings with the impressive folk troupe Mad Uncle Harry and will soon be launching his own debut EP.

“My ex-girlfriend had gone away for six months, about three or four years ago now,” he says when explaining why he hit the road. “She went to Portugal and that made me think ‘I have to go somewhere else as well’, to get out of the scene back home and do something else.

“I thought Ireland would be nice to go to, for some reason,” he continues. “Maybe it’s because of the ads on TV, or the books you read and all that! And I thought the music scene would be good here as well. I didn’t have a clue what was going to happen but I just made a choice to come here.”

Travelling may broaden the mind, but it also gains you access to a network of people who’ll help you out. Particularly when you need somewhere to lay your head.

“I knew I didn’t want to go to Dublin because it was a bit too big for me,” says Christof. “A friend of a friend got me an e-mail address of a guy who worked in NUIG, so I got in touch with him. He set me up in his sister’s house for a couple of days and I got kind of settled.”

Bizarrely, Christof has never had the chance to thank the guy.“Funny enough, I didn’t hear anything from him at all, any more. Ever! It was strange.”

Armed with his guitar, Christof went to cut his teeth on the only stage open to every performer – the street.

“I wanted to busk. I was really nervous at the beginning, trying to hide away somewhere, in an alley! I got more confident and did that for about a year.”

Christof’s natural style soon endeared him to local musicians and double bassist Kelvin Busher asked him to come and jam.

“Kelvin asked me to start a reggae band with him,” Christof explains. “We did a rehearsal and then we started doing more old time music and bluegrass. That’s how I got into that.”

Christof and Kelvin then went on to form Luvly Lucy with Nicola Joyce and Gerry Paul from Gráda. The band played gigs in The Crane, and within a year of arriving in Galway, Christof was firmly ensconced in the music community.

“They were into the same kind of music, that’s how I got into the scene – I met an awful lot of people in a very short time,” he explains.Christof’s initial dalliance with Galway slowly blossomed into a long-term relationship as the Dutch singer found the folk world was keeping him busy

“I thought I was going to stay in Galway for three months, and [have] another three months of travelling around,” he says. “But I ended up staying here. I kept saying to my family and friends back home ‘I’ll stay for the Summer’. So they were waiting and then after the summer I said maybe I want to stay here!”

Last year, Christof started singing with Mad Uncle Harry, an accomplished, Americana-playing quartet. The rest of the band are Noriana Kennedy (vocals), her brother Paddy (percussion), Liz Coleman (violin) and bassist Paul O’ Driscoll.

“Just over a year ago, I started singing with Noriana – she’s great,” Christof says. “I learned a lot of songs from her. I met her in O’Connor’s; the lads were doing a gig. We got really busy, we’re a band now!”

Christof will soon release his debut solo EP and, as the songs on his MySpace site show, he’s got a deft touch with his adopted tongue. “Whenever I feel like writing I can write a song in five minutes,” he says. “I have one this song that I wrote in 10 minutes. It’s catchy and everyone seems to like it. Some songs take longer.”

Although Christof likes to write about ‘relationships and politics’ his songs seem to dictate which way they want to go.

For more, read page 28 of this week's Galway City Tribune.