Aisling Gheal (Bright Vision)

A JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF THE SEAN-NÓS SINGING TRADITION This film follows the women singers of the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) region of West Cork on a journey to the heart of the Sean-nós singing tradition with a focus on the relationship between acclaimed singer and teacher Máire Ní Chéileachair and the 11-year old Shahira Apraku - a young student of German/Ghanese heritage. Selected to represent Ireland at the 2013 EU Film Festival of India & Nepal. "Utterly Beguiling From Beginning to End" (Ross Whitaker - Stranger than Fiction Documentary Film Festival) ___________________________________________________________________________________ Sean-nós (unaccompanied traditional Irish singing) is considered to be the holy grail of Irish Traditional Music and the Sean-nós singer is the living embodiment of a tradition that stretches back, in an almost unbroken lineage, to a time before the fall of the Gaelic nobility. The oldest Sean-nós songs come from the aisling or "vision" songs in which a poet has a vision by a river of a Spéirbhean (a sky-woman) symbolising Ireland. Aisling Gheal (Bright Vision) is one of the most revered songs from this tradition and is also the name of the organization responsible for helping to bring the tradition to the next generations through it’s school and after-school programmes run by the women in the film. In a world of iTunes and YouTube it may seem like an impossible task to maintain interest in this complex, and fiercely protected, tradition but somehow they’re helping to keep it alive and attracting young protégés all the time. Amongst the young singers is the 10-year old Shahira Apraku (a daughter of African/German parents) who attends the local Gaelscoil and embodies an entire new upcoming generation of Irish-speakers. Shahira’s journey, the struggles of the women, the songs of the Sean-nós and the flow of the Sullane river provide parallel intersecting narrative vehicles for this documentary, yielding insights into this very precious part of our culture in the course of its unfolding, and challenging some of our key contemporary notions of ‘Irishness’ in the process. ____________________________________________________________________________________ This is the 2nd film in Dónal Ó Céilleachair’s ‘An Irish Music Trilogy’ that includes: 3-TRIÚR (2012), Aisling Gheal (2013) & From Coolea to Iona (2014). Use the code AIMT50 to get An Irish Music Trilogy at half price here: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/anirishmusictrilogy ____________________________________________________________________________________ If you enjoy this film you can watch more films from the ANÚ ONLINE CINEMA here: vimeo.com/anupictures/vod_pages Plus you can now get an Unlimited Access Pass to all of the ANÚ ONLINE CINEMA (unlimited at 50% off individual title rates) http://www.anupictures.com/product/anu-online-cinema-unlimited-access/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Further info. on this and other Anú Pictures films on: http://www.anupictures.com/