Amhran na Beacha (Song of the Bees)

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Background

This is our second call for support for Amhran na Beacha (Song of the Bees). We had a Fund it campaign running before Christmas 2012, which unfortunately didn’t reach the target (€6,500). A number of wonderful people had pledged over €1,000 and many of them have since sent us their contributions directly. We still have some way to go (€3,000) to fully realize the great potential of this project and we invite you all to contribute.

What is Amhran na Beacha (Song of the Bees)?

The concept for this creative project is to connect the life of honeybees and current threats such as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) to a novel understanding of the underlying issues through art. This project is part funded by CREATE, the national development agency for collaborative arts in social and community contexts on behalf of the Arts Council of Ireland, and we are currently looking for more potential funding partners in the realization of this work.

The world premier of Song of the Bees (Amhran na Beacha) will take place on Saturday 27th April 2013, at Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, Co. Limerick and will feature the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Softday Apiary Ensemble, the Monks of Glenstal and the bees of Glenstal Apiary.

How it came about

In 2010 Softday began work in collaboration with art curator and apiarist Jenny Haughton, who drew our attention to the global condition of honeybees. In our research to date we have involved scientists, environmental activists and beekeepers from Ireland, and abroad to contribute to our knowledge of bees.

We are creating a new musical composition from bee related scientific and field recording data gathered during our research phase. The life of many plants and animals on planet Earth are dependent on the existence of bees. Humankind have urbanised and commodified both our own lives as well as the bees. We are exploring these issues through music, sound art and multimedia.

Why we need you

The new audio works are under development, we have most of the equipment needed and we have friends and collaborators to participate in the live world premier performance of Song of the Bees (Amhran na Beacha) in Glenstal Abbey in April 2013. We seek funding to cover some essential aspects of the performance.

Our thanks

We will be eternally grateful for all contributions to our Fund it campaign, and in recognition you will be listed as a friend of the performance at Glenstal Abbey. We have also compiled a series of great rewards for those who support our project including signed and dedicated publications, CD’s and DVD’s and USB’s, of Softday’s work.

Visit our website at www.softday.ie for more information about our work.

Thank you so much for your help.
Sean Taylor and Mikael Fernstrom