NIGHTVISITING

Based on her work with the National Folklore Collection and her recent M.A in Irish Folklore, internationally acclaimed Irish folk singer Lisa Lambe brings us her new project ‘Nightvisiting’, first commissioned by The National Famine Museum in Strokestown, County Roscommon.

Lisa collaborates with renowned traditional musicians alongside local contributors to create a unique performance bespoke to each venue she visits.

‘NightVisiting’ reconnects us to the social role that night time social house visits once played in our oral traditions and folklore, and in the preservation of our songs and stories from tender love songs, to songs of loss and longing. Lisa Lambe collaborates with renowned musicians and performers to create an evening celebrating the old songs, stories and tunes from around the hearth, bespoke to each location she visits.

In the west, Nightvisiting is known as ‘Bothántaíocht’ or ‘Cuairtaíocht’, in the southern counties it is known as going ‘Scoraíochting’. In other counties; a visit to the Rambling House.

‘NightVisiting’ will bring those who gather to the hearth of the rural house, to sing the old songs and tell the local stories, many now lost or forgotten. Night visiting was an important part of our social society and culture, which began to fade with the electrification of Ireland in the late 1940’s when the hearth slowly gave way to the ballroom, the public house and the dance hall.

‘NightVisiting’ is a celebration and a reimagining of those nights of sharing the old songs and stories and is on tour in 2023. See tour dates for a location near you.

‘From the minute Lisa Lambe took to the stage the audience were mesmerised, her ability to combine passages of folklore with songs depicting love, loss and emigration and Irish rituals seemed to awaken all the spirits of bygone days. The students who had attended the school, the couples that spent many nights dancing and the congregations that had gathered for mass to celebrate happy and sad times in this same room were channelled effortlessly through Lisa’s otherworldly performance which chronicled the history of the area in verse’.

-Gortalassa Old School House,January 2023.