Culture Night 2024 - Friday 20th September
Starting 7.30pm in Aistear Park and 2nd part in St Caimin’s Catholic Church - Free event!
Our theme for this years Culture Night, will be 'Harmony.'
The dictionary defines harmony as:
"A situation in which people are peaceful, and agree with each other"
or
"The combination of separate but related parts in a way that uses their similarities to bring unity to a painting, drawing, or other art object."
or
notes that are played or sung with the main tune and that make the piece more complicated and interesting.
We live in a world which seems to become increasingly unharmonious, where people seem determined to fight over their differences, rather than to find ways to live together in harmony.
Mountshannon Arts has always strived to create harmony through their work. We try to be as inclusive as possible, and by including a diverse range of art forms in our programming to accommodate different tastes, but also, hopefully, to introduce new ideas, new styles, and new ways of creating art and music, and to broaden peoples visions.
We believe that to create a more harmonious world, we need to start locally, by creating a more harmonious community.
On Friday 20th September, we will be offering an opportunity for everyone to gather together to celebrate our common humanity in an evening of music, poetry and prose.
We will begin with a spectacular Rhythm Ramble in the Aistear Park at 7.30pm.
Slavek Kwi, and Cormac Griffith will be working with both local National schools in the parish to create musical instruments which will then be stomped and rattled as we make our way to St Caimins Catholic church in a lantern lit [bring a lantern] procession.
There will be an open workshop on the day, in the Community Hall from 11am - 1pm...bring your own sticks.
Stamping sticks are amongst the simplest and oldest of all rhythm instruments. Usually beaten on the ground they may be sticks chosen at random (just to experiment) or be specially fashioned lengths of hollow pipes (wooden, PVC, metals, bamboo) or just sticks of various sizes and thickness. Find a stick, which sounds nice to you when you stamp it while walking. Decorate it with paints, feathers, bells, or whatever you choose.... add fairy-lights or leave it “natural” and bring it with you to the park, where we will come together to explore how we can find unity in the chaos.
Our concert in the church, will include local choirs, musicians and wordsmiths.
Local artist Clíodhna Donnellan has written a special piece for the event, and along with local choirs will perform the world premiere of this music on the night. Clíodhna will be accompanied by Bríd Crannitch on piano.
In keeping with the theme for the night the piece of music is a metaphorical landscape of the current climate of displacements, conflicts etc., presented as an almost love story, using nature for the metaphorical setting.
Two local choirs will be taking part. The East Clare Community choir, under the direction of Johnny O'Brien, and The Lough Derg Singers who are directed by Froukje Powell.
Cormac Griffith has kindly offered to give a performance on his Glass Harp. This is a rare opportunity to see and hear this special instrument.
Also performing on the night, we will have talented local folk trio, Slow Creatures.
Local writers will also be taking part, and will read their poems or pieces of prose on our theme 'Harmony'.
Many thanks to Father Jones for generously allowing us to use the church.
Please note that the Rhythm Ramble is somewhat weather dependent, and the church may be needed for a funeral service, in the unfortunate occurrence of a death in the parish.
Hopefully, the weather will be perfect and the church will be free.
"To create a vision of the harmony of the unequal, balance the infinite variety, the chaotic, the contradictions in a unity." Hans Richter
Clíodhna Donnellan is an Irish traditional musician, producer, curator and creative arts facilitator living and working in her native East Clare. She has been involved in the creative arts sector for over 20 years. Clíodhna has curated multi-disciplinary events with the support of Clare County Councils, in collaboration with Mountshannon Arts Festival and coordinated the Mountshannon Trad Festival that ran from 2010-2019. She released her debut album in 2020 entitled "Beneath the Hedgerow". Clíodhna continues to perform music and is working on newly composed material.
One of her compositions has been published in Faber Music publication released May 5th, 2023 entitled "Folk Tunes from the Women", a first publication of 150 tunes by 100 female composers across Britain and Ireland. Since 2020, Clíodhna has been based at her residence situated in the Slieve Aughty Mountain protected area of East Clare overlooking Iniscealtra (Holy Island), on Lough Derg where she offers in person and online music tuition and music workshop weekends. Clíodhna focuses on a holistic approach to arts practice. She draws on her native landscape and environment as a source of inspiration for her personal and creative work. Clíodhna is on the peer panel of the Arts Council of Ireland, is a tutor with Music Generation Clare and is a mentor with Minding Creative Minds.
Clíodhna Donnellan Ph.D.
Bríd Cranitch comes from a musical family in Cork, Ireland. She is the sister of the well-known fiddler, Matt Cranitch, and has performed with many traditional musicians, such as Frankie Gavin, Seán Maguire, Moving Cloud, and her brother, Matt. She has also appeared on several music recordings, most notably on Connie O’Connell’s album, “Ceol Cill na Martra” and on radio and TV programmes as piano/keyboard player.
She is the selector and arranger of the Irish Session Tunes (The Blue Book and The Orange Book) and performs with well known Clare fiddler, Sheila Garry, on the accompanying CD’s. She also plays the fiddle and has played in sessions around the country, most notably in Cork and Clare.
Slow Creatures are a folk trio hailing from East Clare, Ireland. Known for their evocative melodies and rich harmonies, the band draws inspiration from the rugged landscapes and abundant musical heritage of their homeland. Their music weaves traditional Irish folk elements with contemporary influences, creating a sound that is both timeless and refreshingly modern. Slow Creatures' intimate performances and heartfelt lyrics have garnered them a dedicated following, making them a notable presence in the Irish folk music scene.
Slavek Kwi is a sound-artist, composer and researcher interested in the phenomena of perception as the fundamental determinant of relations with reality. He has a long-standing fascination with sound-environments, developing what he terms ‘electro-acoustic sound paintings’ (he has synaesthesia) that oscillate between sound only works and interdisciplinary works exploring social, spatial and temporal processes.
“I am using the abstract possibilities of art to expand the meaning of this perceived reality. I am interested in the relationship between the individual and the sound environment; how sounds impact our behaviour, how they can act as a catalyst for the creative process, and how they can open a window into the unknown”.
From 1991 Slavek has operated under moniker of Artificial Memory Trace. Then, gradually he evolved into disembodied gender-less sound-entity alfa00. Since 2018 alfa00 is acting as ambassador of uni.Sol_*, an international project exploring freedom, extrasensory communication and synchronicity.
* United Artists for Well-Being of Solar System & Everything Else is an initiative aspiring to be an all-inclusive and ever-evolving project exploring the potential of extrasensory communication with the purpose to facilitate a deeper connection between all entities. An intention to explore and implement the idea of freedom, to enhance awareness of human relationship with the surrounding environment through the practice of listening. A hope to create stimulating sensual, spiritual, and aesthetic experiences. A vision of an all-encompassing universe welcoming unconditionally all Sounds - regardless of origin, a system of thinking and beliefs.
Cormac Griffith was fascinated by the sound of glasses already, from when he was 12 years old.
30 years later for a friends birthday party he got 8 glasses and played happy birthday.
"I saw the guy Robert Tiso on YouTube, and copied his plans...3 rows.
I searched in every charity shop, and every home wear shop, looking for the right pitch glasses, until I had 33 of the appropriate sizes and put them together."
Roisin Bugler is the creator and organiser of the wonderful "A Flow of Words" on Scariff Bay Radio.
For Culture Night, she has asked people to write a poem, or piece of prose on our theme for the night...'HARMONY'
In preparation for Culture Night 'A Flow of Words' with Mountshannon Arts and Scariff Bay Community Radio are seeking submissions of poetry and prose on the theme of 'Harmony' for a show to be broadcast on September 22nd.
In addition there will be an opportunity for a number of participants to read their work at the Mountshannon Arts Culture Night event in St. Caimin's R.C. Church on Culture Night, Friday September 20th.
In the lead up we are offering a writing workshop with Ron Carey followed by a poetry reading with Ron and Greg Carey.
Although the workshop is free (sponsored by Mountshannon Arts) spaces are limited. Please contact mountshannonpoetry@gmail.com to register your interest before Friday August 30th
Submissions for A Flow of Words open until Friday September 13th.
Scariff Bay Radio will be recording the whole evening live.
The Lough Derg Singers started life at the beginning of the Millennium, when a few people who loved to sing, gathered together once a week, in a tiny room in a tiny cottage in Whitegate.
We have a core group of around 20 singers, and we are always looking for people to join us.
We don't take ourselves too seriously, and our motivation is to have fun, as well as to create beautiful harmonies. The one constant is our love of singing, and especially our love of singing together.
Our repertoire consists of Church music, Madrigals, and folk music from around the world.
We sing mainly in four voices, although this can sometimes sound more like fourteen. The [hard at times] process of getting us from fourteen to four is left to our choirmaster, Froukje Powell, [MA in Community music] and ultimately brings great moments of fulfilment and joy.
The East Clare Community choir was founded in 2010 by John O’Brien, and as the name suggests it is a choir very much entwined in the fabric of the local community, performing regularly in parishes churches and venues throughout the region. The choir sings a wide variety of music, incorporating popular, traditional, original, contemporary, and sacred music into its repatoire all the while expanding their musical horizons and developing a deep love of choral music as they continue to evolve. They are acutely aware of the power of choral music to bring people together and their mission is to remain relevant and connected to the people of the local area and beyond. They have just returned from their annual trip which this year was to Westport and Ballintubber Abbey where they performed at the local church services over the weekend. This 30 strong SATB choir rehearse on Wednesday nights in Scarriff and always welcomes new members…..especially those endangered species…. namely tenors and basses …in which case it is rumoured all you need to get in the door is a pulse!!! We hope you will enjoy our efforts on the evening and are honoured to be associated with this wonderful event.
