IDIR DHÁ SHRUTH - BETWEEN TWO STREAMS: FIACHNA Ó BRAONÁIN & CLARE SANDS IN CONCERT

FRIDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER PRE-CONCERT DINNER + CONCERT TICKET: MEMBER: €64 STANDARD: €71 CONCERT TICKET ONLY: MEMBER: €25 STANDARD: €27.70 ABOUT THE EVENT An intimate, stripped-back evening of songs, tunes and hopeful music in the atmospheric setting of The Orangery at Killruddery. Fiachna Ó Braonáin and Clare Sands bring together voice, strings and spirit in a performance shaped by quiet respect for each other’s roots, and by the living landscape around Killruddery House, Gardens and Estate. Their music moves between tradition and new expression; between two streams, with warmth, depth and a sense of wild nature close at hand. Note: Seating is unreserved. Doors open 30 minutes before the performance. ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES Clare Sands Clare Sands is a sixth generation fiddle player and bilingual singer from Cork, Ireland. Channelling the music of her ancestors, she weaves traditional roots with contemporary sounds and influences, embodying a fearless warrior-like spirit. By night, Sands is an open water swimmer and a black belt, holding several world medals representing Ireland in martial arts! Her eponymous album secured a place among the Irish Times' Top 5 Folk Albums of 2022, and earned Sands a Best Folk Singer nomination at the Irish Folk Awards. Other notable projects include the 'hypnotic and tribal' (BBC Radio 2) Tirdhreacha agus Fuaimdhreacha (Landscapes & Soundscapes) EP, written and recorded across the four seasons in the four provinces of Ireland and Gormacha, a musical odyssey that treads a path between the Irish language, folklore and our natural world. Sands' passion for collaboration has led to her work with some of Ireland's finest folk and traditional musicians, including Hothouse Flowers, Paul Brady, Susan O'Neill, Sharon Shannon and more. Her innovative musical creations are matched by electrifying live performances - Clare brings her audiences on an exhilarating journey full of hope, celebration and heart. Recent festival appearances include Glastonbury Festival (UK) Fete De la Musique (FR), Sumida Triphony Hall (JPN) Festival Cervantino (MEX) and Port Fairy Folk Festival (AUS) With a new album being released in Autumn 2026, Clare is showing no signs of slowing down. She stands as a testament to the enduring power of music to unite and inspire - a troubadour for the modern age, whose melodies resonate across generations and cultures alike. Instagram: @claresandsceol Facebook: Clare Sands Ceol Youtube: @claresandsceol Spotify: Clare Sands Fiachna Ó Braonáin There’s a look in Fiachna Ó Braonáin's eye, a gleam, a glint, and a hint: the mark of the true believer. A carrier, and a carrier on. It bit deep into him when he was a teenager, the wild wail of the blues guitar and the pulse of rock n’ roll, mixing with the already ingrained DNA of the traditional Irish music, language and song he was raised on. There was - and there is - no cure. The mind that had already been blown wide open by traditional music sessions in the Dún an Óir hotel in West Kerry, in the Geantraí of the Cultúrlann and in the halls and passageways of his Dublin school, Coláiste Eoin, heard whispered magic names like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and The Rolling Stones from Alexis Corner on the BBC. His thirteen-year old brain got properly rewired at a Bob Dylan show in Paris and he was long gone. His mother’s Spanish guitar became his focus, his obsession, his first ticket on a lifetime’s journey jumping between jigs, reels, sean nós and paint-stripping guitar solos, and he’s still out there. Fiachna has worked the six strings in the four corners, getting down with African gospel singers, Moroccan tribesmen, Texan swingers and Irish balladeers. There’s also the very considerable matter of his own crew, Ireland’s greatest rock n’ soul merchants, Hothouse Flowers, who have been dealing the real stuff for over forty years. When The Flowers took a step back, he holed up in Paris between 2006 and 2011, recording his first solo album Bougainvillea in a one-bedroom apartment near Montmartre. It’s available on iTunes and across all digital platforms, and the curious should make their first stop at the gentle beauty of ‘Ghosts’ or ‘City Of Love’ and pour themselves something sweet for the sailor’s love lament of ‘Bottle Of Rum’. Question the title of the opening track though; there’s never been anything hidden about this man’s soul. Side-stepping into broadcasting, it was still all about the music as Fiachna worked on several Irish and American television shows as featured guest and presenter, and produced several award winning music documentaries. What we used to call the wireless was the logical next move, and in recent years Fiachna has commandeered his rightful seat as a presenter on Ireland's national broadcasting service, sharing the musical connections he’s been making all his life on RTÉ Radio 1 whenever his touring schedule allows! When touring stopped for all musicians in March of 2020, it allowed Fiachna to find the time to search through his store of unreleased songs and instrumentals, and with his friend Clare Sands' encouragement he recorded and released an EP entitled Winter Sun. To his amazement Winter Sun reached Number One in the iTunes album downloads charts in October 2020! With all of his plate-spinning his primary musical impulse remains writing , recording and performing, whether on his own, with Hothouse Flowers or with his old pals Tom Dunne and Alan Connor, whose Live At The Pavilion album was a recent release. Finding the time remains a challenge.. however the song sparks are being collected and a new body of work is in the dreaming! Instagram: @fiachnaobtaonain Twitter: @fobraonain Facebook: @fiachnaobraonain Bluesky: @fiachnaobraonain.bsky.social Website: www.fiachnaobraonain.com FAQ: Pre-concert dinner will take place in The Grain Store at 18.30, and will feature a three course menu This concert will take place in The Orangery of Killruddery House and will begin at 21.00, lasting for one hour The Gardens will open from 20.00 and the Pizza Shed will open for pre-concert food & drinks Please allow plenty of time to arrive and park in our main customer car park. If you are attending our pre-concert dinner please follow signs to The Grain Store, otherwise please follow signs to The Orangery for the concert