'The Wanderer' Tommy to host night of enchantment
TG4 and The Creative Ireland Programme present the Art of Imagining
Tommy Tiernan, taking on the role of 'The Wanderer' tonight hosts 'Samhlú' a landmark cultural showcase to celebrate the artistic endeavours and creativity that have endured throughout Ireland despite a very challenging year.
COVID-19, with its wide-ranging restrictions on public gatherings, has had a significant impact on the arts, culture and entertainment worlds.
TG4 and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media’s Creative Ireland Programme have come together to offer solidarity and support to Irish artists through this new cultural platform.
The Samhlú 2020 programme is set in the surrounds of Roundstone, Connemara, Co Galway. Tiernan plans bringing the audience on a joyous and magical journey of music, dance, and theatre. A little street, on the edge of the world, will become the arena for Samhlú, a night of enchanting theatre to swell the hearts of viewers. Like a Joe Boske arts festival poster bursting to life, Meangadh Fíbín will present something bold and cinematic, unusual and brave, daft and surreal, unprecedented and otherworldly, to celebrate a year like no other… a year where the normal became a thing of the past, and a new way of life persevered in the most beautiful of ways. Presented like an anthology film, Samhlú is held together by a narrative in a magical setting where a world comes alive with music and art.
World renowned composer and Roundstone resident Bill Whelan’s new original composition, ‘Samhlú’ will premiere in the broadcast. The broadcast will also feature performances from Shane Hennessey, Moxie, Slow Moving Clouds, Julie Feeney, Morgan Bullock, Tonnta, Brian Finnegan, Seamus Flaherty, Catherine Young Dance, David Geaney, Rónán Ó Snodaigh and Varo. Six short films which are legacy pieces will also feature interwoven into the performances of the evening. The evening will erupt into performances from every artform, where doorsteps, piers and chipper vans become stages. All the performances led by the Wanderer -Tommy Tiernan- are interwoven with six short films.
Waterford Walls (Visual Art/ Music)
The painting of the mural for healthcare workers… a painting on a wall in the town will dissolve into the film, scored ‘live’ within the world of the TV show. A short film by filmmaker Mia Mullarkey portraying the stunning murals around Waterford City.
Modern Day Mummers (Dance/ Youth/ Traditional culture)
A short film by well-known filmmaker Johnny Gogan about tradition, dance, music and the culture of mummering in County Leitrim… a unique cinematic take on the origins of the tradition, and the theatricality of turning identity upside down. Johnny will work in collaboration with dancer, choreographer and artist Edwin Guckian from County Leitrim.
‘State of Exception’ Catherine Young (Dance/ Music)
A film about the extraordinary dance show inspired by the experience of making work with refugees and asylum seekers in Direct Provision. Filmmaker Jonny White .
‘Fiach’- (Theatre)
From the actors’ perspective a film about the challenge of making a drive-in drama in Connemara and Galway during Covid. The struggle to make theatre and the unique inventive way a theatre show was created. Filmmaker- Paul D’Eath.
Lackeen (Culture/ Tradition/ Youth)
A poetic film exploring traveller culture, focusing on the role of women, their identity, ethnicity, culture and gender. Filmmaker- Pat Comer.
An Irish Goodbye
A short music film set to the song of the same name by the musician Dáithí Ó Dronaí. The video will feature Daithi and his band performing the track together for the first time in a house in Clare that Daithi uses for developing and recording new music. Daithi transformed the secluded house into an artist's retreat and recording studio when the music event landscape was severely impacted by the current pandemic. The track itself was written and recorded in self isolation during the first lockdown, in front of a live stream audience on Youtube.
TG4 15th December 9.30pm