Samhain is, for me, the most significant season of the year. It is a time when I build an ancestor altar with photographs of my beloved dead, from a well-loved grandfather who died before I was born, to a dear old cat whose long life came to a close this past winter. The faces are [...]
Filed under: Holidays | Tagged: Ancestors, Portland, Ritual, Samhain, Trinity College harp | Leave a Comment »
It’s Samhain (Halloween) night, and I’m playing harp in the front room in between visits from trick or treaters, who are thick on the ground this year. We’ve had nearly 30 visitors to our door, which may be a new record for this house. I’m working on a piobaireachd with Simon, my teacher, and at [...]
Filed under: Holidays | Tagged: Ancestors, Ceol Mor, Halloween, Lament, Pibroch, Piobaireachd, practicing, Samhain | 3 Comments »
Today I participated in “Harpers for Housing,” a fundraiser concert in SE Portland that raised over $1000 for the Northwest Pilot Project, a non-profit agency that helps elderly Portlanders with affordable housing. Of the ten or so harpers, I’m the only one playing the clairseach / clarsach / Gaelic harp. It feels important to get [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Breton music, Fundraiser, Samhain | Leave a Comment »
