Sung entirely in Irish, CAOIN pitches Ceara Conway at the forefront of a new generation of sean nós singers.'' Songlines Magazine
Known for her unique use of traditional song and lament in contemporary art, Galway artist Ceara Conway is collaborating with musicians Kevin Murphy (Cello ), Ultan O’Brien (Viola, Fiddle ) and Anna Mullarkey, (piano, electronics ) on a live performance of her latest album, ‘CAOIN’.
Conway tends to create experiential performance works that utilise traditional and contemporary songs, music and visual art to explore social issues such as the ecological crisis, migration and feminist concerns. She says: “As a vocal artist, I have been composing, performing, and using songs as a way in which to connect with audiences on issues that we experience individually and collectively, for example exploring the sense of loss we experience in relation to experiences of death, migration, feminist issues, and the environmental crisis."
She has performed work widely internationally and in Ireland, including the Katzen Arts Centre, Washington, The Barbican, UK, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Taigh Chearsabhaigh Museum, Galway Arts Centre, and the National Gallery of Ireland.
This collection of sean-nós and world music songs, released in March 2022, explores the beautiful sounds and sentiments of love, loss and longing found in traditional praise songs and lullabies with an emphasis on the traditional Irish ‘caoineadh’, lament. Conway says: "The collection of world music and sean-nós songs within CAOIN are songs that I have performed over the years both on stage and in my commissioned works. From Amhrán Muighnse, the first sean-nós song that I learnt and still love to this day, to ‘’Caoineadh’, a lament that I appropriated as part of a series of public lamentations called ‘Making Visible’ that commented upon the grief experienced by women living in the Direct Provision System."
CAOIN premiered in glór, Ennis last April before embarking on a nationwide tour. Conway will complete the tour at home in An Taidbhearc on Thursday April 6. She says: "The inspiration that inspired the framework for CAOIN was based on my experience of singing these songs and sensing a connection between them in terms of their potent emotional expression.’’
Ceara will perform in An Taidbhearc on Thursday April 6 at 8pm. Tickets are €18 and are available from eventbrite.ie
