The Irish Traditional Music Archive’s ‘Drawing from the Well’ tour will commence this Sunday 11 September at the National Concert Hall in Dublin before continuing next week with a number of performances around the country.

The concerts are inspired by the archive’s video series of the same name which the archive began in October 2020 during the pandemic. It features well-known traditional artists using material in the archive to develop their repertoire and present new interpretations of traditional work.

Participants in the series have included Lankum singer Radie Peat, Brían MacGloinn of Ye Vagabonds, dancer and concertina player Caitlín Nic Gabhann, harper Laoise Kelly, fiddle players Jesse Smith and Aoife Ní Bhriain, concertina player Cormac Begley, guitarist Steve Cooney, accordion player Conor Connolly, flute players Deirdre Hurley and Aoife Granville, concertina player Mairéad Hurley, and dancer Edwina Guckian.

All fourteen artists will perform at the opening concert at the National Concert Hall this Sunday. They will be joined by poets Vincent Woods and Moya Cannon who will present the performances. Kelly, Guckian, Begley and MacGloinn will then tour to five venues the following week for concerts at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, Magherafelt (12th), The Linenhall in Castlebar (13th), Áras Éanna in Inis Oírr (14th), St John’s Theatre in Listowel (15th), and the Birr Theatre and Arts Centre (16th).

Commenting on the opening concert this weekend, Liam O’Connor, Director of ITMA, said:

ITMA’s artistic programming is aimed at connecting artists with archival material to inspire new work. [The NCH] concert features 14 of the country’s top musicians, singers and dancers who have been nourished and inspired by the ITMA collections through the ‘Drawing from the Well’ series. A unique feature of this night will be the addition of the spoken word and poetry by Vincent Woods and Moya Cannon.

ITMA previously held a ‘Drawing from the Well’ concert at the NCH in March that focused on the legacy and collections of Liam O’Flynn. The full series of videos can be viewed here.

For tickets to the upcoming concerts, visit https://www.itma.ie/events.