Traditional - Shaun Davey

National Concert Hall, Dublin Sat 8pm www.nch.ie

National Concert Hall, Dublin Sat 8pm www.nch.ie

It’s not often you get the chance to hear the work of a composer stripped bare of its orchestral arrangements, but Shaun Davey has long straddled the worlds of classical and folk music. He has enjoyed a particularly fruitful creative surge in recent years thanks to extended sojourns in west Kerry, where he found ample raw material for a suite of new songs titled Béal Tuinne in the poetry of the late poet, Caoimhín Ó Cinnéide.

Tomorrow night he reunites with his longtime collaborator piper Liam O’Flynn and with singer Rita Connolly to air these sublime musical vignettes in the National Concert Hall. Also joining in are Galician gaita (pipes) player Edelmiro Fernandez; percussionist Noel Eccles; banjo player and singer Lawrence Courtney; box player and singer Seamus Begley and his son, concertina player Eóin Ó Beaglaoich; and Éilís Ní Chinnéide on vocals, flute and whistle. West Kerry muscle and wit combined with Belfast finesse. Surely a powerful cocktail?

Siobhán Long

Siobhán Long

Siobhán Long, a contributor to The Irish Times, writes about traditional music and the wider arts