Culture Night - Neil Ó Lochlainn’s Emain Ablach

Clare musician and composer Neil Ó Lochlainn’s ‘Emain Abhlach’ is an imagined Irish mythological tale

expressed through a suite of music in three movements with an interwoven text by acclaimed Irish poet Aifric Mac Aodha. Having researched and analysed a wide range of early Irish writing both ancient myth and medieval legend, Neil has re-taken the essence of these stories and re-presented it for modern sensibilities in a musical suite of 75 minutes duration.

In mythological writing, Emain Ablach is one of many names for the otherworld, the lands inhabited by the fairy people. In keeping with many early Irish stories, this music is structured around a hero’s journey to the otherworld, their adventures there, and their eventual return. To do justice to the fullness of the drama demanded by and the multiple parts involved in such a narrative, Neil has put together a thrilling ensemble consisting of many of…