YOU MAY not yet have heard of the Irish group Anna, but their founder, composer and jack-of-all-trades Michael McGlynn aims to change that.

And I'd believe him, given that, in the 16 years since they began, he has produced nearly 10 albums and established the singers as one of the most successful classical collectives in Irish music.

But now he's on a mission to convert the UK, stopping off in Basingstoke on the way.

"Anna is only known in the UK for two things," Michael explains. "An album in 1999 called Deep Dead Blue, and the fact that we did the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, because we were in Riverdance."

Ah, the R-word. The show was created from the entertainment during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, and has progressed to a toe-tapping extravaganza. Anna (pictured) sang the opening vocal section.

"Our involvement with Riverdance has been such a huge focus, but we were only in the show about a year-and-a-half, meaning that we have ended up being associated with something that's not really what we're about."

Was it a poisoned chalice in part then?

"People were bombarded with a certain image of Ireland. Riverdance was a celebration of a time when Ireland was booming.

"Suddenly people wanted to invest and the standard of living went through the roof, but there's more of a cynical attitude to that time now, as it wasn't all it seemed to be.

"Riverdance is still running, but it's a commercial entity now, very different from the show which we became involved with. There's a spiritual basis to our show as well, with cloaks and candles - and a multiple world champion Irish dancer, specially flown in from Australia."

Some of Michael's pieces for Anna have their origins in music from the ninth century onwards. How did that unusual inspiration come about?

"When I was studying music, we were always listening to ancient French and German medieval pieces. But I was wondering about the Irish equivalent - what did people sing in court in the Brehan times, what did harpers play? It started off as a bit of a crusade, but when I took pieces that I found and adapted them, it worked.

"Our show is very accessible to a UK audience - who are very spoilt, by the way! They have the best of everything here. It makes some of the most inaccessible music accessible. Our show is almost an educational process - the audience travels along on a journey with us. At the end of our shows, people are always amazed that a certain piece was written in 1150, that some of this music was written a thousand years ago!"

Anna have also just signed up to a major American licensing deal with Koch, incidentally, the company which also represents Bob the Builder's US musical interests!

But Michael isn't overly concerned about the other side of the Atlantic, despite the fact that the group would be lapped up by the huge immigrant population there.

"It's very different, post 9/11, to get visas and everything, and we'd rather be established in the UK because we love it, and because it's the nearest place to us! But, additionally, Anna is not part of that awful Irish-American paddywhackery. We are very proud of our culture."

Michael talks rapidly and I experience some of his dynamic personality that has created such a prolific group. How on earth does he manage it?

"As well as composing and producing work for the group, I do all the administration, I train the singers, I do all the promotion, and I do all the legal work. But there just aren't enough hours in the day - I just don't have the time, bottom line, but somehow we get there!"

Anna will be appearing at The Anvil on Thursday, February 5, at 7.45pm. Tickets, priced from £15, are available from the box office on 01256 844244.