The charismatic Irish jazz singer Cormac Kenevey wowed the crowd during his performance on Thursday night with his unique medley of songs from various artists and eras in the jazz genre. He sat down with tabloid! after providing a resounding encore.
"This isn't my first time to the UAE. I've been to Dubai several times before with my then-fiancé now wife and I also performed in the Dubai Skywards Jazz Festival last year," he said.
As for what got him into the music scene …
"My father was a jazz pianist so that was probably my earlier source of inspiration, so jazz music was played around the house. I used to sing along to Harry Connick Jr. albums but I didn't start doing gigs until about five years ago," he said.
Having tried singing lessons and abandoning them because they didn't appeal to him, Cormac taught himself how to sing but added that he still had a lot to learn not only from his experiences but from other artists as well.
Cormac - computer programmer turned jazz musician - is satisfied with the level of success that he had been able to achieve so far, by collaborating with the National Concert Orchestra in Ireland and performing in various festivals around the world.
But that does not mean that he would be slowing down anytime soon.
"I'm hoping to enter the US music scene. Unfortunately, jazz is small music but the US like the Irish, so I'm hoping that would help when we go there for the first time," he chuckled. "Also, I'd like to continue my clarinet lessons – something that I had to give up to focus on my singing," he added.
