Owen and Moley ‘O Suilleabhain

MULTICULTURALISM IS THE MAIN THEME OF TONIGHT'S AWoW SHOWCASE AT LEHMAN COLLEGE

Artists Without Walls was created to provide artists of all disciplines an opportunity to experiment with new ideas in front of a live audience; create an environment that fosters collaborative and creative effort and promote members’ careers in the arts, whether they have already established themselves or are at the beginning of their artistic career. All of those objectives will be on display tonight when Lehman’s college’s City & Humanities Program, the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies and the CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies host an Artists Without Walls’ Showcase at Lehman College.

Among the evening’s performers:

Owen and Moley O Suilleabhain, singers from Ireland, and Koro Koroye, a spoken word artist from Nigeria, will be performing together for the first time. Their performance will explore the ancient traditions that they have inherited and how they have transformed this heritage into a voice they can truly call their own. Now living in the melting pot of New York City, they are sharing the common experience of rediscovering their ancient identities with their own contemporary voices.

Salina Sias will share stories of her journey toward self-identity, acceptance (and perceived disdain) for her Mexican roots while performing original numbers from her up coming album, including a personal song she penned in Spanish. Salina will be joined by guitarist Thad DeBrock.

Marni Rice, chanteuse-accordionist and theater artist from New York City, and Xio Evans, a dancer and choreographer from Costa Rica, wiil perform a piece called “Have You Seen My Son?” a performance piece about gun violence. The text is in Spanish and English and the performance is dedicated to the issue of social justice.

Honor Finnegan will be singing songs from her CD, The Tiny Life, as well as one of her newer pieces, which has been recorded by singer-songwriter, Amy Speace. The Tiny Life was #9 on the Folk DJ Charts in February 2012, and Honor was recently selected as a finalist in the prestigious New Folk Songwriting Contest as part of the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, Texas. Honor will be joined by guitarist Aviv Roth.

In addition, writer Billy Barrett, playwright and novelist Seamus Scanlon, violinist/fiddler Annette Homann and jazz and blues singer Antoinette Montague and jazz pianist extraordinaire Danny Mixon will be displaying their talents.

The show begins at 7pm in the Studio Theatre at Lehman College. Refreshments will be provided. The first Showcase at Lehman last fall was a great success. This one might even top that. Come find out. Hope to see you there.

ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS' "SHOWCASE" AT THE CELL, 3/26/2013

“Arriving at the AWoW Showcase with winter still chilling my bones, I was met by the high spirit of the Celtic fiddle and the warmth of Italian opera, proof that AWoW is becoming the United Nations of the cultural scene here in New York City,” said member Jim Rodgers.

The Celtic fiddler Jim referred to is German born, classically trained, Annettte Homann. Annette opened the show with an original blues tune for voice and violin. The audience responded instantly to her witty delivery, as evidenced by collective outbreaks of enthusiastic laughter. Her second piece called “The Fiddle Set” started lyrically and ended with a rhythmic, virtuosic burst of playing. Shouts of “bravo,” “brava,” and “bravissimo” rang out.

“A young Anita Pallenburg meets Jimi Hendrix.” Billy Barrett.

Michele Cetera supplied the evening’s wit and charm reading from a collection of monologues, Pieces of Me. Macy Grant’s life is in shambles: divorce, wild kids and mob threats. When she finally finds sanity and comfort in a new relationship she opens her journal and writes HAPPY, but soon, things change. It’s a break up. She’s been here before and doesn’t want to feel the hurt, but her ”foolish heart “ learns she can still hear the music without him. A passionate and compelling reading.

Tokyo born, Yoko Inagi, now a librarian at CUNY, performed on a traditional Japanese instrument called the Taisho goto or Japanese harp. Evoking the spirit of her grandmother, Yoko knelt in front of her harp and performed a short, sweet song called “Sakura.” (Cherry Blossom) A beautiful change of pace in an evening filled with rousing performances.

“I’m going to be at the Showcase tonight,” Honor Finnegan wrote. “I guess I’m too late to play a few tunes.” But timing is everything and Honor got her chance when a classical pianist canceled earlier in the day. Bringing her great voice, songwriting talents and ukulele to the stage, Honor sang two songs from her CD, The Tiny Life. She followed by putting down her instrument and finishing with a rousing rendition of Jack Hardy’s “Ain’t I A Woman.”

High school students Bianca Love and Agenis Castillo Jr., opened the second half of the Showcase. Bianca sang “Fool That I Am” by Adele and an excerpt from an original piece called “Mira Mi Corazon,” both with Agenis’s fine guitar accompaniment. “The crowd was amazing,” said seventeen-year-old Bianca. “They were so warm and welcoming. It was an amazing experience. I can’t wait to do it again!”

Moley and Owen O Suilleabhain followed and announced that this was the perfect opportunity to sing two English language songs from their forthcoming Folk Songs album. The first song was a nineteenth century folk tune called ‘The Young May Moon Is Beaming’, the second the traditional Scottish song ‘Red Is The Rose’. “We love The Cell as a venue and the site as a workshop space. We’re looking forward to the Lehman College gig with spoken—word—artist Koro.” In Feburary, Koro, a grad student at Hofstra University, and a native of Lagos Nigeria, wowed the crowd with poems of her native land. The uniting of the O Suilleabhains, master of Gregorian chants, drone and Sean Nos, with Koro’s brilliant stylizing of her poems is a highly anticipated event.

First time presenter Noel Lawlor presented the opening prologue of Shakespeare’s Henry 5th. Noel, a regular at Showcases, had not presented his acting skills in front of a Showcase audience before Tuesday. But the wait was worth it as Noel gave a beautifully paced and compelling reading from Shakespeare’s play, which focuses on events during the Hundred Years’ War.

Classical vocalist Ellen Scarsella closed out the show singing the playful aria “Vedrai Carino” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, followed by a smoldering rendition of the jazz standard “Nature Boy.”

The next Artists Without Walls will be at Lehman College on April 25^th. For more information contact info@artistswithoutwalls.com

OWEN AND MOLEY O' SUILLEABHAIN AT THE IRISH ARTS CENTER THIS SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2013

Russell Crowe said of Artists Without Walls’ members Owen and Moley ‘O Suilleabhain, “I’m a huge fan of size2shoes, (as they call themselves) From the inspired mastery of their harmonies, to the streetwise intellect of their humor. Unique, unaffected, awesome.”

I first heard the brothers ‘O Suilleabhain at the Irish Consul General’s residence this past summer. Owen and Moley offered up a blend of ancient Irish sacred songs with modern pop tunes and mesmerized the audience with a brilliant musical performance. Particularly moving was a Gregorian Latin Chant, “Caminus Ardebat.” I’ve heard the ‘O Suilleabhains a number of times since that first hearing and as they bridge their musical act into other disciplines and performance opportunities the brothers continue to incorporate a deeper narrative into their performances.

This Saturday, February 23, Owen and Moley Ó Súilleabháin will be at the Irish Art Center for two performances, a special Family Show at 11AM and a concert at 8PM. Join them as they share their creative sound, layering vocal harmonies, guitars, harmonicas, percussion and strings to create a fusion of Irish folk and hip hop that is utterly delightful. The brothers have been featured in Ireland and America alongside The Chieftains, Bobby McFerrin, Russell Crowe and Sinéad O’Connor. I wholeheartedly recommend this unique and talented duo.

For ticket information click here: Irish Arts Center: Moley and Owen

Visit www.owenandmoley.com to learn more about size2shoes