Four Shillings Short – A Samhain/Halloween Concert: Music, Stories & Folklore from the Celtic Wheel of Time

ABOUT FOUR SHILLINGS SHORT: https://www.4shillingsshort.com Four Shillings Short, the husband/wife duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama from Cork, Ireland and Christy Martin from California, bring together music, stories and folklore from the Celtic lands to celebrate the Ancient Celtic Bonfire festival of Samhain, known as Féile na Marbh (the Feast of the Dead). Samhain (pronounced “sow-in”; meaning “the Summer’s end”) marks the end of harvest, beginning of Winter and the Celtic New Year. Traditionally celebrated at the end of October/beginning of November it is the origin of Halloween/All Hallows Eve, All Souls Day and Dia de los Muertos. It is believed that on Samhain or “Ancestor Night”, the border between the world of the living and the dead is thinnest. Candles are lit at the graves of loved ones, offerings of food and drink left out for the Ancestors and bonfires lit throughout the countryside. Many of our modern day customs are based on Samhain including ghost stories, Halloween costumes, bobbing for apples, and the jack-o-lantern. Touring in the US & Ireland since 1997, Four Shillings Short are international folk-artists who perform 100 concerts a year, have released 13 recordings, and live as full time Troubadours traveling from town to town performing at music festivals, theatres & performing arts centers, folk societies, libraries, house concerts, and schools.

Their music is a mix of Traditional and Original songs and instrumentals from the Celtic lands, Medieval & Renaissance Europe, India and the Americas on a fantastic array of instruments (over 30) including Hammered & Mountain Dulcimer, Mandolin, Mandola, Bouzouki, Tin whistles, Recorders, Medieval & Renaissance Woodwinds, North Indian Sitar, Charango, Bowed Psaltery, Banjo, Bodhran, Guitar, Percussion, vocals and even a Krumhorn.

O’Tuama grew up in a family of poets, musicians and writers. He received his degree in Music from University College Cork, Ireland and received a Fellowship from Stanford University in California in Medieval and Renaissance performance.

Christy Martin grew up in a family of musicians and dancers. From the age of 15, she studied North Indian Sitar for 10 years, 5 of them with a student of master Sitarist Ravi Shankar. She began playing the Hammered Dulcimer in her 20’s and has studied with Maggie Sansone, Dan Duggan, Cliff Moses, Robin Petrie, Tony Elman and Glen Morgan.

The concert is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $10 for adults, free for kids. For more information, contact Doyle @ 402-202-8450.