ᖃᐅᔨᒪᔭᐅᔪᓐᓃᖅᑐᑦ / OBLIVION / SEACHMALLTACHT

OBLIVION is a multimedia performance, moving image and sound installation created by Aideen Barry in collaboration with internationally renowned Inuit Canadian singer and song writer RIIT ᕇᑦ , Irish Harpist Aisling Lyons with performative costume design by Margaret O Connor and was commissioned by the Irish Traditional Music Archive and Music Network under the 2020 Bunting Commission award. The composer is Cathal Murphy and the music is arranged by award winning composer and musician Stephen Shannon. It is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland and the Canada Council.

OBLIVION is a work built in response to the endeavour of Edward Bunting to save the Irish Harp from extinction, thus giving us the 66 tracks, lilts and airs of Irish Traditional Harp which saved the music for future generations and became an intrinsic part of our Irish Cultural Identity. It also merges two indigenous musical entities to create a new and never before heard sound of Inuit Throat Singing, Irish Harp and Electronica beats to make a dark anthem full of gothic tropes and haunting call to arms from the desperate depths, asking:

What is the role of art and artists at a time of great uncertainty, environmental collapse and the prospect of a world of ruin if we do nothing at all?

An aurora borealis of music and art on the winter solstice, this once-in-a-lifetime event was live streamed on RTÉ Culture from The Complex, Dublin on Tuesday 21 December. View the full performance here.