The Tonality of Irish Landscapes // Life Terrains Lecture Series

DESCRIPTION

What is the tonality of Irish landscapes? The British colonization not only strongly altered Ireland’s natural terrains, it also marked the spiritual and emotional landscapes of the Irish people. The traces of colonization can still be seen and felt today, physically in the land itself and in the minds and culture of people from Ireland. Hills are still barren after the burning of ‘bush schools’ and the landscape to this day carry the ridges where crops failed, like scars reminding the Irish people of a trauma they try to forget. But how have these physical and emotional wounds manifested themselves artistically, and what role do previously colonized landscapes play in Irish music? In this talk – drawing on the Irish folk tradition and his own practice – musician Connor Deegan explores these historical and contemporary relationships between colonization, landscapes and music, tracing how such landscapes of belonging have and continue to play an essential role in Irish music.

BIO

Conor Deegan (1993) is a two-time Grammy nominated Irish musician and songwriter, currently based in London. He is the bass player and backing vocalist in Irish band Fontaines D.C., which he co-founded in Dublin, in 2014. Ten years and four records later, Fontaines D.C. are among the most celebrated and epoch-defining guitar bands of our time, and with their highly acclaimed, genre-bending 2024 album Romance, they received the Rolling Stone ‘Album of the Year’ award, among many other recognitions. Deegan and Fontaines D.C. have been ardent and loud voices in support for Palestine, having e.g. raised over half a million euro in collaboration with Doctors Without Borders.

More announcements on this semester’s Life Terrains speakers and events will be shared soon.