Co Mayo harper and composer Alannah Thornburgh has joined the lineup for the 2022 Harps Alive│An Chruit Bheo│Harps Leevin festival.
The award winning multi-instrumentalist will be performing on July 16 as part of the packed Harps Alive festival programme celebrating the 230th anniversary of the Belfast Harps’ Assembly, a prospect she has described as ‘exciting’.
The 27-year-old has a long tradition as a harper and is also known as a member of the popular folk trio, Alfi.
Come July 16, Alannah will be performing some of the harpers’ music collected by Edward Bunting at the Belfast Harpers’ Assembly in trio and as a solo harper.
“I’m delighted to be performing at the Harps Alive festival,” she said.
“I look forward to performing alongside an amazing group of harpers at the Harps Alive Commemorative Concert.”
Organised by the Harps Alive partnership, the festival will bring together the finest harpers from across the island to recognise the landmark event that collected music more than two centuries ago for future harpers to learn from and perform.
The partnership between Harp Ireland and Reclaim The Enlightenment is to mark 230 years since the Belfast Harpers’ Assembly in Belfast. In 1792 the Harpers’ Assembly in Belfast brought together 11 harpers, six of which were blind and the eldest Denis Hempson was 97 at the time.
Aibhlín McCrann, Chair of Cruit Éireann Harp Ireland, said that celebrating the anniversary presented a unique musical opportunity for the harping community.
“We are delighted to bring harpers from all over Ireland together to mark 230 years since the Belfast Harpers’ Assembly in Belfast” she said.
“Our harping heritage transcends boundaries and has really connected the partners, north and south.
“It is wonderful to hear the harpers’ music reflecting our living tradition and to see that there is so much interest in it. We are looking forward to welcoming audiences across the city of Belfast to our concerts, talks and exhibitions and in Dublin later in the month.”
Speaking of her role in the festival, Alannah said: “At the Harps Alive Commemorative Concert I will be performing alongside 12 other harpers, commemorating the Belfast Harp Festival.
“I will be playing a tune from the Bunting collection on my own, and I will also be playing a tune from the Bunting collection as part of a trio with Fiona Gryson & Sharon Carroll.”
There will be three major concerts, smaller recitals, workshops, in addition to an exhibition in Linenhall Library, and a new publication on the history of harping in Ireland.
John Gray, Chair of Reclaim the Enlightenment said the Harps Alive│An Chruit Bheo│Harps Leevin festival is rooted in musical history.
“In bringing more than 50 harpers to Belfast, the festival will create the largest ever such assembly in the city,” he said.
“It will be a celebration of the heritage of the harp and the contemporary revival of harp playing, and when it concludes we hope to have created more awareness of the harp tradition with the public and leave a lasting legacy.”
Alannah’s own musical journey, from the age of nine, was rooted in her family’s musical heritage, leading her to explore her father’s love of Appalachian folk music, their love of traditional Irish music and harping, combined with jazz traditions.
“I would describe my music as a cross-genre interaction, juxtaposing old melodies with contemporary harmonies and technique, which I try to carry through to my original compositions too,” she said.
“I would probably be best known for my music with my trio Alfi, with my bandmates Ryan McAuley (five-string banjo) and Fiachra Meek (whistle, uilleann pipes). We play a blend of traditional Irish & Appalachian old-time music and songs.”
In 2021 Alannah was nominated as Best Folk Instrumentalist and Best Emerging Artist at the RTE Folk Awards, and she is continuing to pursue new work.
“I recently released an original composition of mine called ‘Eddie & Noah’, written in response to the birth of my two nephews,” she explained “I am currently working on an album of compositions inspired by fairy folklore in rural Ireland.
“I just finished recording an album with Alfi, due for release at the end of the year.”
“However, it was Edward Bunting, who in 1792 as a 19-year-old organist, was employed to write down the music of the harpers and to transcribe their techniques”, explained Aibhlín McCrann.
“Bunting managed to notate and explain the music, and went on to transcribe works of many harpers and explain Denis Hempson’s fingernail technique. He published three volumes of The Ancient Music of Ireland in 1796,1809 and 1840; a treasure trove for harpers ever since” she said.
Events from July 15 to 17 in Belfast will include a fiddle and harp session in the Deer’s Head with harper Lauren O’Neill and Fiddle player Eugene McKenna.
There will also be a harp workshop in Shankill Road Library on harp making and some harp music from Katy Bustard. Other venues will include Clifton House, An Culturlann, Rosemary Street First Presbyterian Church, The Duncairn and St Joseph’s, Sailortown, which will also host a gala concert.
Harps Alive concludes in Dublin on July 24th with a commemoration at Edward Bunting’s grave at Mount Jerome, an oration by David Byers and a wreath laying by Catherine Martin, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media with performances on early Irish harp and Irish harps.
For tickets to Alannah’s show and for more information about the festival go to http://harpsalive.com