Last month we reviewed ‘The Broken Pledge’, the latest offering from Dublin’s The Bonny Men. Of all the tunes on the album, the opener ‘Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie’ left the biggest impression. Impossible to resist, a didgeridoo sets the initial drone before uilleann pipes take centre stage. The Bonny Men add pace and a primal energy to the tune which almost takes on a life of its own as it builds to an intense level.
That an accompanying music video called Earworm was to be released was great news, but much like the tunes stature on the album, the results are equally euphoric and quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s called Earworm with good reason.
Choreographed by Sibéal Davitt and filmed by acclaimed Irish film director Gavin Fitzgerald, the film explores the torment of the creative process. Visceral movement, animal imagery and wild traditional music collide in this piece that creeps and crawls its way under the skin. Watch the short film below and read the accompanying press below which provides a brilliant insight to both the film and music.
The concept behind this project was to tell a story through movement, nightmarish imagery and traditional Irish music in an atypical environment. Work, whether creative or otherwise, can often consume us and our sleep patterns become alive with ideas and unconscious realisations. Actor and dancer Jade O’Connor plays the creator in this piece and her dance ensemble, featuring Emily Kilkenny Roddy, Dmitry Vinokurov, Olwyn Lyons and Sibéal Davitt, perform movement inspired by animals. Each character embodies a different creature; frog, crocodile, bird and scorpion. The creator dances herself into a disturbing sleep paralysis where she no longer has control and the movement takes a life of its own.
The project was filmed in Poolbeg Power Station which is to be redeveloped in the near future. Director Gavin FitzGerald wanted to find an original space and transform it into a creepy abomination. Director of Photography Darragh McCarthy with the help of Dublin based production company Taller Stories and Art Director James Farrell turned this vision into a reality.
The choreography was created by Sibéal Davitt who took influence from Ari Aster’s recent film Midsommar as well the tribal nature of traditional music. Costume designer Ciana March, who was assisted by Angela Mulhern, created pagan inspired masks for The Bonny Men and makeup artist Nina Ayoub and hair stylist Niamh Glynn completed the crazed look of the dancers.
Foley artist Eoghan McDonnell (Coconut Sound) remixed the track to make something powerful and expansive.
A big shout out to colourist Sophia Tamburrini and JJ Rolfe who (after wrapping on a feature film) worked with Lauren Jane O’Brien and Sarah Dillon in the camera department. A special thanks to Teach Solais, Raygun, photographer Simon Walsh and everyone who helped make this project possible.
The Music
The Bonny Men are a traditional music band from Dublin comprising of two sets of siblings, Natalie & Maitiú Ó Casaide, Barry & Conor Lyons along with Turlough Chambers, Moss Landman & Adam Whelan. The reel played in this video is Séamus Ennis’s version of Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie and it is the opening track on their recently released third album, The Broken Pledge. On it they collaborated with well-known musicians – Steve Cooney on Didjeridu, Tim Doyle who wrote the string arrangement and played in the string section along with Martin & Adele Johnston. The album was recorded and mixed by Damian Chennells in the Kitchen Studios in Dublin.
Notes on ‘Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie’
by Maitiú Ó Casaide, piper with The Bonny Men
The uilleann pipes are an instrument native to Ireland that date back to the 1700s. Bellows, which are strapped to the right arm, pump air into a bag which sits under the left oxter. From there the air moves into the seven pipes. The chanter on which the melody is played, three drones which provide the bass sound and three regulators which are rows of keys on which you can play chords and provide accompaniment by using your right wrist.
Uilleann piping was at its zenith in Ireland just before the Great Famine but went into a period of steady decline to the point where there were only 100 pipers left in the country and only one full time pipe-maker. The pipes are now thriving again due to great work of Na Píobairí Uilleann; an organisation formed in 1968 to preserve and promote the playing and making of uilleann pipes, as well as the influence of traditional groups such as Planxty, The Bothy Band & The Chieftains.
During this period of decline the torch was safely handed on by a handful of master pipers who had a huge influence on today’s generation of players. None more so than the great piper, broadcaster and collector Séamus Ennis.
One recording of his stands out – his unique interpretation of the reel Jenny’s Welcome to Charlie. He twists the tune in the second part to include E-Flat crans which against the D Drone creates an eerie and harrowing effect, showcasing the haunting sound and the versatility of the instrument.
It’s a delicate process balancing tradition and heritage with the desire to create new sounding material. We feel privileged to have been able to bring this tune into a modern context and give it a new lease of life through this special collaboration with Gavin, Sibéal, the dancers and the film crew.
It’s been a fascinating experience for us to work with people outside of our own art forms, bringing us out of our comfort zones and together creating something that is unique and hopefully may be a source of inspiration for budding musicians, dancers and film-makers for years to come.
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Head on over to Bandcamp to get the album and more: https://thebonnymen.bandcamp.com/