Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh is a viola player based in Dublin who aims to explore the versatility of the instrument primarily through experimental and improvised music. She plays across Europe and Ireland with various groups, including Cian Nugent & the Cosmos, and has performed with Circuit des Yeux and Josephine Foster.
What is your musical background?
I grew up playing classical music. I’m lucky in that I grew up in an environment that was very encouraging and enriching- musical ability and activity was always respected. Although I enjoyed playing classical music, I became bewildered and fascinated with improvisation as a teenager, so I studied jazz when I finished school. Coming from a background that relied solely on written music I viewed improvisers sort of as magicians, so it was pretty exciting to learn a whole new approach to music and to the viola. I don’t really play jazz these days; I think a lot of it is down to the instrument. The viola’s tonal variety becomes quite limited when it`s amplified and it’s a pity to lose that spectrum of sound, so at the moment the improvised music I play is mostly acoustic. As well as that, I don’t think I have the discipline required to be a jazz musician!
The good thing about being a musician in a small city is that you’ve a small network and will invariably get roped into playing with lots of different people if you’re open to it. I’ve been playing as a member of Cian Nugent and the Cosmos for quite a few years now and more recently I’ve been playing with Woven Skull. I love playing with bands, it’s just a lot of fun.
What are you currently working on?
At the moment I’m working on putting some sounds together for a solo release. I’m planning to keep it simple enough in the hope that it will happen a bit faster as I’ve a tendency to procrastinate and to prioritise group projects over solo stuff. There is also a duo release in the works of an improvised set I did with violist Jorge Behringer at Monk and the Nun festival in Leitrim this summer. It’s going to be released on Sofia Records. I’ll be doing a couple of gigs with Cian Nugent and the Cosmos and Woven Skull before Christmas and a couple of solo ones too. I don’t have many plans for next year just yet but I’m really excited about a residency that I’ll be doing in summer at the Sirius Arts Centre in Cobh.
Do you have any thoughts on the music scene in Ireland?
There are so many good musicians here and there is a lot of activity and energy which is great, but I think sometimes it’s hard to feel connected internationally, especially with experimental music and improvised music. There are stronger scenes with much larger audiences in other parts of Europe and elsewhere, and it’s difficult to establish a similar scene here because it’s expensive to bring international artists over. And even if you succeed in bringing them here, there may not be good attendance.
I think having an established venue for experimental music is a big part of it. The Joinery in Stoneybatter was great for that and it had its own audience- people who would go to hear an artist or musician who they were unfamiliar with because the venue had great programming and it had a reputation. There are more things springing up around the place these days though, particularly in Jigsaw off Mountjoy Square and in Lutherhaus on Adelaide Road.
