Unique multicultural concert
IRISH, Danish and Mexican cultures are set to interact in a unique concert in the village of Foulksmills.
The Danish theatre director and musician Kai Bredholt from the world famous Odin Teatret (Denmark) will direct a dramatised concert with selected local participants in Teach Lon Dubh in Haresmead on Saturday, October 27 at 12 noon in a free ticketed event.
Malartú Banquet of Poetry and Song is a once-off event that will tell stories of the locality and the world through songs, poetry and music.
The multi-disciplinary performance will combine the practices of several amateur and professional musicians, singers, dancers and poets of the areas of Foulkesmills, Clongeen and beyond.
The invited Artistic Director Kai Bredholt and his parter and wife ErikaBredholt are with selected participants in the days prior to the performance to learn more about their stories and to exchange ideas.
Malartú (Irish for ‘Barter’) will reveal some of the ways in which community is defined. ‘It will mirror the DNA of this region of Wexford and perhaps invite reflection on our own place in our communities’ saidco-organiser Mexican native Karla Sanches who runs Lon Dubh Productions with her Irish husband Oisín O’Connell.
‘We are in the middle of the countryside, socially and culturally, we want to promote local pride, ideas and opportunities. This will be a great opportunity for us to interact with our community and experience the arts in a non-traditional way. Hopefully the audience will really enjoy the mix of Irish, Danish and Mexican cultures in this unique context.’
Kai Bredholt said that in his 24 years as an actor at the Odin, one of his responsibilities had been to do barters all over the world.
‘A barter works on a very simple principle - if I sing a song for you then you sing for me or do something else that you are good at. Every society has circles that never meet. I use the theatre of reciprocity and barter to make these circles collide. It it through this encounter that curiousity, understanding and acceptance of the other can come about.’
‘We gather people and concentrate on what the participants can do, this allows them to shine with dignity, whatever their background, age or culture. I use theatre as a means to make the encounter of cultures possible.’
The event is supported by Wexford County Council’s ‘Small Arts Festival & Experimental Events Grant Scheme’ of the Art Department of Wexford County. Free tickets are available from: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/malartu-banquet-of-poeetry-and-song-tickets-51138119492