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TITLE: A Musical Demonstration by Gary Hastings and Brian Mullen
SPEAKER: Gary Hastings, Brian Mullen
EVENT DATE: 05/29/2007
RUNNING TIME: 89 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Flautist Gary Hastings and singer Brian Mullen present a concert and lecture as part of the Rediscover Northern Ireland Program at the Library of Congress sponsored by the American Folklife Center and The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure/Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Speaker Biography: Reverend Canon Gary Hastings is one of several well-known Irish men of the cloth who take their traditional music seriously. An excellent flute player himself, he was featured on the CD "Slan le Loch Eirne" ("Stories to Tell"), (Clo Iar-Chonnachta, 2002) with Father Seamus Quinn, who plays fiddle and piano. Hastings holds a bachelor's degree in Irish studies, a masters in adult and continuing education and a theology degree. Although not a fifer nor a drummer, he recently wrote "With Fife and Drum -- Music, Memories and Customs of an Irish Tradition" (Blackstaff Press Ltd., 2003), which explores the musical tradition of the Lambeg drum, primarily associated with the Orange Order in Northern Ireland. Although the manuscript doesn't shy away from the political associations, Hastings concentrates on the more purely musical aspects of the tradition, the instruments and performance practice. The publication also includes a tunebook of 70 fife tunes, which is complemented with a 17-track CD containing recordings of performances and conversations with practitioners. Born in Belfast, he is now the Church of Ireland Rector of Westport, Co. Mayo.
Speaker Biography: Brian Mullen is a native of Derry City and has been singing traditional songs for more than 30 years. Like many others in the 60s ,he fell under the spell of Bob Dylan and the American folk revival and made his way from there back to his Irish roots. He met, became friends with and learned from some of the great singers of Ulster, like Eddie Butcher, Joe Holmes, Geordie Hanna and Nellie Ni Dhomhnaill. Mullen has been involved in broadcasting since 1984 and has worked for many years with the BBC where he was Northern Ireland's first full-time Irish language radio producer. He helped to set up Radio Ulster's Irish Language Unit in 1987 and currently presents the weekly radio program, "Caschlar," which features an eclectic selection of music from around the world.