Our good friends Architects of Harmonic Rooms and Records are collaborating with Leeds Film Festival and The Irish Arts Foundation to present a fascinating film by an Irish filmmaker, writer, photographer and Ex-Leeds bus driver Bob Quinn.
In this fascinating documentary Quinn examines the connections of folk traditions between an Irish fishing village and North Africa, Egypt and Morocco that date back to pre-history…
Before and after the film there will be live music from a collaboration between Irish Guitarist Cian Nugent and Bradford based world music ensemble The Family Elan that will be writing material that relates to the themes explored in the film …
About the film maker…
Bob Quinn
James Thurber wrote of himself: ‘Easy to rouse, he is hard to quiet and people usually just go away. ‘The same might be said of Bob Quinn. Under the title ‘Cinegael’, and for nearly four decades, in words and images, Bob Quinn has recorded life in the West of Ireland, especially in the Conamara Gaeltacht. He has been called a ‘talented eccentric’ (by Ken Gray, Irish Times) a ‘maverick’ (by corporate RTE & the late Jim Kemmy). Hence the ‘Maverick’ title of his 2001 book on RTE. This is as good a way as any to approach him and his work. Born in Dublin and after seventeen different careers he became a television producer at the age of 27. In 1969, after a career in Irish public broadcasting, he opted for the James Joyce tactic of silence, exile and cunning. He succeeded in only one of these tactics – exile in Conamara. But in the process he has produced a respectable body of cinematic, literary and photographic work. For more information check: www.conamara.org
About the musicians…
The Family Elan
“The Family Elan’s Chris Hladowski claims inspiration from a vast array of regional historical forms, including Azerbaijani music of the 15th and 16th centuries, the Rebitiko
sounds of early 20th century Greece, and the U.K. psych-folk outpouring of the 1960s. Whether the listener is capable of identifying each and every touchstone is probably unimportant – it’s the sheer quantity of them that counts….”
[audio:http://www.box.net/shared/static/p94tyzy19l.mp3|titles=Wide Eyed Fox|artists=The Family Elan]
http://www.myspace.com/familyelan
Cian Nugent
Cian Nugent is a young guitar player and composer from Dublin who combines squicky pre-war blues, Appalachian string band music, modern classical and the Takoma school into a deeplypersonal style. His music boasts an orchestrated and fully instrumented sound that is playful and eerie at the same time.
[audio:http://www.box.net/shared/static/ed0ezbfmxa.mp3|titles=The Ceremony|artists=Cian Nugent]
http://www.myspace.com/ciannugent
The Detail
Film: The Atlantean Irish (50mins)
Live music: Cian Nugent & The Family Elan (15-30mins)
Venue: The HiFi Club, 2 Central Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS1 6DE
Date: Wednesday 17th November 2010
Time: 8.00pm – 10:00pm
Tickets: £4/5 from www.leedsfilm.com
Or ring box office on: 0113 2243801
The Atlantean Irish was also released as a book by Bob Quinn: