Irish Sign Language choir wow TV audience

An Irish sign language choir put on a moving performance on Ireland’s Got Talent that had the judges and audience in tears.

The DeafTones from Dublin performed Ed Sheeran’s Photograph in Irish Sign Language.

The unique act had the judges in awe and the DeafTones were unanimously voted through to the next stage of the competition.

The choir is made up of eleven deaf singers who perform the song lyrics in Irish Sign Language, and two hearing abled singers who sing.

They performed the popular Ed Sheeran hit Photograph in front of judges Louis Walsh, Michelle Visage, Jason Byrne and Denise Van Outen.

The judges were visibly moved by the performance, as were the live studio audience. The viewers at home were also touched by the choir as they began trending on Twitter.

The DeafTones includes three sisters from Ennis; Leah, 20, Aimee, 19, who are deaf, and 14-year-old Ciara McLoughling, who can hear.

The choir is led by Shirley Higgins, who is a teacher in the Holy Family School for the Deaf in Cabra.
She set up the choir three years ago.

She told the Irish Mirror: “It’s what’s different with our choir, everyone is so used to listening to music when you’re seeing the performance with sign it puts an extra dimension on it and it makes it very emotional.

“ISL is Leah and Aimee’s first language which has just been recognised this year. That’s what makes it so different and important.”

She added: “I think it’s fantastic to see Ciara being brought into the girls’ world. She’s always seen them in choirs but she is involved in modern dance but being involved in the choir means they are all equal.”

Leah said: “I believe we are a unique act. We wanted to enter an show everyone what we can do.

“We were petrified on the day but once we got on stage we just got into it. Bringing my sister Ciara in means we can balance the two worlds, the deaf world and the hearing.”

Aimee added: “It’s great because it’s something that we have never done together before. I don’t think it makes us stronger as we already have a strong bond.”

Take a look at the DeafTones performance below.