The way Aine O’Gorman figures it, music wasn’t just her chosen path in life – it was her destiny.

“Music has always been the thing that I’m good at. It’s the first thing that came naturally to me,” writes O Gorman in correspondence with Celtic Life International. “There’s something so fulfilling about being able to make a living – very precariously – doing the thing that you love. Deepak Chopra calls it your dharma, the thing we are born to do.”

Now residing in the village of Ballinadee in West Cork, O Gorman grew up in North Cork, a locale that proved quite formative to developing her tonal talents.

“My father was a farmer, and my mother was a teacher and organist in our local church; both my parents were very musical. Me and my three sisters all learned instruments growing up. I can appreciate now how privileged we were to be immersed in music from an early age.

“I feel so lucky to have grown up in the beautiful rural countryside. It can be isolating and, at times, quite boring, but being bored as a child was instrumental in me developing my own creativity. I think I owe a lot to walking around the countryside bored out of my brain as a child.”

O Gorman started plying her talents on the family’s upright piano at the age of five, fiddling with the keys and sussing out tunes by ear. As she grew more comfortable with playing music, she would move on to making songs of her own.

“As a songwriter and performer, you can spend months recording and creating music, and then you must send your work out into the world. It can be very hard on your self-esteem at times, sending out hundreds of emails and getting very little response. It’s a vulnerable place. After my first few releases, I got very disillusioned with the industry.

“I think about it differently, now,” she adds. “I create something that I am really proud, just for myself.”

O Gorman doesn’t let herself linger creatively for long, pushing herself out of her comfort zone in order to explore the frontiers of her creative potential.

“Most of my 20s and early 30s were spent playing music supportively for other artists. It was only at 34 that I first started writing my own songs and thinking about a solo career. I always felt safe in that supportive role, but releasing my own songs has been a wonderful and terrifying experience for me, something I couldn’t have imagined.”

This ethos has not just allowed O Gorman the room to grow as a creative, but it has brought her to several career high points. She was shortlisted for a Grammy nomination for her most recent solo release, These Empty Rooms; she’s currently writing the score for a stage play premiering in September; and she recently landed a gig playing a packed venue in her hometown.

“I have been so lucky to have had so many brilliant gigs in the last few years at venues and festivals. I don’t take any of it for granted.”

O Gorman doesn’t paint her life as an independent songwriter as all warm fuzzies and red roses, however; she’s just as quick to point out the thorns.

“As a tiny island, Ireland is really punching above its weight when it comes to music.”

While there are lots of positives in the scene, it is very financially challenging to record and release music and try to make a living.

“There was a time in Ireland where folk musicians came from the working classes. It was from this perspective that we got such a rich canon of protest songs, songs that helped highlight injustices. The rents in Ireland have made it very difficult to maintain a sustainable career as an independent artist.

“The pilot scheme that the government tried the last two years (The Creative Ireland Grant Scheme) could go some way to helping sustain artists; it would allow independent artists to keep creating. Our country is famous for music and the creative arts. If you want artists to be able to afford to create, then you need to support them.”

Despite the difficulties, O Gorman still feels fulfilled with the dharma the universe has handed her.

“I feel incredibly fulfilled. Being creative is such a beautiful part of life. I feel lucky. While it is grim financially, the ability to live my life so creatively is something I wouldn’t trade for anything.”

@aineogmusic