Apples in Winter, a film produced by Tommy Hayes celebrating the Irish Apple, and showcasing the best of traditional music, song and contemporary dance will feature on TG4 on Saturday February 11th at 7.30pm. Performed by renowned artists including Tommy Hayes of Stockton’s Wing, Karen Casey, Cindy Cummins, Michelle Mulcahy, Mick O Brien, Carl Corcoran and Mary Francis Keenan, Apples in Winter includes a backdrop of a 60 minute film showing the turning of the seasons through the growth of apple trees. Apples have long held a special place in Irish life and mythology. This is captured in a beautifully shot film by Fergus Tighe, Keith Walsh and Martin McGagh which provides a backdrop to tell the story of these apples through music, song, dance and film.
Producer Tommy Hayes explains;
“I wanted to make a film about the lost apple varieties of Ireland which had been found and brought back to life – linking it into music, song, and dance with a group of musicians performing live with the seasons of the apple as a backdrop. I have endeavoured to pick a cross section of pieces that reflect the depth of the tradition; ranging from deeply religious songs that use the apple as a metaphor for divinity to the comic music hall songs from the late 18th and early 19th century”.
Some of the tunes will be familiar to us and others are quite obscure including some which have crossed the Atlantic and returned in different guises as country songs. Some of the tunes will be known by other names, which has long been a feature of the tradition. Some of the songs have new melodies or have old familiar melodies grafted on to them. Hopefully, the listener will come away from this with a deeper understanding of the links that exist between a locality, its agricultural tradition and its music.
The film is shot throughout County Clare with a large amount of the film shot at Irish Seed Savers which holds the Native Apple Tree Collection. This performance is available to buy as a double DVD / CD set. To celebrate copies of Apples in Winter CD / DVD are available to purchase from the Irish Seed Savers online gift store here at a special price of €10 for the month of February.
