In May of 1773, a mare came home to Ráth Laoich without her rider, the saddle empty, the reins dangling, and the flank dark with blood.
One of the most powerful images that comes to us from Irish literature is Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill coming upon the body of her love and her husband, Art Ó Laoghaire, by the side of the road near a ‘low furze thicket,’ and there she cups up his blood in her palm and drinks it because it was too precious for the earth. Drawing inspiration from the tradition of the Wake, Sorcha Ní Scolaí sings Eibhlín Dubh’s powerful lament, in the second performance of this new musical work by Lorcán Mac Mathúna, based on the text, Caoineadh Art Uí Laoghaire.
Sorcha (voice), Lorcán (voice), Éamonn Galldubh (pipes), and Máirtín Tourish (accordion), bring this dramatic story to life in the form of the Wake, connecting Eibhlín Dubh’s passionate art with the traditions and music –both tragic and merry- of the wake.