Cronachdain Suil – Kate Moore [Music Video]

"Cronachdain Suil" by composer Kate Moore, as featured on the album "Folk Songs" by Ficino Ensemble & vocalist Michelle O'Rourke (https://ergodos.bandcamp.com/album/fo.... Music video by Néstor Romero Clemente, featuring dancer-choreographer Jessie Thompson.

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"Cronachdain Suil" by Australian-Dutch composer Kate Moore was commissioned by Ficino Ensemble especially for the album "Folk Songs". “The text for Cronachdain Suil comes from traditional and folkloric spells from the Hebrides, evoking Saint Brigid and Saint Mary for protection in times of danger," says Moore. “Saint Brigid is the Irish Saint associated with the fire of inspiration, poetry and music, the hearth, and the forge. The title is a charm to counteract the destructive glare of The Evil Eye.”

Moore’s setting of this vivid folk spell is resolute and propulsive, culminating in an ecstatic percussion-driven procession in which vocalist Michelle O’Rourke’s assertions take on a particularly irresistible visceral power: “I shall not be anguished, / I shall not be wounded, / I shall not be ravaged, / I shall not be blinded. / I shall not be made naked. / I shall not be left bare…”

Videographer Néstor Romero Clemente has created a music video for "Cronachdain Suil" that offers a visual narrative deeply congruent with the invocation in the music. “The piece has this wonderful sense of urgency that gives so much space for the visuals to by driven by it,” says Romero Clemente.

He continues: “I wanted the visuals to be as close as possible to the ritualistic rhythm that Moore has so brilliantly captured in her composition. While Michelle O’Rourke’s haunting vocals offer an incantation to St. Brigid, the music is evocative of the unknown, the esoteric and the obscure.”

“The apocalyptic tone of the piece made me think of the work of H.P. Lovecraft, and I wanted to draw inspiration from his way of presenting the supernatural as something that humans can hardly comprehend. In line with this, some of the rituals that are shown in the video are very humanistic – but others are as a result of an imagined entity that is truly otherworldly.”

Néstor Romero Clemente collaborated heavily with choreographer and dancer Jessie Thompson in the making of the music video. This was “a very enriching experience,” he says, “as she contributed immensely to the narrative of the film – her work carries the whole weight of the video and I feel that a lot of what ended up constructing the actual story was brought by her generous involvement in the project.”

“I love the way Néstor and Jessie's visuals capture the modern and ancient, mundane and mystical, and the connection with the animal and plant world,” says composer Kate Moore, in response to the video. “I often try to imagine St Brigid in a modern setting – in a way she was a very modern character, standing for many things that we hold true today that took centuries to regain.”

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Music credits

Michelle O’Rourke, voice

Ficino Ensemble:
Kieran Moynihan, alto flute
Macdara Ó Seireadáin, bass clarinet
Maeve O'Hara, percussion
Caitríona Frost, percussion
Richard Allen, harp
Nathan Sherman, viola
Kate Ellis, cello
Malachy Robinson, conductor

Produced by Nathan Sherman & Garrett Sholdice
Adrian Hart, recording & mixing engineer
Christoph Stickel, mastering engineer

Recorded in November 2020 in FitzGerald Chamber, University College Dublin. Mixed in Dublin in 2021. Mastered in Vienna, February 2022. Produced with the support of the Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon.

Video credits

Directed by Néstor Romero Clemente
Choreographer and dancer: Jessie Thompson
2D VFX: Santiago Alvarado
3D VFX: Callum Patrick O'Brien
Executive producer: Nathan Sherman
Production assistants: Hugh Murray & Edu Prado
Location manager: Hannah Miller
Still Photography: Hugh Murray

Shot on location in County Wexford, County Mayo, and County Clare in May 2022. No animals were harmed in the making of this film. With huge thanks to the Miller family for their generous support.