By Parker McKenzie
When Irish artist Aine Tyrrell plays Sooki Lounge on Thursday 22 June, you shouldn’t expect the traditional folk style commonly associated with the music of her home country.
“I love Irish folk, but touring and travelling here in Australia, a lot of people had a very narrow version of what Irish music is,” she said.
“I was getting lumped into that very traditional Irish folk stuff and didn’t have an opportunity to be modern. In Ireland, we’re a very modern country and we have classical music to hip hop to blues music.”
The multi-instrumentalist and songwriter is currently embarking across a three-state, twelve-show ‘Irish as F*ck’ tour, with more shows set to be announced.
Ms Tyrrell said after five shows of sold-out venues and amazing audiences, it has been a “beautiful start to the tour already.”
“It has just been so nice to be able to give people hugs after the show and people can get up and dance,” she said.
“I’m definitely playing new songs that feed into what we all experienced in the last few years and still are in a way.
“I lost our home in the floods up here in northern New South Wales, there’s been bushfires, Covid and floods.”
She said her music travels across different genres, crossing over from folk to spoken word, hip hop and indie rock.
“The thread that keeps it all together is my deep connection to my culture and where I come from and the stories of our history and present-day and the passion that I come to stage with,” Ms Tyrrell said.
“Genres, in general, are sort of dying out anyway because they were kind of built for a record industry and music industry that doesn’t exist anymore.”
Alongside activism and culture as cornerstones in her music, Ms Tyrrell said her performance connects with the experience of immigrating to Australia and “living in two worlds and cultures.”
“In my own culture, Irish culture, prior to colonisation and Christianity, we had such a beautiful way of being that I think these old ways are the ways that will be the saviour for our future,” she said.
“Whether that’s a climate change or whatever is going on in the world, we kind of have to go back into those. I feel like it’s a very grounding experience of the show as well, because feeding into that, whether you have Irish heritage or not, it’s just powerful to remember where we all come from.“
More information and tickets can be found at tickets.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/4d0d9c80-97a1-4bbc-bba1-1896f2414e67?utm_source=sookiLounge&utm_medium=eventFeed
