Music and silence

Music and silence arise from each other. They frame each other in the listening, the sharing, the creation, the performance. Think of the moments in between songs or tunes or orchestral movements. They form as much a part of the music as does the unfolding story of the notes and words.

There is music that calls directly on that aspect of framing silence, as well.

Tony Duncan’s music lends itself to that idea. On his album Earth Warrior: Light of Our Ancestors he performs songs which honor his family, his tribal heritage (he is of Apache/Mandan/Arikara/Hidatsa peoples), the landscapes of their history and his own, and the connections of all of these things with music. Duncan’s instrument is the Native American flute, an instrument he first began to learn from his father. Through traditional pieces including Zuni Sunrise, Taos Round Dance, and Going Home and his own stories in song including Battle for Night, Ancient Stories, Grandmother Moon, and The Flicker of Light, Duncan both invites and guides contemplation of landscape, story. sound, and silence.

So does Padraigin Ni Uallachain, though she comes for a very different set of landscapes and music tradition. The wellspring of her music for Songs of the Scribe is the poetry of ancient Ireland. She chooses not the great epic stories, compelling as they may be, but rather the marginal notes, the asides, the personal poetry of those scribes who created illuminated manuscripts, and at times left marginal notes which illuminated their own lives as well. Longing for a lost love, a reflection that the wild winds of an Irish night mean that the writer is safe from Viking attacks for these hours, the flight of a blackbird across the water, a hermit's praise to God, a quiet time with a companionable cat: all these are things which caught poets’ imaginations and catch Ni Uallachain's, as well, as she creates contemplative settings of these words though her voice and spare accompaniment of drone, bells, harp, and Tibetan bowl.



you may also wish to see
rest in music
music, silence, and spiritual journey

if you would like to follow journeys like this along the Music Road, consider subscribing to receive notice of our stories. If you are reading at Music Road, there is a link in the right sidebar. If you are seeing this post elsewhere, please click through the the Music Road site to find that link.

-->If you'd like to support my creative work at Music Road,
here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this.Thank you.

Music of Ireland: Songs of the Scribe

The flight of a blackbird across the lough, a flight up to the stars, longing for solitude, longing for a lover, thanks for the wild winds, contemplation of the winds of God that put fire in the head, the gentle companionship of a quiet cat: all these make their way into Songs of the Scribe..

The writers were the people who created the illuminated manuscripts of medieval Europe, the Book of Kells and its companions. These poems and and fragments and reflections come from Ireland, where most of this work was done in medieval times -- that idea of Ireland as a land of saints and scholars goes back a long way -- and they are some of the first bits of personal poetry in Ireland.

Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, musician and scholar, has taken these texts as inspiration and substance for a series of contemplative songs, ones that evoke the stillness and focus, the history and the lives of this ancient time. They invite you in to “a world of woods, water, and birdsong, lamentation and the divine, mystical incantation and love songs,” she says.

So they do. There are ten pieces in all, all sung in Irish. The Hermit’s Wish is, as one might suspect from the title, one for solitude, to be alone with God. Liadan’s Lament longs for a lost lover, while Land of the Stars tells of a legend of love fulfilled and a flight to the stars in celebration. The quieter world of ancient times comes through as The Blackbird of Belfast Lough takes flight, while The Incantation of Amergin holds echoes of older times in its prayers of Christian faith. There’s the fire and wind of God spoken of in that one. In The Wind is Wild Tonight, the writer gives thanks for winds for a reason perhaps less mystical -- the wild winds of an Irish winter are about, and that means Viking raiders will not be sailing.

Ní Uallacháin’s voice is backed by her own touch on drones and bells with harps, monochords, and Tibetan bowl from Helen Davies. These spare arrangements well suit the songs. Contemplative they are, indeed, but distant, not at all. In Ní Uallacháin’s hands, it’s a world both present and ancient. That’s a dichotomy which will resonate with anyone who has ever spent a night of wild winds or crisp clear morning in Ireland.

The liner notes add to the music, with Irish lyrics and English translations, some of Ní Uallacháin’s thoughts on each song and bits about the history of the text, and photographs and images which enhance these ideas in

Songs of the Scribe

You may also wish to see
Ní Uallacháin’s book on the music of south east Ulster A Hidden Ulster: People, Songs and Traditions of Oriel
Music Road: Cathie Ryan: teaching tradition
Music Road: Music Road trip West Virginia Update: You may also want to learn about

Ní Uallacháin’s 2024 album Seven Daughters of the Sea

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.

Another way to support: you could