Nollaig na mBan, New Year & Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill
Good evening folks!!
Well that was it! Happy New Year and Happy Nollaig na mBan! The festive season has come and gone, I hope it was a happy time and there were moments of calm for you all :) I hope you were able to release 2019 with some happy memories!
For me and my musician colleagues, it definitely had some high points:
performing at Carnegie Hall's Migrations Festival at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts at the Lincoln Centre with Yeats and Tagore last March and the unforgettable kindness of the Washington Square Hotel who sponsored the whole project with a week's accommodation;
not being successful in my application for the New Work, Artist in Community application to the Arts Council - it was such a lot of work, but in the course of that, I connected with some very supportive and interesting artists and advocates of people with disabilities;
performing our Smashing Red Kite's Blues for so many young audiences over the year and meeting so many gorgeous little ones who engaged so wholeheartedly
Creating new short performance pieces for Bettencourt Production’s Literary Cabaret’s at Buswell’s Hotel;;
singing the Billie Holiday repertoire again for Galway JazzGatecurating and co-ordinating Ranelagh Arts Festival, 2019 with so many brilliant acts across a spectrum of literary, art, music, dance, theatre and inclusion, very established to up and coming artists to the participation of people in the community!
audio described tours for visually impaired with the RHA Gallery. Next tour Jan 16 and 18 of Under the Wrong Star by Michael Robinson. More info please see: advocacy my new advocacy page on my website.
My main wish for 2020 is to start working on music for the next recording. To just do it! I'm putting it out there, because, you know, that's how life starts to lend a hand! I hope all your wishes for 2020 come true and that, for you too, life lends a hand. Thank you for all your support of live music and art. I so appreciate it!
I'll leave you with a beautiful poem by Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill to give us all courage and acceptance as we move through this liminal space, this in-between-becoming time ...
Winter Beachhead
This is the starkest hour of the shore
when it’s purged and cleansed as a Sabbath door.
There’s a brim of lather when the tide’s in
as the waves go on with their day’s washing.
No valved or spiralled or saucered whelk,
no mussel or scallop quiets my walk;
but I make my count, as they cease from sight,
of a head of barnacle geese, a cell of eight.
They sail in their glory; we have to bide our time
and hold out for the fullness to come—
for spring sands merry with foxes’ tails,
or kelp tresses, for clam and cowrie shells.
Warm wishes,
Emilie x