Music and Poetry of the Kesh/Always Coming Home (1985)

A lecture by Dr Aileen Dillane (University of Limerick) for the Music Composition Centre Talks.

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the release of the recording 'Music and Poetry of the Kesh', created by writer Ursula K. Le Guin and composer Todd Barton. An intrinsic part of the speculative ethnography/novel 'Always Coming Home', the imagined Kesh people are sonically rendered through co-creative compositional processes, anthropologically and ecologically informed practices, and real and imagined material affordances. The guiding principles of deep listening are explored, as are the creative and ethical implications of using field recordings and drawing from native inspiration when world building. In this time of climate crisis and a strained ecosphere, 'Music and Poetry of the Kesh/Always Coming' has important lessons for all of us in terms of how and why we create and why that matters, now more than ever. 
 
Aileen Dillane is an ethnomusicologist and musician based in the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick.  She has published widely on the subjects of traditional and popular musics, with particular emphasis on identity, agency, and social change. Aileen Co-directs the Centre for the Study of Popular Music and Popular Culture at UL, and is currently engaged in research on indigenous musical practices and sustainability, both in her work with music festivals and, more broadly, in her engagement with applied ethnomusicology in the Anthropocene.

Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: rigakie@tcd.ie