Ceiliúradh ar na Blascaodaí - Arts in Action i gcomhar leis An Taibhdhearc,

with special performance of Suantraí na hInise, Island Lullaby composed by Colm Ó Foghlú, and performed by Niamh Ní Charra, Noreen O’Donoghue and string ensemble.

Le Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh agus a bhanna. D'fhás Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh aníos i nDún Chaoin, Co. Chiarraí ag breathnú amach ar na Blascaodaí. Is amhránaí agus ceoltóir traidisiúnta buaiteach í agus is príomh-ealaíontóir ar an sean-nós í. Bhain sí sult as gairm rathúil mar ealaíontóir camchuairte agus bhí sí ina hamhránaí agus ina seinnteoir fliúite leis an ngrúpa traidisiúnta Danú. Is láithreoir teilifíse den scoth í Muireann agus í tar éis raon clár a reáchtáil le haghaidh teilifís na Gaeilge agus na hAlban le deich mbliana anuas, lena n-áirítear an tsraith cheoil thraidisiúnta 'Port'.

"Ceann de na guthanna is mó agus is suntasaí, ní hamháin i gciorcail thraidisiúnta, ach in áit ar bith", The Irish Times.

A celebration of the Blasket Islands

Featuring Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and her band. Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh grew up in Dún Chaoin, Co Kerry overlooking the Blaskets. She is an award- winning traditional singer and musician and a leading exponent of the sean nós style. She has enjoyed Successful career as a touring solo artist and was lead singer and flute player with the Irish traditional group Danú. Muireann is also a popular television presenter having hosted a range of programmes for Irish and Scottish TV over the past decade including the celebrated traditional music series 'Port'.

"One of the earthiest and most distinctive voices, not just in traditional circles, but anywhere" The Irish Times

Suantraí na hInise / Island Lullaby is a unique and innovative music/theatre event, originally premiered in 2013 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Blasket evacuation and to celebrate the islands’ rich cultural legacy. Haunting and evocative, Suantraí na hInise is composed and directed by Colm Ó Foghlú, features internationally renowned musicians Niamh Ní Charra (concertina), Noreen O’Donoghue (harp) and string ensemble, and includes historical images and film from The Blasket Centre archive.

‘Tragic it is to look out at the Blasket Islands and know that human life itself is ceasing on them, even if we think that living souls should never have had to shelter themselves at all on such windswept rocks… all that seaboard is a silent land, or so we have felt it, as we walked the roads of it. It is however a silence that excites, rather than assuages: there are always presences’, Daniel Corkery

Níl éinne beo bhfluair oileán, is trua a chas má théigh - 'Each of the living has found an island, and he who has left it is lost'.

Composed and directed by Colm Ó Foghlú for Niamh Ní Charra (concertina) and Noreen O’Donoghue (harp) and string ensemble.