Ireland’s Steafán Hanvey Tours the US with "Look Behind You!", A Multimedia Performance Documenting the Conflict in Northern Ireland

Ireland’s Steafán Hanvey Tours the US with Look Behind You!

A Multimedia Performance Documenting the Conflict in Northern Ireland

"Steafán Hanvey is thoughtful, intelligent and reflective about the culture and family that shaped him, as well as how it has influenced and defined his recent album, Nuclear Family. Coburn Dukehart,NPR

 “Steafán's voice oozes warmth and a confessional charm…” The Irish Times

Northern Irish singer-songwriter Steafán Hanvey was born during one of the bloodiest years in the Northern Irish Troubles, in Downpatrick, N. Ireland, which is the resting place of St. Patrick. With St Patrick’s Day right around the corner, Hanvey presents a glance into Irish culture beyond the shamrocks, parades and green beer that come to mind on this side of the Atlantic.

As featured on NPR's Morning Edition

 

Hanvey is touring in Canada and the US presenting a multimedia performance-lecture entitled “Look Behind You! A Father and Son’s Impressions of the Troubles in Northern Ireland Through Photograph and Song”. Look Behind You! ™ details how this photojournalist father and musician son have negotiated the personal and political landscapes of Northern Ireland. Hanvey says, that "among other things, Look Behind You! ™ investigates the Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney's notion that "the end of art is peace."

Presented in tandem with Steafán Hanvey’s critically acclaimed album, Nuclear Family (eOne USA/Canada 2013) Look Behind You! ™ offers a glimpse into a world in which violence and everyday life were intertwined for decades.

Steafán has performed Look Behind You! ™ at Boston College, The University of Wisconsin, The University of San Diego, Grinnell College, The Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago amongst others. Steafán's father, the award winning photographer Bobbie Hanvey's work brings to mind "great American photographers like Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Weegee." (Coburn Dukehart, NPR)

Growing up in an artistic household – his father is an acclaimed photographer and both of his parents are traditional Irish musicians – Steafán’s exposure to all kinds of music began in utero. Citing influences from Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Soundgarden, Simon & Garfunkel to Irish folk, Hanvey cut his teeth singing at musical gatherings in the family home as a child. Nuclear Family was recorded in Paris, Helsinki, Belfast and Dublin and was mixed by Franz Ferdinand & The Cardigans producer Tore Johansson and mastered by Mandy Parnell (Bjork/Sigor Rós/P'J.Harvey).

Steafán spoke at length with No Depression: photo essay and interview

TOUR DATES

Feb 27           University of Waterloo                                       Waterloo, Canada

Mar  1             Greater Danbury Cultural Center                           Danbury, CT

Mar  6             Drew University                                                      Madison, NJ

Mar  8             Mercury Lounge**                                                    New York, NY

Mar 10            Spring Lake Inn                                                      Spring Lake, NJ

Mar 11            John Fisher College                                             Rochester, NY

Mar 12            May Memorial Church                                           Syracuse, NY

Mar 13            Irish American Heritage Museum                           Albany, NY

Mar 16            University of Nebraska                                         Omaha, NE

Mar 18            The Basement**                                                      Nashville, TN

**Musical Performance Only

 Look Behind You! ™ PDF  - Official Website