Raimonda the latest addition to Mullingar’s musical firmament

Mullingar is fast becoming the New Orleans of Ireland. It’s a town of high musical pedigree, where other songsmiths flock to feed their musical imagination.

The success of Niall Horan, Joe Dolan, The Blizzards, The Academic and many more have put the town on the map, and it was this musical aura which, among other factors, attracted Lithuanian-born singer Raimonda Masiulytė-Ramchurn to the town.

Raimonda fell in love with Ireland after visiting her sister, before moving to Dublin permanently in 2010. After buying a car with her husband, Vimal – a chef and a native of the Indian Ocean island state of Mauritius – she started travelling around Ireland.

“There’s just so much to see, and so much of it unspoilt – there really is something around every corner,” Raimonda, a celebrity in her native Lithuania, told the Westmeath Examiner.

On their travels they came to Mullingar a couple of times. Raimonda became aware that the town was home to a sizeable Lithuanian ex-pat community.

“I loved it instantly,” she said. “It’s a nice, quiet town with a very relaxed atmosphere. Everything is within easy reach.

“There is so much natural beauty around. Nature was always important to me growing up in Lithuania, and plays such a huge role in my music. My next single I have been working on, called ‘Strawberry Hills’, draws inspiration from nature around where I grew up.”

On one of her original visits to Mullingar, Raimonda visited Belvedere House and Gardens and was struck by its awesome surrounds. Only later did she learn Mullingar’s living history as a centre of music.

Sold on Westmeath, Raimonda and Vimal began looking for a house in Mullingar last September, and although the move was held up by the lockdown, they have finally moved in, having got the keys in mid-March.

It’s an exciting time for the couple, who have big plans for their time in the midlands.

Raimonda’s love affair with music goes back to the age of nine. She grew up in a small town on the coast of the Baltic Sea, and was talent-spotted during a school performance. She was referred to the National Mykolas Konstantinas Čiurlionis Gymnasium of Arts in Vilnius, where she received instruction in coloratura soprano vocals, piano, choir conducting and music theory.

After travelling all over Lithuania and to Russia and Sweden for music competitions, at the age of 16, she was encouraged to explore jazz, and she attended the Vilnius Juozas Tallat-Kelpša Conservatoire to study vocal jazz. She also joined a gospel choir and a vocal acapella jazz group, and in the mean time, became well known in the underground music scene.

Two years later, Raimonda’s career went through the roof when she qualified for what is the Lithuanian version of X Factor.

“It’s slightly different in Lithuania, as it kind of combines X Factor and Big Brother, so you end up in a house for the duration,” said Raimonda. “That meant I was on television for three months, and you had to perform every week.”

From there, Raimonda was catapulted into national stardom. In 2008, she reached the Lithuanian qualification final for the Eurovision Song Contest, and participated again 2010, before she moved to Ireland.

In the mean time, she built up a solid career as a swing, jazz and gospel singer, travelling to Sweden to study under Grammy Award-winning gospel choir director Kirk Franklin.

“It all happened very quickly,” she recalled. “I moved from singing in quiet jazz bars to performing in full-sized arenas, much like the 3 Arena in Dublin.”

After moving to Ireland in 2010, Raimonda pursued a qualification in Music Business Management at Liffey College, where she first encountered her future husband, Vimal. “Moving to Ireland was the start of the second part of my life,” said Raimonda.

That new beginning has propelled her career on a further upward trajectory. Shortly after arriving in Dublin, Raimonda joined the Dublin Gospel Choir, taking the choir to Lithuania to perform at the Klaipeda Jazz Festival in 2017. Here, she has also performed on the Late Late Show with Damien Rice, and featured on RTÉ and TG4 with Nathan Carter.

She also featured on stage at the Body and Soul Festival in Ballinlough Castle, outside Clonmellon. Little did she know that in subsequent years, she would end up settling down in nearby Mullingar.

Raimonda is intensely proud of having had the opportunity to bring the Dublin Gospel Choir to her home country.

“It gave me a chance to bring the Irish spirit to Lithuania. Now, I’m hoping to bringing the Lithuanian spirit to Mullingar,” she says.

Keenly aware that the All-Ireland Fleadh has been postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak, Raimonda hopes to talk to Westmeath County Council at some stage to organise a small street festival in Mullingar, combining her musical and organisational talent with Vimal’s flair as a chef.

“It would be a family festival, with food and music. It’s only an idea right now, but it is something we’d love to pursue,” she stated.

For now, Raimonda and Vimal are happy to be in their new home in Mullingar, seeing out the rest of this lockdown. When normal times resume, the town can look forward to the benefits of seeing their talents in full bloom.