Lifting the Latch: Eoghan & Ultan

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien perform music from their debut album, Solas an Lae, alongside brand new material in a short film, Lifting the Latch.

Following the release of Solas an Lae, the debut release by Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien, the duo worked with The Bed Tea Company to create Lifting the Latch.

Lifting the Latch draws on themes behind the music on the album— escapism, movement, migration and loss— and takes the first line of Padraic Colum’s poem The Beggar’s Child as a starting point, setting us up for the journey:

‘Mo mhúirnín, we’ll go far away from the net of the crooked town where they grudge us the light of the day.’

Travelling and wandering in circles - cyclical journeys; returning to the same house you left off from but never going back on yourself, always moving forward.

These journeys enchant us, draw us in. It’s a way beyond, returning to a house rededicated, changed again.

These words float around like a refrain:
As the folktale sees I see
As the folktale lives I live.
And the path to my door, that too is a folktale.
Coming here you either undergo what people undergo in a folktale, or you will never lift my latch.
-John Moriarty

Eoghan & Ultan perform and arrange traditional music and compose music for fiddle, viola, voice, concertina & electronics. The Bed Tea Company is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary arts studio; a village of artistic happenings.

From emerging bands, to céilí groups and dancers, industry innovators and their established contemporaries, this year sees over 300 artists & filmmakers premier newly filmed performances, covering the breadth of Ireland and the scope of its talents.

A celebration of our most treasured performers, this programme commemorates the rich history of traditional music while looking forward to the future and recognising some of the industry's most innovative artists. SPF TV audiences are invited to join the party, from intimate sessions to foot stomping céilí bands, this is an opportunity to delve deep into Ireland's wealth of traditional music.

Artists: Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin & Ultan O’Brien
Film Maker: Teresa Menescal and Cian Hamilton
Commissioned by St. Patrick's Festival