Wine, chat and 'Hendrix of the Harp' at Ballina Arts Centre
Seckou Keita has been called “the Hendrix of the kora (African Harp)".
Pop into Ballina Arts Centre on Saturday, September 6th, where you can enjoy a glass of wine and a chat about art or experience a virtuoso performance of African harp music.
At 2pm, visitors will be invited to join artists Mandy O’Neill and Katie Moore for a glass of wine and a chat about their exhibitions, which will be available to view in the centre, free of charge, for the next six weeks. While later that evening, world renowned African harp virtuoso Seckou Keita will perform in the auditorium at 8pm.
Rooted in the beauty of the west of Ireland, Katie Moore’s show 'The Push and Pull' explores the dualities of motherhood - the tenderness and tension, the giving and the grieving, the fierce love and quiet loss of self. Through a series of intimate, textured works, the artist captures the emotional rhythms of raising children. These pieces invite the viewer into the ebb and flow of maternal experience, in a deeply personal yet universally resonant reflection on what it means to hold - and to be held - in the perfectly messy space of motherhood.
The second exhibition 'Formwork', by Mandy O’Neill, questions the ideological shift in housing policy in Ireland since the mid-20th century, which has resulted in a move from housing as public good to housing as commodity. It examines the social and material implications of housing development and dereliction. Formwork is the term for the support systems of grids, panels, props, and beams used in building. The exhibition at Ballina Arts Centre is a site-specific installation in various forms - architectural, sculptural, print-based, photographic, textual, and aural, with a focus on spatial and material experience.
The Ballina Arts Centre’s open event on Saturday is a fantastic opportunity to meet both artists in an informal setting and to learn more about the inspiration behind their work and the processes they employed. Wine will be served from 2pm.
Later that evening, the centre will host a concert by Seckou Keita, who has been called “the Hendrix of the kora (African Harp)”. Seckou has had acclaimed collaborations with Damon Albarn and the Africa Express, Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and renowned singer-songwriter Paul Weller, among others. He has also released 11 albums, and earned a host of music awards, including BBC Radio 2 Musician of the Year 2019.
“I don’t know if I’m a folk, jazz, or a world musician," he says. "Forget about categories. My music is just music for the soul.”
said: "Seckou Keita can be classed alongside the great Toumani Diabaté as one of the adventurous masters of the kora."
This is a chance to see a world-renowned virtuoso in an intimate setting and promises to be a wonderful and inspiring evening of music. Tickets, priced €25, are available on the website or via the box office on 096-73593.
