In winter 2019, Eleanor collaborated with leading folk musicians Emily Portman and Mikey Kenney to create a programme of readings, traditional tunes and new musical settings of Eleanor’s poems by Emily and Mikey. The poems ‘Imbolc’, ‘Hearth-fire’, ‘Samhain’ and ‘Dialogue with Penmon Cross’ are now poem-songs. The poems continue to transform!
Photo: Mikey Kenney and Eleanor Rees
This special event was held on winter solstice 2019 in the intimate and unusual space of Ullet Road Unitarian Church, Liverpool. As well as a beautiful acoustic, the room has a vaulted painted ceiling and is lined with books. There was also an open fire.
Photo: Eleanor sound checks under the painted ceiling
The programme was a development of work begun for the book launch on summer solstice and Emily and Mikey are hatching plans to take this programme to other evocative venues. As one audience member said, ‘the event really helped me to understand Eleanor’s poems further and their connections to folklore and story-telling traditions’.
More to follow!
