Tonight, Friday September 21, locals and visitors across the island of Ireland will enjoy the unique experience of Culture Night, a free night of entertainment, discovery, and adventure taking place in a record 34 towns, cities, counties, and islands in Ireland.
As part of Culture Night 2012, Áras Inis Gluaire brings to you The Music Makers at 8.30pm. The Music Makers is a music-and-film performance piece celebrating the creativity and skill involved in traditional music-making, from the actual making of musical instruments to the performance of traditional music on those very instruments. In the show, live music is interwoven with film footage of the craft workers as they fashion the instruments being played. The Music Makers features footage from award-winning film-maker Myles O'Reilly taken in the workshops of four instrument makers: violin maker Graham Wright; bow maker Gary Leahy; mandolin and guitar maker Brian Lofthouse; and uilleann pipes maker John Butler. Performing live in the show are four outstanding traditional musicians; Julie Langan (fiddle ), Finbarr Naughton (fiddle, mandolin ), Brian Lofthouse (guitar, mandolin ), and John Butler (uilleann pipes ).
It is also an innovative performance piece, presenting the breadth of skill and creativity involved in music-making. A visually and aurally stunning celebration of instrument and music-making, it provides a chance for audiences to see the inner workings of instrument makers' workshops, and gives some insight into the skill involved in bringing an instrument into being. In so doing it promotes a greater understanding of the wider context in which traditional music is made possible. The Music Makers also showcases some of the highly skilled traditional musicians and instrument makers based in Ireland today.
The Music Makers was devised and developed by the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, with the support of an Arts Council DEIS award.
