Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde

The contributors who wrote the texts and scores are: John Berndt, Felicity Ford, Panos Ghikas, Paul Gilgunn, Stephen Graham, Majella Munro, Simon O’Connor, Rían O’Rahallaigh, Nick Roth, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, Jennifer Walshe. Thanks very much to Richard Devine for his recordings which brought Zaftig to life and Jack McMahon for his performance as Ultan O’Farrell, and to Malcolm Tyrrell for his dream of an episode of Hands focussing on Irish performance art.Before you begin reading the articles in this book and listening to the recordings on the Aisteach Foundation’s website, I have a confession to make – all of the composers and artists are fictional. The Aisteach Foundation and the Historical Documents of the Irish Avant-Garde are a communal thought experiment, a revisionist exercise in “what if?”, a huge effort by many people to create an alternative history of avant-garde music in Ireland, to write our ancestors into being and shape their stories with care. We played fast and loose with history and the truth and we like to think Flann O’Brien would have approved. I am extremely grateful to the Arts Council of Ireland for funding this project and allowing me to collaborate with the contributors listed below. If you feel there’s something we missed, something you want to have happened and would like to bring into being, please let us know. This project is dedicated with love to Bob Gilmore. Dr. Jennifer Walshe, President, Aisteach FoundationArts Council of Irelandhttp://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/jennifer-walshe/historical-documents-of-the-irish-avant-garde/paperback/product-22906851.html#productDetail

Historical documents of the Irish avant-garde

Album, book publication and website curated by Jennifer Walshe and funded by the Irish Arts Council. The album features work composed improvised and performed by Panos Ghikas, Nick Roth and Jennifer Walshe and is available on Migro Records. Produced by Panos Ghikas