About the film maker…
Bob Quinn
James Thurber wrote of himself: 'Easy to rouse, he is hard to quiet and people usually just go away. 'The same might be said of Bob Quinn. Under the title 'Cinegael', and for nearly four decades, in words and images, Bob Quinn has recorded life in the West of Ireland, especially in the Conamara Gaeltacht. He has been called a 'talented eccentric' (by Ken Gray, Irish Times) a 'maverick' (by corporate RTE & the late Jim Kemmy). Hence the 'Maverick' title of his 2001 book on RTE. This is as good a way as any to approach him and his work. Born in Dublin and after seventeen different careers he became a television producer at the age of 27. In 1969, after a career in Irish public broadcasting, he opted for the James Joyce tactic of silence, exile and cunning. He succeeded in only one of these tactics - exile in Conamara. But in the process he has produced a respectable body of cinematic, literary and photographic work. For more information check:
www.conamara.org
About the musicians…
The Family Elan
"The Family Elan’s Chris Hladowski claims inspiration from a vast array of regional historical forms, including Azerbaijani music of the 15th and 16th centuries, the Rebitiko sounds of early 20th century Greece, and the U.K. psych-folk outpouring of the 1960s. Whether the listener is capable of identifying each and every touchstone is probably unimportant – it’s the sheer quantity of them that counts….”
http://www.myspace.com/familyelan
Cian Nugent
Cian Nugent is a young guitar player and composer from Dublin who combines squicky pre-war blues, Appalachian string band music, modern classical and the Takoma school into a deeplypersonal style. His music boasts an orchestrated and fully instrumented sound that is playful and eerie at the same time.
http://www.myspace.com/ciannugent
www.harmonicrooms.co.uk