President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina Higgins were among the attendees last night for a special showing of I Am A Noise – the 2023 documentary about the life and times of Joan Baez, who travelled to Dublin for the event.

Also present was Irish songwriting heavyweight Hozier, who sang 'The Weight' alongside Baez at the Newport Folk Festival last July. There was customary Irish trad session at the Lighthouse too, with clips emerging online of musicians Glen Hansard, Liam Ó Maonlaí, John Sheahan and Damien Rice performing as Baez danced along.

Meanwhile in @LightHouseD7 just Joan Baez having the craic with @Glen_Hansard @DamienRice and many more! pic.twitter.com/P4iXJPC4ck

— ProjectionistRob (@ProjectionistR) December 10, 2024

President Higgins presented the legendary folk singer with a copy of his new book Power To The People: The Hot Press Years, which was published in the past fortnight.

President Michael D. Higgins with Joan Baez at the Lighthouse Cinema in Smithfield / copyright Patrik Meier /hotpress.com

The iconic artist and activist was born in Staten Island, New York in 1941. She began her career as a folk singer officially when she appeared at the Newport Festival in 1959. Her first album, the eponymous Joan Baez was released in 1960. She has released over 30 albums in all, culminating with Whistle Down The Wind, released in 2018.

I Am A Noise acts as a "visual memoir"of Baez's life and career, featuring home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings from her archive. The film documents everything from her own emotional struggles to her civil rights work with Martin Luther King Jr, as well as her relationship with a young Bob Dylan - a love affair said to inspire one of Baez's biggest hits, 1975's 'Diamonds and Rust'.