Songs and stories from the hearth with Lisa Lambe

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.

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 the bawdy, 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. She will collaborate with Wayne Sheehy on percussion, Tim Doyle on fiddle, pipes & concertina, and Mike Brookfield on guitar at Riverbank.

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.