Rufous Nightjar’s 3-part harmony is by turn playful and haunting. Inspired by Eastern European folk songs, the trio render Branwen Kavanagh’s originals with ethereal harmonies. The trio are returning from residencies in two of the most beautiful old houses in Ireland, where they charted arrangements for their first album, due for release later this year.
Ultan O’ Brien and Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin are another powerful musical friendship. They too take a lead from music with a long memory, turning to sean nós and Scottish influences. But the wildness they infuse it with is quite their own.
glór is proud to present an ambitious programme of events produced by young curators, Mary Nagle and Fiona O’ Connell. This double-bill of alternative folk music is the first event of the series.
Rufous Nightjar
Rufous Nightjar is comprised of Branwen Kavanagh, Anna-Mieke Bishop and Zoé Basha. The friendship of the trio came alive in a golden wave of underground traditional and folk music in Dublin. The three were performers and musicians in their own right and took part in one anothers’ creative projects over the years. In the summer of 2018, their shared interest in traditional singing led the three to travel across Eastern Europe learning folk songs. During this trip they developed an intricate and harmonious dynamic which has led them to working together on a collaborative project. Having spent the lockdown composing a number of a cappella songs around the themes of mythology, folklore, landscape, loss and the otherworld, Branwen invited Anna-Mieke and Zoé to collaborate on arranging the songs for an upcoming album for three voices. After two months of development residencies in Ireland; County Clare, Killyon Manor (Meath) and Killruddery House (Wicklow) in 2021, they recorded an album together, to be released in 2022.
Ultan O’ Brien and Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin
The human voice and the fiddle are often thought of as musical cousins. Solas an Lae, (The Light of the Day) is the début album from Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin and Ultan O’Brien, a compelling exploration of that relationship, creating a unique dialogue that blends raw, rugged earth with the ethereal otherworld. In Solas an Lae, bouncing songs and strings off one another, Eoghan and Ultan have created a duo album that emerges viscerally from the sean-nós roots of upbringing to blossom into two of the most articulate Irish musical voices on the scene today.
Solas an Lae won Best Folk Album at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards 2021.
