Bill Whelan says Friday’s concert will “make a statement of intent at the centenary about the Irish Arts Center and its future.”
By Daniel Neely
This weekend’s anniversary of the Easter Rising comes with a number of important, history making events, many of which have implications for traditional music and its future in New York City.
The largest of the events will take place at Battery Park’s Pier A on Sunday. I will write about the event in detail in a future column, but suffice to say now that it will be a full day event remembering the Rising, and music will be at its center. Things will get underway 11 a.m. with the Government of Ireland and Irish Community’s Official Centenary Ceremony. Afterward, the day will unfold into a cultural celebration that will include food, film, theater, dance (including a performance featuring Jean Butler and Paul Muldoon), lectures, and, of course, traditional music until 7 p.m.
The music will be stunning and plentiful. There will be trad sessions held throughout the day in Pier A’s Oyster Bar hosted by some of the City’s top session leaders and featuring our finest players. Outdoors, in adjacent Wagner Park, a mega concert will take place with a stupendous lineup, including Green Fields of America, Cherish the Ladies, the Brock Maguire Band, We Banjo 3 (who will perform that evening at the Cutting Room), the Yanks, Hammerstep, and more. In all, 110 artists will participate in this free event that will bring some great attention to NYC’s trad music scene! To learn more, visit ireland2016ny.com.
However, the most game changing of the weekend’s events will take place at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theatre on this Friday. Titled “Ireland Rising: Words and Music for a New Century,” it is, on it’s face, an Irish Arts Center Rising event to “celebrate the end of one century and the beginning of another,” and part of the capital campaign for the IAC’s new home. However, its deeper meaning, which concert host and Riverdance composer Bill Whelan revealed to me when we spoke recently, is to “make a statement of intent at the Centenary about the Irish Arts Center and its future.”
Whelan explained that it’s a future “very much tied to the ‘new Ireland,’ one that reflects the real change in the identities of Ireland and Irish America.” He expanded on this point: “you look around Ireland today and it’s a very different place than it was 10 years ago – there’s far more diversity than ever before. Compare that to the Irish in North America, who have been continuously exposed to difference and change. It’s a remarkable story, but the challenge is to embrace all of it while maintaining that connection to your own tradition.”
One might wonder what this “new Ireland” look and sound like? On this point Whelan was clear: a continuum of expressive styles and genres, which is precisely what the “Ireland Rising” concert offers. Among those scheduled to appear include musicians, dancers, poets, and activists familiar to the Irish community, including Paul Brady and Paul Muldoon (who will perform together), Colm Tóibín, Jean Butler, Anne Enright, Liam Ó Maonlaí, Zadie Smith, Declan O’Rourke, Panti, Peter Quinn, and Bill Whelan, who will play an original composition featuring a Seamus Heaney poem about Brian Friel.
Traditional music will, of course, figure centrally in the evening as well. Mick Moloney, Billy McComiskey, Athena Tergis, and Joanie Madden will all perform. Traditional music is a cornerstone of Irish expression and it’s important that it be part of any conversation about the Irish Arts Center's future. That it will be represented here by such a strong and respected group of inclusive players makes a bold statement.
Artists from outside the Irish fold will also perform, including jazz great Cassandra Wilson, jazz guitarist Andreas Varady, and multiethnic vocal quartet Women of the World. These are exciting additions that embody and highlight the Irish Arts Center’s inclusivity and reflect the diversity of the “new Ireland” nicely.
“We don’t define ourselves by our past, we define ourselves by our future,” Whelan quipped toward the end of our conversation. Because “Ireland Rising” will set the Irish Art Center’s artistic tone as it moves further into the 21st century, it is primed to be an important and perhaps seminal concert event. The future, it would appear, is in exceptional hands. For more information about the concert, the IAC’s artistic vision, and it’s capital campaign, visit www.almosthome2016.org. The Irish Arts Center’s website, where you can learn about it’s other programs and events, is www.irishartscenter.org.
