Plúirín na mBan is a brand new collaboration between Irish traditional singer, bodhrán player, and composer Cathy Jordan, Austrian fiddle-player, composer and singer Claudia Schwab and contemporary Irish composer Irene Buckley. The three artists were first brought together through the project “Meascán – Music Across Cultures”, which came to life as part of Cairde Sligo Arts Festival 2019. The following year, CSAF commissioned the female contingent of the group to create new music, blending the traditional and contemporary. They video-premiered the result at the festival´s online edition, “Cairde Connected”, in July 2020.
With Cathy’s boundless knowledge of the canon of traditional music, Claudia’s intrepid ability to cross cultural and musical worlds and Irene’s extensive experience in creating sound worlds across many genres, a very unique and introspective body of sounds started to emerge.
Inspired to explore more deeply their growing repertoire of ancient melodies reappearing in the context of ambient electronics and delayed fiddle-loops, drawing in elements of diverse music traditions such as Indian Classical music or jazz, the trio set out to record their debut album in 2021 and 2022.
The body of songs chosen for their debut album, “Female Rambling Sailor”, focuses on the perspective of a female narrator, a theme that appeared naturally in the process of working together. The album presents a unique synergy of Cathy’s grounding in the Irish music tradition, Irene’s background in ambient and electronic music and Claudia’s experience of amalgamating diverse genres and music traditions:
Atmospheric drones amalgamate with ancient song lyrics, a sound world of fiddle-delays draws us into the story of a dreadful ghost, while stomping bodhrán rhythms accompany the efforts of a boatsman to convince his love to marry him. Intricate three-part vocal harmonies honour the life of a sailor working for the royal navy and we hear a woman’s warning to “never prove false to your womankind”.
https://pluirinnamban.bandcamp.com/album/female-rambling-sailor
