Tradition Now

Reflecting Migrations: Nava, Moxie, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, John Blake & Brían MacGloinn &  Jesse Smith, Steve Cooney, Thomas McCarthy, Paul Dooley & Kseniya Rusnak, Esosa Ighodaro , Jackie, Bernadette, Marianne and Tommy  McCarthy, Eimear McGeown & Libby McCrohan, Órlaith McAuliffe, Cuthbert Tura Arutura

Maija Sofia | Catrin Finch & Aoife Ní Bhriain | Méabh Ní Bheaglaoich | John Field Room Session

Taking over NCH for an evening, the second evening of Tradition Now celebrates migration and collaboration in traditional and folk music. 

Reflecting Migrations is a special one-off concert celebrating a living tradition and renewing itself through the migration of music, people and traditions. 

Navá is a group of young musicians exploring the relationship between the ancient musical cultures of Ireland and Persia. John Blake is an exceptional flute player who grew up in London to parents from the West of Ireland. He is joined by Jesse Smith, a phenomenal fiddle player from Baltimore, USA, and Brían MacGloinn of Ye Vagabonds. Born in Australia, Steve Cooney has created a wonderful new way of accompanying Irish music typified by his work with Séamus Begley. Traveling musicians have played a hugely important role in the migration of music, song and dance within Ireland for centuries. Thomas McCarthy is one of the most important singers of his generation. Paul Dooley is one of Ireland’s leading performers of the Irish wire-strung harp. Paul has formed a musical relationship with Ukranian singer and harper, Kseniya Rusnak who arrived from Kyiv, Ukraine to live in Lisdoonvarna. Moxie are an alternative folk music bank emerging from traditional music roots. They explore other genres and draw from a wide range of influences as they seek to create new sounds that represent their vision for contemporary Ireland. 

Esosa Ighodaro is versatile singer, director and writer whose mesmerising voice reflects her interest in different genres. Born in London and raised in Dublin, Esosa's renditions of songs in the Irish language have astonished audiences in Ireland. The McCarthy Family, Jackie, Berndatte, Marianne and Tommy was raised in London to parents from Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Steeped in a traditional music scene in the English capital, they retained their traditions and eventually migrated to Ireland. Irish speaker, poet and seannós dancer, Cuthbert Tura Arutura, migrated to Ireland form Zimbabwe.  A talented flute player, concertina player and singer, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin creates new songs inspired by the traditions he inherits which have a contemporary vitality. Armagh’s Eimear McGeown, has an international reputation as one of the world’s most versatile flautists and Irish concert flute players. London-born, Órlaith McAuliffe, has been crowned All-Ireland Champion no fewer than 19 times. Performing with Eimear and Órflaith tonight on the Greek-bouzouki is Libby McCrohan. 

Maija Sofia
Growing up semi-feral in a landlocked part of rural Galway, songwriter Maija Sofia's childhood solitude instilled an early devotion to storytelling. Detangling the weirdness, joy and bewilderment of existing, her music alchemises both the intimate and the overwhelming into striking singular songs. Living nomadically between various places and writing mostly at night, Maija’s lyrics channel nocturnal moments of late-night revelation, carrying a dark folkloric edge with the wistful romance of new wave pop. Paired with a preference for analogue instrumentation and off-kilter arrangements, her sound recalls the innovative worlds of Aldous Harding and Kate Bush or the experimental folk of Shirley & Dolly Collins, but is undeniably her own. In 2019 her critically acclaimed debut LP, Bath Time, arrived via Trapped Animal Records. Exploring the shadowed histories of sidelined women throughout history and mythology, it garnered widespread praise and a nomination for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize. Her second album will be released in 2023.

Aoife Ni Bhríain & Catrin Finch
Dublin native Aoife Ní Bhriain is one of her generation’s most versatile and gifted violinists, a dazzling musician who commands both the classical world and her Irish traditional heritage. From across the Irish Sea and the west coast of Wales, harpist Catrin Finch has also built an impressive classical career and ventured into unchartered musical territory, most notably through her award-winning collaborations with Seckou Keita and Cimarrón. Together, Aoife and Catrin form a formidable virtuoso duo, eager to explore a musical world of creative possibility, challenge and discovery, inspired by a multitude of influences and linked by the cultures of their home countries. Their debut public performances at Other Voices Cardigan in November 2022 drew rapturous audience acclaim. Prior to recording their debut album, they now embark on a select few concerts previewing their extraordinary and original new material. 

Méabh Ní Bheaglaoich is a singer, songwriter and musician whose musical expression and stylings  are deeply rooted within the Irish music, language and song tradition of her homeplace of Corca Dhuibhne, the Gaeltacht of West Kerry, Ireland. A native Irish speaker, Méabh was born into the renowned musical family of the Begleys whose undeniable influence has helped in shaping her energetic instrumental playing, emotive and sensitive singing style as well as inspired her development of, and transition into her passion for composing and songwriting. Méabh has enjoyed a full time career in traditional Irish music thus far and has performed both nationally and internationally in countries such as Japan, Taiwan, America, Canada, Russia and across Europe with groups such as acclaimed Irish band Téada, The Pure Irish Drops (The Women of Ireland- The Next Generation), Cuas, Catherine Young Dance, Irish Christmas in America and “Aisling? – An Ród Romhainn” directed by Darach Mac an Iomaire.