Whose Woods These Are
An arboreal music & research project by Natalia Beylis & Eimear Reidy.
The title of the project 'Whose Woods These Are' is taken from Robert Frost’s 'Stopping by Woods.' The poem entered public domain on midnight Jan 1 and now it is owned by no one/owned by us all collectively.
'The woods are lovely dark and deep.'
Who owns the trees? Who owns the woods? Is it the birds who build homes within the branches? Or the worms who create the nutrients among their roots? Or all creatures whose very lives rely on their oxygen?
Imagine a public domain of trees where no one owned them & together we were their guardians. It is our hope that by bringing an audience to the trees, we will encourage people to relish time spent in nature and look after the woodlands.
This project was supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Music Project Award.
A GUIDED WOODLAND JOURNEY
Join us on a guided musical journey through the woods. This film was created for Cairde Festival, 2020.
We began this project with the intention of bringing audiences into woodland settings. The project grew from an attempt to deal with solistalgia stemming from living surrounded by commercial forestry.
The intro to this video provides a short explanation.
WHOSE WOODS THESE ARE: A FESTIVAL OF TREES
As part of the project, we curated and produced a four day joyous celebration of trees in music, talks & films. The festival featured folklorists, historians, scientists, activists, foresters, artists and visionaries. The festival was hosted online at The Dock Arts Centre.
You can still visit our LEAF LOUNGE and enjoy films, stories, creative activities and suggested tips for getting out there solo or with friends and family. Scroll down for a selection of Creative Encounters with Nature, a story of The Alder Tree written by Farah Rahman, 'SPEAKING OF FUNGI' a conversation with mycophagist Bill O’Dea & Artist Vanya Lambrecht-Ward.
The festival also featured nightly episodes of TREE TV with folklore & history talks, musical vignettes, the arboreal arts & reading group, short film premieres, a workshop on making acorn flatbreads & visits to a few lovely Leitrim tree lovers. Click here for the full playlist or scroll down for more info on each episode.
Our Festival of Trees featured the first ever LEITRIM TREE OF THE YEAR awards! Visit our instagram to see all of the beautiful entries.
Finally, because we are broadcasting from Leitrim, Ireland, we are unable to talk about trees without talking about timber. We are unable to talk about forests without talking about forestry. For many of us here, living with a daily reality of watching a quarter of the county’s landscape destroyed by Sitka plantations, this is an ongoing daily discussion in which we seek new solutions. In hopes of adding to the conversation, we have invited a forester with over 50 years experience in forestry management, consultancy and government policy creation to talk with a local conservationist. We have asked them to discussion future possibilities, problems and solutions. We welcome you to join the discussion. Richard Ramsauer and Neil Foulkes: The Future of Forestry in Ireland 'The Way Through The Woods'
TREE TV EPISODE 1
0:00 TREE TV EPISODE 1 3:04 Roslyn Steer 4:53 Lucy O'Hagan 25:45 Mohammad Syfkhan 30:10 Marion McGarry 01:16:46 Claire Guerin
ROSLYN STEER ‘Little Oak No Apples’ Musical Vignette Roslyn Steer is a musician based in Coolyduff, Co. Cork. She is a member of the band's Crevice and Morning Veils. Her latest album is available here. https://roslynsteer.bandcamp.com/albu...
LUCY O’HAGAN ‘Making Acorn Flat Breads' Workshop Lucy O'Hagan guides us through the process of making acorn flour and delicious flat breads. Through her project, Wild Awake, Lucy O'Hagan runs classes and nature connection programmes that aim to rekindle environmental and cultural resilience through the (re)learning of ancestral and traditional skills in nature. wildawake.ie
MOHAMMAD SYFKHAN 'Talaat Ya Mahali Nourha' Musical Vignette Mohammad Syfkhan is a singer and bouzouki player. He blends songs and music from various traditions to provide his own unique take on Syrian folk music. He can sometimes be seen playing music to the trees around his home in Carrick on Shannon. He is currently working on his first solo studio album.
DR. MARION MCGARRY Trees in Ireland - history, meaning and identity Talk & Presentation The co-author (with Dermot O'Donovan) of the book See the Wood from the Trees (2018) Marion McGarry gives a presentation on the history of trees in Ireland. The talk culminate in the story of wood felled trees from Áras an Uachtaráin that were donated by President Michael D Higgins to students at GMIT Letterfrack. She frequently writes on Irish heritage and her latest book is Irish Customs and Rituals: How Our Ancestors Celebrated Life and the Seasons (Orpen Press, 2020) https://orpenpress.com/books/irish-cu...
CLAIRE GUERIN ‘Mother’ Musical Vignette Claire Guerin is a visual artist, performance artist and a sound artist based in Cork. She is also a founding member of The Guesthouse.
0:00 TREE TV EPISODE 2 00:17 TOMMY EARLEY 02:33 NATASHA BOURKE 09:39 JONNY DILLON 26:13 NEIL FITZGIBBON 29:03 DAN WALSH 35:52 KATIE HOLTEN 01:14:22 MAIJA SOFIA
WELCOME! WITH TOMMY EARLEY OF MOUNTALLEN ECOFARM, LEITRIM 'For many years Tommy has consistently come up with and sought out ideas and ways to protect, promote and enhance the biodiversity, habitats and environmental awareness on the farm, in his local community and the region.' - John Matthews https://www.facebook.com/MountallenEc...
NATASHA BOURKE 'Spoors & Spores' Short Film Spoors & Spores invites the viewer into a private world to witness a dreamlike quest with archetypal resonances. https://vimeo.com/natashabourke/
JONNY DILLON (of UCD Folklore Commission) Between Heaven and Earth: Sacred Trees in Irish Folk Tradition Talk & Presentation Jonny Dillon, archivist at the National Folklore Collection outlines some of the folk customs and beliefs pertaining to trees in Irish tradition. Drawing on traditional sources held at the archives of the National Folklore Collection, this short video examines the sacred 'Bile' under which kings of Ireland were inaugurated in times long ago, before considering the holy woods inhabited by both madmen and saints in tradition.
NEIL FITZGIBBON Tunes beside the Fairy Tree, St. Brigid's Well Musical Vignette 'Two jigs, finishing with Nead na Lochainn, cold December afternoon.' https://www.airgigs.com/user/fishtyfi...
DAN WALSH 'Farrest' Tenor Saxophone in Cork City 08.12.0 Musical Vignette 'Recorded in Cork City Centre in a disused area that is temporarily reclaimed by buddleia trees and city birds. 'Farrest' is a song about what is between us and our natural state.' https://fixity.bandcamp.com/
KATIE HOLTEN Arboreal Arts Reading Group 'Artist Katie Holten seeks to decolonize language and rewild the imagination by transforming letters into trees. Combining the ancient script Ogham with Irish and English, her Irish Tree Alphabet transforms words into an arboreal language of place and belonging.' - Emergence Magazine For the Arboreal Arts Reading Group, we invited an artist to choose a text for us to read as a starting point for discussing their work. Join Eimear and Natalia in conversation with the artist Katie Holten. Katie has selected "Learning the Grammar of Animacy" a chapter from the book "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants" by Robin Wall Kimmerer. https://www.katieholten.com/
MAIJA SOFIA Musical Vignette Maija Sofia Makela is an Irish folk singer-songwriter from County Galway and she has been specially commissioned by The Dock to write a new song for 'Whose Woods These Are' Festival. https://maijasofia.bandcamp.com/
0:00 TREE TV EPISODE 3 00:16 NIALL MILLAR 05:59 JENNIFER WALSHE 12:04 KIM RUFFIN 28:52 TOLA CUSTY 33:00 NICK ROTH 01:09:20 DAVID SMITH
WELCOME WITH NIALL MILLAR A visit to Niall Miller and his magical workshop of handcrafted traditional and not so traditional wooden crafts. https://www.facebook.com/FuinseogWood...
JENNIFER WALSHE An Attempt At Filming A Tree In London Short Film “The most original compositional voice to emerge from Ireland in the past 20 years” (The Irish Times) and “Wild girl of Darmstadt” (Frankfurter Rundschau), composer and performer Jennifer Walshe was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her music has been commissioned, broadcast and performed all over the world. Walshe is currently Professor of Experimental Performance at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Stuttgart. http://milker.org/
KIM RUFFIN Heading through the Holler: A Tree Narrative for Us All Talk & Presentation Kim Ruffin will discuss how past and present African-Americans’ relationships with trees can serve as a narrative for a new beginning on Earth. https://www.cardinalencounters.com/
TOLA CUSTY 'Skygoat' for Twenty Year's Long Housemates Musical Vignette Tola Custy is a fiddle player from County Clare. He also has a black belt in Irish dancing. 'This succulent takes in far more than just water and light. For the past 20 years it has stored every conversation, party, doubt and joy that is my life. Those emerald coins have neither praised nor judged me. It silently awaits my gaze as I talk to it and ignore the walls! Together we welcome every dawn and bid adieu to all sunsets. Offspring of this ancient plant now charm the occupants of other dwellings, silently winking at me, as a pup recognises its’ original family that raised it to bring light to other places.'
NICK ROTH Arboreal Arts Reading Group "Learning music through trees, and forests through music." - Nick Roth: saxophonist, composer, producer and educator For the Arboreal Arts Reading Group, we invited artists to choose a text for us to read as a starting point for discussing their work. Join Eimear and Natalia in conversation with the composer Nick Roth. He has selected the introduction to Eduardo Kohn's book 'How Forests Think: Toward an Anthropology Beyond the Human.' We used the text to discuss 'Little Woodland Heights' for children’s ensemble, 'Little Woodland Heights' is an interactive work for children exploring the world of forest canopy ecology and the function of music as translative epistemology. It creates an immersive educational environment that works to translate ideas from ecology, botany, phyllotaxis and anthropology into the embodied language of music. http://nickrothmusic.com/nrm/scores.a...
DAVID SMITH Eo Mughna's Lament Short Film "A fusion of music and photography exploring the rural Irish landscape and inspired by cinema, painting, soundtracks and mythology." https://www.davidsmith-studio.com/
0:00 TREE TV EPI 4 00:17 EDWINA GUCKIAN 05:35 COLETTE O'NEILL 11:48 VANYA LAMBRECHT WARD 16:51 SARAH ELLEN LUNDY 20:33 CATHY FITZGERALD 01:06:56 MOHAMMAD SYFKHAN 01:11:29 CATHY JORDON & ELEANOR SHANLEY 01:26:01 DIANA BERESFORD-KROEGER
TREE TV EPISODE 4 WELCOME WITH EDWINA GUCKIAN Edwina Guckian is an artist, educator, world-champion Irish dancer and community activist. We are very excited to have Edwina announce our 'LEITRIM TREE OF THE YEAR 2020' WINNER! https://www.edwinaguckian.com/
COLETTE O'NEILL A Visit to Bealtaine Cottage Short Film Colette O'Neill is an Environmentalist, Author, Publisher, Photographer. Creator of Goddess Permaculture. Join us as we take a short visit to the Goddess-Inspired Permaculture Gardens at Bealtaine Cottage just at the foothills of Sliabh an Iarainn. https://bealtainecottage.com/
VANYA LAMBRECHT WARD ‘One Walk’ Short Film 'Winter landscapes are also full of life. Fungi are constantly breaking down, reconstituting materials around us, reshaping and influencing – creating our environments. This short video piece is a modest contemplation on these processes and the fungal kingdom at work through one early winter walk in the woods.' http://www.instagram.com/vanyalambrec...
SARAH ELLEN LUNDY ‘Koki [a tribute to the trees]’ Short Film Experimental short made whilst on residency at Luznava Manor in Latvia-where trees cover over half of the country-whilst on a travel award under the EUCIDA [European Connections In Digital Art] programme coordinated by Rua Red South Dublin Arts Centre 2018-2019. Dense lo-fi audio visual discordance. http://www.greyliquidgums.com/
CATHY FITZGERALD Arboreal Arts Reading Group For the Arboreal Arts Reading Group, we invited an artist to choose a text for us to read as a starting point for discussing their work. Join Eimear and Natalia in conversation with the eco-social art practitioner Cathy Fitzgerald. We are delighted to welcome Cathy Fitzgerald who has chosen this brilliant Wendell Berry's text on Good Forestry Economy. The full text is available here: http://tipiglen.co.uk/berryfc.html
MOHAMMAD SYFKHAN ''Nasam Alina Al Hawa' Musical Vignette Mohammad Syfkhan is a singer and bouzouki player. He blends songs and music from various traditions to provide his own unique take on Syrian folk music. He can sometimes be seen playing music to the trees around his home in Carrick on Shannon. He is currently working on his first solo studio album.
CATHY JORDON & ELEANOR SHANLEY Dock Commissions Musical Vignette A new piece of music created by both Cathy Jordan and Eleanor Shanley . especially commissioned by The Dock for the 'Whose Woods These Are' festival.
DIANA BERESFORD-KROEGER In Conversation We were delighted to speak remotely with Diana Beresford-Kroeger: a scientist and author who possesses a unique combination of western scientific training and traditional and indigenous ways with which she works to bring a better understanding and appreciation of the scientific complexities of nature to the general public. Her concept of bioplanning challenges people to develop a new relationship with nature, to view the environment as a biological system and to perform the ecological task of replanting the global forest.
The Future of Forestry in Ireland: In Conversation: Richard Ramsauer and Neil Foulkes
Richard Ramsauer and Neil Foulkes: The Future of Forestry in Ireland 'The Way Through The Woods'
‘There was once a road through the woods. Before they planted the trees’ - Kipling
‘…we used to know the way.’ - Neil Foulkes
Because we are broadcasting from Leitrim, Ireland, we are unable to talk about trees without talking about timber. We are unable to talk about forests without talking about forestry. For many of us here, this is an ongoing daily discussion in which we seek new solutions. In hopes of adding to the conversation, we have invited a forester with over 50 years experience in forestry management, consultancy and government policy creation to talk with a local conservationist. We have asked them to discussion future possibilities, problems and solutions. We welcome you to join the discussion.
RICHARD H. RAMSAUER Richard H. Ramsauer is an Austrian forester with over 50 years in forestry and wood industries in Austria and Central European Countries. He is the head of Ramsauer Consulting which specialises in all kinds of sustainable projects in the forest industries 'I come from an old family owned forest estates. It has been in my family since mid the 19th century. I am the 4th generation owner and manager of our family forests, which have been passed on to my children. We have a natural rotation system for planting, thinning and try to follow the climate change by adding additional species in our new plantations. Most of the renewing of forests is done with natural regeneration, clear felling never bigger that 1ha in one place.'
NEIL FOULKES I moved to Ireland, with my family, in 1991; we live on a small farm in Co. Leitrim. I have been involved in practical conservation work since the mid 1980’s, having trained with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers in England. I specialise in hedgerows, especially hedge laying and I have been self-employed in hedgerow management as consultant, contractor, and trainer since 1997. Since 2004 I have been involved carrying out eleven County Hedgerow Surveys for Local Authorities. I also do traditional woodworking using hand tools making what I can from local hardwoods – from carved wooden spoons and tool handles to Windsor chairs. I love trees and woodland and not just as a resource from an economic perspective but in the broadest sense. We have a small broadleaf plantation on the farm which was established in 1994 through the Crann Local Project. It is my favourite place on the farm. I have been active in the last couple of years challenging the current forestry system and the onslaught of coniferous plantations here in Leitrim.
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