TG4 and BBC Alba announce new series highlighting traditional musicians

TG4 and BBC Alba have announced Sruth, a new four-part series about traditional music in the modern day.

"It's a debt to the past masters, known and unknown, and to the bright future flowing ahead of us," reads a press statement.

The word "sruth" describes the centuries-old movement of people, language and culture across the Straits of Moyle, the shortest distance between Ireland and Scotland. That musical flow will be captured in the new series, which will be broadcast on TG4 and BBC ALBA this month. Co-funded by the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, and a part of Northern Ireland Screen, Sruth is a co-production between the newly established Táin Media and Beezr Studios.

Eight of the finest young traditional musicians from Ireland and Scotland will get the chance to show their prodigious talents, while also getting to play with some of traditional music’s more established A-listers such as Julie Fowlis, Bríd Harper, Phil Cunningham, Niall Vallely, Duncan Chisholm, Ríoghnach Connolly, Griogair Labhruidh & Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn.

Narrated by legendary singer Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill of the iconic band Skara Brae, the series promises to show that traditional music is as much at home amongst the side-streets of Belfast or the Industrial suburbs of Glasgow as it is under the shadow of Mount Errigal or on the Isle of Skye.

Filmed in Belfast, Glasgow, throughout Ulster and the Scottish Highlands and Islands, the production of the series was a daunting prospect under Coronavirus restrictions, but while the young musicians and their mentors might have been socially distanced, the music created an intimate bridge between them.

“This music can put us in touch with ourselves in ways that no other art form can do. It can embrace the pulse of our ancestral memory, allowing us to redefine our dreams of what it is to be Irish or Scottish” says, Executive Producer, Dónal O’Connor of Táin Media.

“Traditional music is quintessentially the art of solo performance and these four one hour programmes give us the chance to let the music breath. We get to experience the magic that great solos can produce, they can grace a moment of joy or they can amplify a moment of sorrow,” he adds.

The music and song is captured by Director Feilimí O’Connor and Executive Producer Alasdair MacCuish. The first programme in the Sruth series will broadcast on 21st Feb at 21:30 on TG4 and worldwide on www.tg4.tv. The project is a co-production between Táin Media & Beezr Studios for TG4 & BBC ALBA and is co-funded by the ILBF. There will also be an online launch on the night of Saturday, February 20.

Taking part in the series will be: Méabh Smyth (fiddle) and Innes White (guitar) (21/02/21); Megan Nic Fhionnghaile (fiddle) and Pàdruig Morrison (accordion) (28/02/21); Niall Hanna (singer) Brìghde Chambeul (pipes) (07/03/21); and Lauren O’Neill (harp) and Ali Levack (pipes and whistles) (14/03/21).

Watch the trailer below.