Fair Maidens

“Fair Maidens” is a collaboration supported by a Leitrim Arts Individual Artist Bursary and an Artist Support Residency with The Dock Arts Centre, Carrick on Shannon. Over the course of the residency, acclaimed cellist Eimear Reidy and myself explored traditional songs that portray women in various roles, often using stereotypical ideas, but also casting light on the diverse challenges and emotions that women of past generations had to deal with and some that they still grapple with today. We were also keen to see how the voice in its raw form could combine with that of the cello, to produce some interesting ideas around accompaniment and complementation of the traditional genre. This collaboration culminated in a recording of five songs – four old traditional songs and one newly composed song – “The Comely Maiden”