Irish musician Liam Ó Maonlaí, the supremo of Hothouse Flowers, will open the musical programme of the Happy Days Enniskillen International Arts Festival 2022 on the evening of Thursday, July 21 with a concert of songs and ballads.

The festival opening concert will take place in the Steele Hall of the former Portora Royal School, now Enniskillen Royal Grammar School, where Beckett attended from 1920-1923.

“It’s nice to be involved in something that has an artistic centre,” said Liam, speaking to The Impartial Reporter about his involvement in the Beckett Festival.

“I’m a fan of Seán Doran [festival curator], and how he likes to go to a place and he will see relevance where the relevance might not be in your face or obvious, but he will see relevance in how one art form might relate to another, and how he would make the most of a place.

“He would make a ‘limitation’ into a positive thing. I like meeting people who work that way,” said Liam, adding that although he is “not knowledgeable” of Beckett’s work, when he is in the company of people who are fans, he is “elevated by that conversation”.

SEE ALSO: Happy Days Enniskillen Beckett Festival returns this month

Outlining what audience members can expect from the festival opening concert, Liam said: “I’m bringing myself as a contemporary artist, who has absorbed a lot of influences from different world cultures and my own indigenous culture and used popular music as a platform for creating my art.

“I’ll be bringing that to the festival,” he added.

For the concert, Liam will also be joined by dancer Amaia Elizaren, where they will together perform an excerpt from their new show, entitled ‘Arima’.

 

Amaia Elizaren and Liam Ó Maonlaí will perform an excerpt from their piece Arima at the festival opening concert.

Amaia Elizaren and Liam Ó Maonlaí will perform an excerpt from their piece Arima at the festival opening concert.

 

“Amaia is a dancer from the Basque country and we have made a show together called Arima, which is a little bit of a reflection of my musical journey and a reflection of her journey in dance so far.

“It’s a 50-minute show, but we will perform a glimpse of it at the opening night.”

Having previously performed with his band, Hothouse Flowers, at the Mirage night club in Enniskillen in the early 1990s, Liam is looking forward to returning to perform this unique concert in the island town as part of the acclaimed literary and arts festival.

“It’s great. I like coming to Enniskillen; I love coming up North in general,” he told this newspaper.