All-female 'supergroup' of artists of Irish heritage participating

A one-off celebration of spoken word, poetry and song in Hammersmith

The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith is brining together what it describes as an all-female supergroup of artists of Irish heritage, to perform at a one-off celebration of spoken word, poetry and song, to mark International Women’s Day 2022.

Headlined by young poets Sasha Terfous and Natalya O’Flaherty, the line-up also includes Ruby Kearney, who'll perform accompanied by sound artist AKA PATRICIUS, and singer songwriter Jeanette Murphy, whose eclectic musical stylings range from jazz to Irish traditional music.

The evening will be MC’d by Actress Veronica Quilligan

Recently announced as the Poet Laureate for County Wexford in Ireland, Sasha Terfous is one of the most important figures in Ireland’s spoken word community. She aims to narrate life’s experiences and encourage her audience to reflect upon themselves and their decisions. Using her work as a form of activism, her poetry draws attention to the voices that should be heard and issues that need to be addressed – be it the racism and homophobia of her youth in a small rural town or larger issues such as climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement.

The past two years have found her undertaking commissions for the Female Tribes project, speaking at the launch of the Centre for Environmental Justice alongside Ireland’s former president Mary Robinson, performing for Bloomsday with Aidan Gillen, David Norris and Glen Hansard, touring with Wooden Elephant on their German performances of Beyoncé’s Lemonade album and collaborating with the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation in New York.

Having found her voice through the performance of her poetry, Natalya O’Flaherty has taken her spoken word to some of the Ireland's most prestigious cultural events. Her words carry hard hitting notions and criticisms of modern Ireland, reflecting issues affecting young people across the country. Performing on the Late Late Show three times, her message reached a wide audience.

Her achievements to date include festival appearances including ‘Electric Picnic’, ‘Other Voices’ and ‘Culture Night’; also commissions for RTE’s ‘A Woman’s World’ and ‘Shine A Light’; the Ombudsman for Children, Body & Soul and Proctor & Gamble’s Irish Tampax campaign; and an interpretation of Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Three Babies’ for An Post’s Glastonbury special edition launch

Ruby Kearney is an East London born and bred visual and vocal artist, writer and performer. Her work along with the sound artist AKA PATRICIUS focuses on collaboration and unification of sound, movement and visual language to communicate stories and stimulate atmospheric experiences. She works as creative events producer and assistant, both in the music industry and the Irish Cultural Centre, and as a vocal artist. Alongside this, Ruby is working on developing her own creative process influenced by her Irish heritage, sound art and poetry. She will be accompanied by sound artist Patrick Hemington - AKA PATRICIUS.

Jeanette Murphy is a singer songwriter and musician who stems from Nigerian-Irish heritage. Jeanette has a wealth of experience as a live performer’; she is known for effortlessly combining her intricate acoustic guitar playing, with her stunning vocals and thought-provoking lyrics, in her very own unique style. Jeanette has so far released three albums.

Having an eclectic taste in music, she performs jazz, folk, blues and Irish and she regularly plays and sings at the Friday night Irish music session here at the ICC, Hammersmith. Jeanette says she loves the ambience of the Irish trad session and she also loves traveling to Ireland to play at the annual Fleadh Cheoil Festivals, whenever she can. Recently Jeanette performed a stunning Lockdown Concert at the ICC which was filmed and directed by Sé Merry Doyle. Here is the link to watch that concert Jeanette in Concert

Veronica Quilligan made her acting debut at the Royal Court Theatre in Edna O'Brien's A Pagan Place. She has since worked at the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Abbey Theatre, Field Day Theatre and with many repertory theatres across the UK. Her work also includes TV, Film and Radio. As a director she has worked at LAMDA, The Finborough Theatre, The Chiswick Theatre, The Playground and The Hope Theatre.

More artists to be announced.

The event starts at 7.30pm and tickets, which cost £8, can be booked on the Irish Cultural Centre's web site.