Arigna singer's new song hits the jackpot with three million social media views

Having achieved over three million views on TikTok and Facebook, Arigna singer Aoife Duignan is set to release her new single, The Winning Dream.

Reacting to the viral fame Aoife told the Roscommon Herald: “When it reached one million views on TikTok it just kept growing every time I refreshed. I was absolutely delighted, and then I checked Facebook and realised it had gone over two million on there too, which was just surreal.

“But honestly, the numbers aren’t the most important part for me. It was the continued support, the comments, the stories people shared and their reactions to the song that really made it all feel real.

“Knowing that my music can reach people all over the world, connect with them and give them a bit of enjoyment — that, for me, is what being a singer is all about.”

But behind the viral success is a story stretching back more than 30 years — to an old radio recording, a much-loved rural pub and a local singer named Kathleen Higgins.

While studying traditional Irish music in Drumshanbo, Aoife was gifted a CD by her tutor, Mossie Martin. It contained a recording from 1993 of Regan’s Bogside Inn in Keadue appearing on a Shannonside Radio programme with Vincent Pierce.

On that recording was Kathleen Higgins, originally from County Offaly, singing a humorous song she called The Lottery Song, also known as The Winning Dream.

Kathleen regularly sang in the Bogside alongside her husband John Higgins, who played the fiddle. They became much-loved local characters, and Kathleen is still remembered for the remarkable power of her voice and how it would carry throughout the pub.

Kathleen passed away in 2004 and John in 2010. Although Aoife never had the pleasure of knowing them personally, she became fascinated by their music and stories through the old recording and the people who remembered them.

Aoife learned The Winning Dream directly from Kathleen’s singing on the CD and began performing it herself.

She later performed the song at her sold-out concert in Keadue as well during two sold-out nights at The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon, dedicating the songs she had learned from the recording to Kathleen.

When Aoife shared the performances online, the response was extraordinary.

Videos of the songs have since attracted more than three million views across TikTok and Facebook, with people repeatedly asking Aoife to record and release The Winning Dream.

When it came time to create the photographs for the single, Aoife wanted to bring the story back to where it began.

Playing on the lottery theme of the song, she had an oversized novelty winning cheque and fake money made. She and photographer David Knight (who was also on the 1993 recording playing guitar) then knocked on the door of former Bogside Inn proprietors John James and Carmel Regan and asked if they could return to the pub, which has been closed since Covid, for a special photoshoot.

They were welcomed with open arms. Over tea, music and plenty of craic, Aoife and David photographed the single artwork inside the old pub, throwing fake money around the room and recreating some of the fun at the heart of the song.

But there was one moment that meant much more to Aoife. She sat where Kathleen Higgins used to sit and sang The Winning Dream inside the Bogside.

The pub also holds memories from Aoife’s own childhood. Growing up in Arigna, she remembers going there with her father to sing at traditional music sessions.

“Walking into the Bogside was a magical moment. You could feel the history in those four walls.

“I’d heard the stories about Kathleen sitting there and singing with this powerful voice that would carry around the pub, and then I was sitting where she used to sit, singing the song I’d learned from her voice.

“I never had the pleasure of knowing Kathleen or John personally, but I wanted this release to be a tribute to them and the musical legacy they left behind.

“The Bogside is also part of my own memories. I went there with my dad as a child to sing at sessions, so to come back all these years later with David, John James and Carmel, have the tea and the craic, and create the photos for this release was very special.

“That’s what I love about traditional music. Songs and stories are passed from person to person and from one generation to the next. Kathleen’s voice reached me through an old CD, and now millions of people have heard the song online.

“There’s something really lovely about bringing it back to where that journey started.” The release comes almost exactly two years after Aoife’s debut single, Arigna, another recording rooted in her home place and its history.

Now The Winning Dream will carry another piece of that local musical history to a new generation — more than three decades after Kathleen’s performance was captured on that 1993 recording.

*Aoife Duignan’s The Winning Dream will be released on all major streaming platforms on Friday, September 4th.