Buzzing about Beehive

Exciting new talent Niamh Bury signs for iconic Irish label Claddagh Records

RISING star Niamh Bury has signed with the legendary Irish music label Claddagh Records.

The musical talent, who releases her debut single Beehive on Friday, July 7, is already a favourite on the folk scene.

Over the past six months alone the Dubliner has collaborated and shared the stage with the likes of Dermot Kennedy, Ye Vagabonds, Martin Hayes, Myles

O’Reilly, Niamh Regan and Cinder Well.

In May Kennedy selected Bury to play with him in an exclusive, intimate gig held at one of Dublin’s favourite pubs, The Long Hall, as part of Guinness’s Live and Rising campaign.

Bury’s songs are described as “maps of conversations – both real and perhaps yearned for – with oneself, loved ones, imaginary characters and those who have passed on to other worlds”. For the artist, music is her preferred mode of communication.

“It’s the best means of communication I have,” she says.

“I think art puts a mic up to that quiet part of ourselves that can easily get drowned out by the constant noise around us.

“If I need to figure out how I feel about something, I’ll write a song about it.”

With influences as wide-ranging as Laura Marling, Fiona Apple and Paul Simon, to name a few, Bury’s music will resonate with fans of artists like Big Thief, Ye Vagabonds and Billie Marten.

And her debut single is inspired by an Amazonian tribe.

“Beehive is about the overlapping of myth, folk wisdom and science,” she explains.

“It was inspired by a passage from a book I was reading about a tribe in the Amazon who say that the human brain is like a beehive – at once chaotic and intricately ordered.”

Its release is less than a month away, thanks to her signing with the iconic Claddagh Records.

This is the second signing by the label in recent weeks – the first being experimental doom folk band ØXN – with the additions the first made to their roster in 18 years.

Claddagh Records founder Garech Browne has dedicated his life to preserving and championing the rich musical heritage of Ireland.

Following a worldwide licensing agreement with Universal Music Ireland in 2020, Browne’s vision for the label can now be realised by making available Claddagh’s back catalogue of artists like The Chieftains, Seán Ó Riada, Seamus Heaney and Patrick Kavanagh, to name just a few, and also by signing new artists like Bury, who the label describes as “one of Ireland’s most exciting new talents.”

 Niamh Bury’s debut single Beehive will be released on Claddagh Records on Friday, July 7.

Fiona Audley

“Individuals from all walks of life – from doctors to dancers, postmen to producers, shopkeepers to surgeons – are also being invited to come together at cross-sectoral public arts and society symposia in 16 cities,” they add.

The aim of the project is to create chARTer 309, a new democratic statement for the future relationship between the arts and society based on the 18 themes in Ulysses to be published in late 2024.

In addition, 30 artist exchange residencies are taking place, and 18 writers from different literary genres and from each city have been commissioned to contribute to EUROPE-ULYSSES, a new book also due to be published next year.

Conceived by Arts over Borders, Ireland’s acclaimed presenting body for cross-border arts festivals, and developed with lead partner Brave New World Productions, a Netherlands-based producing company, while working with partners in each of the 18 cities, ULYSSES European Odyssey is funded through an award from the European Commission’s Creative Europe Fund.

Séan Doran and Liam Browne of Arts over Borders, say: “Ulysses and Odyssey are two of the greatest works of literature, each having something to say about people, society and our relationships with one another.

“Like those two inspiration points, ULYSSES European Odyssey is a journey that involves people and ideas, which moves across Europe at a pivotal time in its history.

“As James Joyce did, it celebrates the modern city and through public performance and lively debate, and we hope it will shine a light on human complexity, develop new international partnerships, offer cross-border solutions and stimulate new active citizenship between the arts and society.”

 For further information about the full programme visit www.ulysseseurope.com