Supporting Irish Musicians and Artists

The DUP might’ve triggered endless problems since they came into power in the North 20-odd years ago, but occasionally, they also offer solutions. Typically, these solutions are unintended by the party itself.

One example is that, following endless attempts to suppress and defund Irish language initiatives, interest in Gaeilge has skyrocketed in the North. Why? Arlene Foster’s 2017 assertion that giving rights to Irish language speakers would be like “feeding a crocodile…it will always come back for more,” became a lightning rod for Gaeilgeoir organisations, cultural leaders, and indeed music groups in the North inspiring them to even greater activism.

When I interview Belfast-based Irish language tradtronica group Huartan on a wet and windy Friday morning, the topic of the DUP’s unforced error – and the incredible boom in Gaeilge in the North – are on the cards.

Our interview takes place in the band’s studio in Conway Mill, a former 19th-century linen mill-turned-cultural centre that sits next to the peace wall dividing the Falls from the Shankill. Depending on whether you’re coming from the city centre or from further west to get to the Mill, you’ll pass either the International Wall – with murals dedicated to freedom fighters from Ireland to Palestine – or the Bobby Sands mural on nearby Sevastopol Street.

The interview location feels appropriate, because along with the DUP and Irish language issues, also on the cards during our interview are topics like international activism, anti-imperialism, social justice, and the centuries-long persistence of the Irish oral tradition in the face of repression. Oh, and the band’s upcoming single ‘Uiseog’, mixed by the Grammy-winning Irish producer, Ruaidhrí Cushnan.

The five members of Huartan are incredibly articulate. And, as you’ll likely have already guessed, they have a hell of a lot to say.

First things first – the band are buzzing about winning the Amhrán na Laoch Irish Language competition, run by Hot Press, in association with the IBI, as part of Irish Music Month, which is supported by Coimisiún na Meán, for their entry ‘Ban Udai Thall’. As well as €2,000 prize money, it also secured them the opportunity to release a new single; airplay support across 21 independent Irish radio stations; and widespread music industry support.

“It was a real privilege for us to win,” Huartan tell us. “We really love the track and it’s what set us off on our journey as a band. It’s validating to know there are people out there with whom this song resonates, who recognise what we’re doing, and who picked it to win from such an amazing pool of other music. We couldn’t be more grateful.” Now, however, they are ready to move on to the next stage.

Huartan came about just under two years ago, when its three original members – trad musicians Stíofán Loughran, Catriona Gribben, and Miadhachlughain (Múlú) O’Donnell – started playing music together in the Hawthorn Bar, just off the Falls Road. They were later joined by anthropologist Anna Poloni and dance choregrapher/artist Micheál Ó’Coigligh to become a five-piece.

“These two [Catriona and Múlú] are both wonderful singers, sean-nós style,” Stíofán says, about their first performances and collaborations, “so I invited them into the studio. We experimented with putting down beats, introducing an electronic feel. Then we got offered a proper gig at Féile na Gealaí and it went from there.”

The group’s members have always been led by ideas, as well as their deep knowledge of Irish folklore. The name ‘Huartan’ came about after they went down a “rabbit hole of research” for associations related to the hawthorn tree – an important symbol in ancient folklore. “Huartan,” says Stíofán, refers to a type of tool that relates to the hawthorn tree. As Anna Poloni puts it, Huartan represented “an empty space” that they could then derive meaning from.

Múlú adds: “The term also has associations with horror and harmony. And that feels appropriate, because that’s kind of what we’re doing with our costumes and singing. Catriona obviously has this elegant, flowing thing going on, and I’m more of a darker feature.”

Their music is Irish trad, but trad that’s injected with urgent, pulsating electronica, warping what this genre or term means. They arrived at this aesthetic via a series of imaginative leaps.

“If you look back on photographs of our first gig, it’s very different,” Stíofán says. “At Stendhal [Music Festival], we did music as part of a project with friends of ours, called Damhsa Dé Danann, and they were doing a parade of various Celtic gods and goddesses. So that’s when I started wearing a mask, because it felt fitting for that occasion. And then that resonated with audiences.”

Micheál came onboard to help choreograph the group’s invocatory, animalistic dance moves; their dancing has now become one of the centre-pieces of Huartan’s live show. His inclusion into the group happened “organically”, as did Anna’s. She made the striking druidic masks as, in her own words, “A coping mechanism for getting over the burnout of a PhD.”

Huartan by Abigail Ring

Along with that Amhrán na Laoch victory, Huartan fended off stiff competition to bag Live Act of the Year at the 2024 Northern Ireland Music Awards.

Another crowning achievement was their hair-raising, sold-out Samhain Celebration at Belfast’s Empire Music Hall in October, appropriately titled Death to the Empire. For many in the audience, it was a first chance to hear the sheer range of music they have to offer (the band has still only shared two singles to date ‘Bean Udaí Thall’ and ‘Fiáin’, the latter featuring words from renowned Irish activist Bernadette McAliskey.)

Do Huartan have a name for their style of music?

“Tradtronica, I suppose,” says Múlú, before joking, “although there’s maybe no official words in the dictionary for what we’re doing.”

“Gaelwave,” Catriona offers, which works too.

“I’d just describe it as us trying to be playful with the possibilities of a song,” Stiofán adds. “For us, it’s not really about trying to fit into one thing, it’s about playing around.”

Their soaring popularity can partly be explained by the sheer originality of the music, but it’s also due to the renewed interest in pre-Christian culture in Ireland. Huartan has tapped into this in a major way.

Múlú says, “There’s an element of people seeing what we’re doing and not wanting to look away from something so strange and interesting. It goes hand-in-hand with the resurgence of the Irish language. People are very interested in this cultural moment.”

Catriona adds, “You’re offering another way of looking at Ireland, reaching back to pre-capitalism, pre-Catholic Church Ireland.”

Stíofán agrees: “I don’t think anyone imagines pre-Christian, pre-capitalist Ireland as a utopia, but I do feel like people are turning to that era because it’s a push back against the various colonisations that have happened here. We’re coming at it from a place of feeling real sorrow and loss for what has happened in Ireland, to the land and the wildlife, as well as the people. There’s only threads of what paganism was like here, but from those threads, we’re trying to reimagine the place.”

Huartan. Credit: Claire Loughran

Typically, Catriona and Múlú will source the songs, which are then reworked into Huartan’s inimitable tradtronic sound. It helps, no doubt, that Catriona is currently undertaking a PhD on Irish oral history. Speaking about this, she jokes modestly, “Yeah, the songs are backed up by a lot of research.”

There is a strong element of protest to what Huartan do; it can be found in the subtle details of their costumes or song choices, but also in the Palestinian flags waved at their gigs and the anti-imperial statements made by the artists themselves.

“There’s obviously limitations to what art and music can do to change anything,” Stíofán says, “but I value how important they are in communicating political ideas.”

Múlú puts it in blunt, and persuasive terms. “If you have any kind of platform, what else would you be doing except speaking out against this?”

‘Uiseog’ is out now. Amhrán na Laoch is supported by Coimisiún na Meán.