Limerick performance for AnĂșna’s 30th anniversary at UCH, March 18, 8pm.
ANĂNAâs founder Michael McGlynn has bundles of family in Limerick and on the Clare border. Cousin to the talented McGlynn mafia and with his father Andrew in hotel management, this choir master/ composer had an upbringing of travel and music. Their household sang together on every occasion; the gift was clear and acknowledged.
Still, Michael McGlynn was a complete stranger to choral music until the age of 19 and while training in music, âtwo things struck me. One was that choirs were not performing Irish music, and I felt that Irish people were being highly shortchangedâ.
He speaks of Britainâs centuries of the choral structure, as with other countries, yet cautions, âRemember that Ireland has not choral music in its tradition. We have single line melodies and our own sean nĂłs is single line, not accompanied and not sung in multiple parts.â
McGlynn began to put together fragments of medieval music, making them his own in new arrangements and he created âa whole new form of choral music. When AnĂșna travel all over the world we are the face of choral Irish musicâ.
Famously visual on stage, their founder makes the point that âeverything AnĂșna does is theatricalâ. He quotes a contact in Japan who told him that âin the East the performer and audience become one, linking performer and audience as one thing.
âWe donât perform the way other groups perform, we perform in the body of the audience as well. Itâs a beautiful look and also extremely amusing.
âIt is very important we can unify completely and make it enjoyable for the audience. What AnĂșna does is really, really specialâ.
Anticipate an exceptional experience for AnĂșnaâs 30th anniversary lit with mechanical candles, a play of light and shadow, poetry by Francis Ledwidge in musical context, classics such as âDanny Boyâ and enchantment. Saturday March 18 of St Patrick’s bank holiday weekend at 8pm.