Abair | Say a Song Exhibition

The Say a Song Project is an immersive multimedia exhibition. A bold reimagining of the sean-nós singing tradition, weaving soundscape with evocative short film and visual arts projections to allow audiences to “step inside the song.”

Before there was a literary tradition in Ireland, or indeed an English language tradition, there was a rich oral practice in which the spoken word, sung or intoned, was central. These songs, passed down aurally across the generations, open windows into the past lives of Irish people in a specific time and place, and remain central in our contemporary oral repertoire.

Featuring work by top writers, artists, and sean-nós artists, the Say a Song Project takes you on a grand odyssey across the length and breadth of Ireland, traversing its rich cultural landscape and drawing respectively from the traditions of Munster, Leinster, Connacht, and Ulster.

ABAIR is an annual oral traditions programme taking place as part of the St. Patrick’s Festival, which explores the Irish traditions of song and story and traces their links around the world. Programmed by traditional singer Macdara Yeates, and now in its seventh year, the multi-format programme offers a wide array of concerts, pop-ups, history talks and more, each one examining the relationship between the sung and spoken word in Ireland and abroad (the Irish word ‘Abair’ translates roughly as both ‘to say’ and ‘to sing’). ABAIR is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland.