Unvisited Tombs Series, Chapter Three: Spinning Fates: Sean-Nós, Keening, and Irish Song Traditions
Spinning is an activity found the world over, with many stories relating women to notions of destiny and the spinning of fate. We find allegorical evidence of this in language: the word spin is related to the word span (as in one’s ‘lifespan’), just as ‘line’ is embedded in the word lineage. In the Irish tradition, a woman acting as midwife often also served the parallel role of lamenter. A bean chaointe (‘woman crier’) oversaw the ushering of the departed to the Otherworld. Much like midwifing (and again, often the midwife), the keening woman would act as ‘deathwife’, not sleeping when on watch as she oversaw the ushering in and guiding out of life, acting as a bridge between worlds. In this workshop, we will explore these themes in the context of Irish sean-nós and keening, examining women’s roles as gatekeepers of liminal spaces and their related and often simultaneous activity: spinning.
No prior singing experience necessary, all genders and ages welcome.
““Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.””
Women’s voices are almost completely absent from our recorded histories and inherited mythologies. Ritual, folktale, weaving, and song become the keepers of invisible histories and hidden lives intimately connected with the spaces, activities, and landscapes they inhabit and leave behind. Inspired by the quote from George Eliot’s Middlemarch, Unvisited Tombs is a workshop series and research project developed by Kristine Barrett exploring women’s ancestral narratives; bringing forth the voices of women from various traditions all over the world via their respective vocal and textile arts traditions.
KRISTINE BARRETT is an American artist, composer, and vocalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. After completing a double BFA in Studio Art and Art History from the Kansas City Art Institute, Barrett went on to study music composition with the legendary Fred Frith at Mills College, where she received an MFA in Electronic Music Composition and Recording Media in 2006. A storyteller at heart, Barrett’s work has been performed, exhibited, and featured in various galleries and media festivals throughout North America and Europe, and was recently featured on the NPR show The Thistle and Shamrock. In addition to her solo work, Kristine has performed professionally with several renowned musicians and ensembles, including the acclaimed Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble, Svetlana Spajić, and Trio Kavkasia, among many others. She currently directs several community choirs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Temple of Light Georgian Community Choir, Headlands Community Folk Ensemble, and Sound Orchard’s West Marin Choir. An avid hiker, bibliophile, lover of ancient literature and art; Kristine loves being in the non-human world, wooden boats, needlework, and sailing schooners. She currently resides on a houseboat with a myriad of plants, shrines, and animals with her husband in Sausalito, California.
Banner photograph by Kristine Barrett