New series filmed in city cultural space launches on TG4 Player this month

A curated showcase of emerging and established artists – both Irish and international – all filmed in a Galway venue known for its support for rising stars, will be available on the TG4 Player this month.

CUMASC: Seisiúin sa Black Gate is a new twelve-part music series that blends gorgeous concert film with intimate observational documentary and interviews.

It showcases concert performances recorded live at the Black Gate Cultural Centre in the heart of Galway, along with behind the scenes footage and interviews filmed in a variety of striking locations around the city and surrounding countryside.

The series was commissioned for TG4 under the BAI’s separate Live Music Sector funding stream. This initiative was created to support the live music sector that suffered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The series opens with Grammy-award-winning American musician, Rhiannon Giddens, Italian composer, Francesco Turrisi, and Connemara-born sean-nós singer, Róisín Elsafty.

These three wonderful artists present a gorgeously inventive collaboration that draws from three distinct folk traditions and melds them perfectly. It is a wonderful moment in a series full of them.

Electronic musician Daithí Ó Drónaí and vocalist, songwriter and violinist Suzanne Savage get lost in improvisation and write an electrifying new song about a lightning strike on Suzanne’s train that very morning.

American singer-songwriter Sam Amidon sits in a boat on the River Corrib, the warmth of his playing and song puncturing the lingering greys of the Galway morning sky.

Singer-songwriter John Conneely and soulful performer Síomha breathe new life and beautiful harmonies into old classics and older castles.

Revered stalwarts Liam Ó Maonlaí, Niwel Tsumbu, and Eamonn Cagney talk of musical possibilities as innumerable as the stars in the sky before embarking on an improvised and celebratory jam.

And that’s only a sample of the talent on show throughout the series.

Rachael Lavelle, Peter Broderick, Seamus Begley, Junior Brother, Seamie O’Dowd, Daoirí Farrell, Anna Mullarkey, David Kitt, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, Arborist, John Blek, Inni-K, Jinx Lennon, and The Mary Wallopers also lend their immense musical talents.

The Black Gate Cultural Centre was co-founded by Peadar King and Eamonn Day in 2017, as a artistic space – with the needs of those artists at its core.

The Black Gate has evolved to be more than a cultural centre; it’s a renowned music venue, a state-of-the-art recording studio, an editing house, and home to both the Black Gate Label and Black Gate Productions.

Now this latest chapter, CUMASC: Seisiúin sa Black Gate, is to be launched as a digital-first series on the TG4 Player. It will broadcast at a later date on TG4.

Mairéad Ní Thréinir, a producer at Black Gate Productions, said they were proud to complete their very first television commission.

“We are proud that it stems organically from our venue’s unique relationship with musicians and artists from all over Ireland and abroad,” she said.

“We are especially proud to showcase our deep respect for our native tongue.  CUMASC was commissioned for TG4 through a special BAI round, the Live Music Sector funding stream. This initiative was created to support a sector that was – and still is – severely suffering under the constraints of the pandemic.

“The production of this series not only created opportunities for musicians and production crew, but also enabled us to re-train live-performance crew in television production,” she added.