St Brigid’s Day/Lá Fhéile Bríde: Caitlín Nic Gabhann performs new slip jig & dance, St Brigid’s Day

To celebrate Lá Fhéile Bríde/St Brigid’s Day 2022, the Irish Traditional Music Archive, in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs, commissioned three traditional artists to compose new works inspired by lore relating to Brigid: Caitlin Nic Gabhann, concertina/dancer; Louise Mulcahy, uilleann pipes/flute and Síle Denvir, harp/sean-nós singing. These new works are featured on TO BE IRISH ON ST BRIGID’S DAY an online celebration of St Brigid and the lives and legacies of women at home and abroad. Concertina player and dancer Caitlín Nic Gabhann from Ashbourne, Co. Meath, decided that St Brigid should have a tune and a dance in her honour, just like St Patrick! “The name Brigid or Bríd is ‘all around us’ in Irish life. Both my grandmothers were Brigid and Biddy and my own name is Caitlín-Bríd. My grandmother came from St Brigid’s Well, at Liscannor in Co. Clare and my first dancing lessons were at Kilbride hall in Co. Meath.  There is a tune and dance called ‘St Patrick’s Day’ that is known all o