In a FREE all-day artists residency subtitled “Lamentations and Laughter,” ALTAN members Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Dáithí Sproule joined local Irish singer Seamus Carmichael and SFMS's own folklorist Amy Skillman to explore the vibrant traditional songs from the region of Ulster in the North of Ireland. Some sessions are archived on our YouTube channel!

• Welcome brought all of the artists together into one virtual space.
• Tragic Little Stories featured Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh talking about the Gaelic song tradition of her home in County Donegal and about growing up singing in Gaelic. She sang a few of her favorites and taught one phonetically.
• Comic Songs and Singing featured local Irish singer Seamus Carmichael showing the wryly humorous aspect of Ulster's song tradition, demonstrating how to draw audiences in and make them laugh.
• Guitar Accompaniment for the Songs of Ulster featured Dáithí Sproule illustrating classic Ulster songs that have become American folk songs, and showing the beauties and common pitfalls in presenting the old songs in this way.
• Traditional Singing Session brought all three artists together at the end of the day to trade songs and the stories about them.