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Samhain Halloween Concert with Four Shillings Short
October 30-31, 2022Tom Sutherland Stage at Bas Bleu Theatre
Music, stories & folklore to celebrate the Celtic Bonfire Festival of Samhain
Four Shillings Short, the husband/wife duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama from Cork, Ireland and Christy Martin from California, bring together music, stories, and folklore from the Celtic lands to celebrate the ancient Celtic bonfire festival of Samhain, known as Féile na Marbh (Feast of the Dead). Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-in’) marks the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of winter and the Celtic new year. Traditionally celebrated at the end of Oct./beginning of Nov., it is the origin of Halloween/All Hallows Eve, All Souls Day, and Dia de los Muertos.
It is believed that on Samhain or ‘ancestor night,’ the border between the world of the living and the dead is thinnest. Candles are lit at the graves of loved ones, offerings of food and drink left out for the ancestors and bonfires lit throughout the countryside. Many of our modern day customs are based on Samhain including ghost stories, Halloween costumes, bobbing for apples, and the jack-o-lantern.
Touring in the U.S. and Ireland since 1997, Four Shillings Short are international folk-artists who perform 100 concerts a year, have released 13 recordings and live as full time troubadours traveling from town to town performing at music festivals, theatres, and performing arts centers, folk societies, libraries, house concerts and schools. Their music is a mix of traditional and original songs and instrumentals from the Celtic lands, medieval and Renaissance Europe, India, and the Americas on a fantastic array of more than 30 instruments.
Aodh Og O’Tuama grew up in a family of poets, musicians and writers. He received his music degree from University College Cork, Ireland and received a Fellowship from Stanford University in California in medieval and Renaissance performance. He plays tin-whistles, medieval and Renaissance woodwinds, recorders, doumbek (Morocco), bowed psaltery, spoons, and sings both in English, Gaelic, and French. Christy Martin grew up in a family of musicians and dancers. From age 15, she studied North Indian Sitar, including with master sitarist, Ravi Shankar. She began playing the hammered dulcimer in her twenties, and also plays mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, banjo, guitar, bodhran (Irish frame drum), charango, bowed psaltery, and sings in English, Irish, Spanish, and Sanskrit. 4shillingsshort.
Tickets: $25
DATES AND TICKETS
SUNDAY,OCT. 30,
7:30 P.M. MONDAY,
OCT. 31,
7:30 P.M.
Words of praise for Four Shillings Short
“Their musical virtuosity makes old songs sound new and new songs sound like time-worn Celtic spells.” (CITY PAGES, Wausau, Wisconsin)
“The delightfully surprising collection of songs and sounds this husband/wife act create, while stretching the limits of Celtic and Folk music by stirring in generous amounts of Indian Ragas and medieval flavorings via some of the tastiest sitar playing this side of Ravi Shankar.” (Valpariso Times, Indiana)
“[Four Shillings Short] bring musical diversity, captivating storytelling and humorous side notes to create an amazing show.” (Labyrinth Café/Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
“Yours was truly one of the best shows I’ve been to on ‘any’ level, and it’s pretty broad: Michael Jackson, Celtic Women, James Taylor, John Denver, and Four Shillings Short!!! I enjoyed not only the musical talent, but the education regarding instruments, origin etc. storytelling & mix of genuine passion, love & humor. In that regard, you beat out all the others. (Louisville, Kentucky – 2012)