The migrant has to bring a lot to the place where he decides to settle. The culture of his native land, for example, he takes it tattooed on genes and follows him wherever he does stay. It has happened to the musician Mick Moloney, who takes Ireland deep inside. With his banjo and a group of musicians and dancers, he will seduce this Havana filled with tropical sounds and melodies.
Mick has come to the island with all the reference of the renaissance of Irish music from the 60s of last century, so influenced him and who also served him as a platform to formally present it on stage in Dublin.
Then Moloney moved to Philadelphia, a city in the eastern United States and from there he built a defensive trench to the art of his native island. Seductive and contagious, his music draws the poorest of his country. It is an art that, according to Moloney, appeared as the only means of expression of that social class.
“Many of them, mostly peasant and farmers, did not even own their land and some came to the US after the Great Famine in Ireland. Today everyone from scholars and architects to artists play this music. The poor also interpret it because it has spread throughout the world and it belongs to everyone who wants to undertake this artistic journey, “said Mick Wednesday, before a group of Cuban journalists.
With considerable influence on contemporary music, Irish music has been disseminated by the industry. The practitioners of this art have as reference precisely these models the market has legitimized, as with the Riverdance Company, said Athena Tergis, violinist who accompanies Moloney on his visit to Cuba.
The dance is a distinctive element of this aesthetic. Hence, during the Havana presentations Moloney and his group people will enjoy the talents of two dancers: Leni Sloan and Niall O’Leary. The latter assured OnCuba that dance “is a complement of music and one of its intentions is to highlight elements that this entails.”
Eager to share with the musicians of the island, Moloney knew of the existence of people in Cuba playing bagpipes and other instruments widely used in Irish music. On Saturday next, at the Miramar Theatre, will be a good opportunity to enjoy it with native groups such as the Lutes of Havana, the Havana Pipe Band and Irish Tap Group.
Mick Moloney in Brief
Born in County Limerick in Ireland, Moloney was one of the stars of the revival of the music of his homeland. He moved in 1973 to the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There he joined the groups The Johnstons and Emmet Spiceland.
Professor, lecturer and academic, he is a connoisseur of Irish culture, something taught in various American universities. One of them, of Pennsylvania, in 1992 conferred him a PhD in Folklore. With his The Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, he has been for 14 years showcasing the best of this art.
