GCN presents Bob Gallagher’s 'Aiteach: From Cú Chulainn to the Quare Fellow'

GCN and Foggy Notions/Musictown are proud to present Bob Gallagher’s 'Aiteach: From Cú Chulainn to the Quare Fellow' which will be available to watch on GCN's YouTube for a limited time.

Bob Gallagher's Aiteach - a still from the film shows a close up of Gallagher's face, with a blurred out background.
Image Source: Photo by Bob Gallagher, from Aiteach: From Cú Chullain to the Quare Fellow

After its acclaimed April premiere at Musictown 2021, GCN is proud to present and host the beautiful film Aiteach: Cú Chulainn to the Quare Fellow by Bob Gallagher on this special Pride week. 

The film will go live on GCN’s YouTube channel on Thursday, June 24 at 7.45 pm, with a post-show Instagram live discussion between filmmaker Bob Gallagher and GCN’s Managing Editor, Lisa Connell at 8.45 pm.

Aiteach: Cú Chulainn to the Quare Fellow is an exploration of sexual identities in Irish music and literary traditions. Filmed at Dublin’s Hugh Lane Gallery, a group of musicians perform songs drawn from archival research that reflect queer stories from Ireland’s history.  

Musicians such as Ronan Kealy of Junior Brother, Claire Kinsella of Lemoncello, and multi-instrumentalist Gareth Quinn Redmond feature in the film; with guest appearances from Sallay Garnett of Loah, and Pamela Connolly of Pillow Queens, as well as spoken word performances by poets Jane Clarke and FeliSpeaks. 

Led by filmmaker-turned-balladeer Bob Gallagher, the film premiered in April 2021 and was highly acclaimed. The GCN relaunch is happening for Pride week as a celebration of queer Irish music and storytelling. 

The film is hauntingly beautiful with gorgeous shots of the Hugh Lane Gallery’s permanent collection in the background. Gallagher explains in the film a little about the word Aiteach. Literally translated, the word means unusual or mysterious, it is used as the Irish word for queer. 

Gallagher believes it to be a nicer term when talking about attraction, as he finds other (English) words, such as homosexual or bisexual, to be too clinical when describing the totality of somebody’s desire or attraction. 

“The Irish language is a bit more liminal, especially [Aiteach]… The language makes allowance for different states of being in a less concise way.” 

Aiteach: Cú Chulainn to the Quare Fellow will be available to watch from 7:45 PM on GCN’s YouTube from Thursday, June 24 until the end of Pride Week.

Join us on Instagram live at 8.45 pm after the film goes live, where Lisa Connell will be discussing Aiteach: Cú Chulainn to the Quare Fellow with Bob Gallagher. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmTWt4isydg

© 2021 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

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