ABOUT
Branwen Kavanagh is a singer, musician, composer, performance artist and puppeteer from the West of Ireland. Inspired by folklore, dada, poetry and theatre and led by a powerful imagination, Branwen’s art and music are usually fashioned into surreal and potent experiences which cross the threshold into bizarre and magical territory. They are an award nominated artist, have performed their compositions on Other Voices, The National Concert Hall, Glastonbury, RTE, BBC and have toured internationally. They are the songwriter for well known projects including Twin Headed Wolf, Rufous Nightjar and their solo project, Branwen. Branwens shows include crankies, storytelling, puppetry and unusual objects employed as instruments. With absurd humour and the occasional on stage wedding, their haunting and poetic music juxtaposed with the hilarious and surreal leaves a warm otherworldly impression on their audiences.
They have released 2 full length albums of their original compositions this year in 2024 with Twin Headed Wolf (Altarwise) and Rufous Nightjar (Songs for Three Voices). In 2019 they released a solo record (Hunted and Haunted) as Branwen and an album of acapella traditional songs in 2015 with Twin Headed Wolf which is housed in ITMA. They are in the process of completing their next solo album.
MUSICIAN
Composer, Songwriter, Improviser, Vocalist
As well as being a songwriter, Branwen also works as a vocal improvisor for art pieces, scores, live collaborations and endurance performances. They write songs on commission and are passionate about writing from folklore and archive material. Branwen's songs have continuously been described as timeless and otherworldly while their essence is distinctly and uniquely their own. They have written songs for Dial a Seanchai (2023) and Bring Your Own Hammer (2024) and collaboated with visual artist Deirdre O' Mahony on The Quickening (2024) and The Persistent Return (2017) as well as appearing on many short film soundtracks.
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They have been awarded two Music Bursaries from the Arts Council of Ireland among a number of Agility Awards for writing and releasing work as well as recieving a recent award from Dun Laoighre Rathdown County Council in support of their upcoming album.
Branwen teaches singing workshops that are playful and inclusive, and regularly teaches on the Songwriting Masters programme in the University of Limerick.
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Singing styles and training: Traditional Irish, Opera, Expanded Vocal Technique.
Instruments: Guitar, Banjo, Percussion, Implements.
ARTIST
Performance Art, Conceptual Art, Installations, Visual Art
Branwen has a first class honours degree in Fine Art from NCAD and was nominated for the RDS graduate award in 2017 for an immersive, multidisciplinary performance piece. One of four "Operas" Branwen created that year for which they made the set, costumes and soundtrack as well as the props and wrote and directed the pieces.
Branwen invents particular systems for their work to happen within. Often these systems will include automatic writing, their own version of chance operations, analogue codes and particular limitations that define a new logic. Branwen's work is inspired by Dada, Surrealism, Literature, Irish Folklore, particular studies of Ritual, Theatre, Dance, the work of John Cage and Robert Wilson.
Branwen has had a number of collective and solo shows in Galleries and Spaces in Ireland.
MAKER
Shows, Parades, Plays, Happenings, Walkabouts, Puppets, Costumes, Masks, Crankies.
Branwen has been commissioned to make everything from living silent films, to circus shows, to surreal immersive theatre and music, to festival walkabouts, to themed 50 min stage shows, They have run carnivals, cabarets, troupes of 18 performers. Branwen has created a series of Horse Operas, Happenings and Mutidisciplinary shows.
For all of these things they make the concept, giant puppets, masks and costumes. Branwen also enjoys and has been comissioned to make crankies that correspond to Irish folk songs and has used embroidery, painting, and papercuts to make them.