Tríona Ní Shíocháin: "What is a song composer?: Re-compositional practices in Irish traditional song  and a reassessment of the anonymous woman's voice"

What is a composer anyway? This lecture recital explores the blurred boundaries between song composer and singer within the Irish-language tradition, both in respect of melody and words. It is argued that singers utilised many of the same compositional techniques as the song poet in the transmission and performance of traditional song. The leads us to reassess the role and meaning of the anonymous woman's voice in traditional song repertoire, a theme which will be explored through both discussion and singing during the lecture.

Tríona Ní Shíocháin is Professor of Modern Irish and Performing Arts (Ollamh le Nua-Ghaeilge agus le Taibhealaíona) and Head of the School of Celtic Studies at Maynooth University, Ireland, prior to which she was Head of the Department of Music at University College Cork, where she was also Lecturer in Irish Traditional Music. An interdisciplinary scholar of Music and Irish, and a sean-nós singer, whistle player, and set-dancer, she has a wide range of interdisciplinary specialisms, including: oral composition, transmission, and performance;  dance, vocality and the development of vernacular music techniques; women poet composers from the 17th to the 19th centuries; hidden histories of thought as represented in Irish-language poetry and song; and Artistic Research and arts practice for minority/endangered languages.

Notes & Narratives will take place at Na Píobairí Uilleann, 15 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1, starting at 8:30pm on Thursday 18th July 2024. Admission is €10 (unwaged / student / retired €5). For those unable to attend in person, it will also be live streamed for free through our channel NPU-TV.

Na Píobairí Uilleann presents Notes & Narratives – a series of monthly performance-based lectures on traditional music, song and dance by some of Ireland’s finest traditional artists.

Supported by The Arts Council.