Looking for some beautiful, uplifting, angel-themed events to attend this month? If so, look no further than this series of Angelic Harmony Therapy events being offered by Georgie Deyn and Pathway Teaching on March 22nd, 23rd and 24th!
We are pleased to announce that the wonderful community musician John Bowker will be joining us at Positive Nights on Thursday December 6th for an evening of Christmas Heartsongs. The event will take place from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. in the Bewley’s Café, 78/79 Grafton Street, Dublin 2.
John Bowker is well-known within Ireland’s holistic community for his heart-centred musical workshops and Tribal Spirit Drumming sessions. We have been pleased to host him here at Positive Nights on a number of previous occasions, and on Thursday December 6th, we are going to do it all again.
On this evening, we will enjoy a Christmas special with John, who will guide through a range of Heartsongs designed to awaken joy and contemplation. John describes Heartsongs as “software to open your heart, exploring intentional blessings and weaves of harmony in a playful friendly space for humans”. Expect to feel a lot of love in the room!
Absolutely no prior singing experience is required and absolute beginners are welcome. Doors open at 7.00 and the event begins at 7.30.
You can pay on the door or book your tickets here.
We are pleased to announce that the wonderful community musician John Bowker will be joining us at Positive Nights on Thursday December 6th for an evening of Christmas Heartsongs. The event will take place from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. in the Bewley’s Café, 78/79 Grafton Street, Dublin 2.
John Bowker is well-known within Ireland’s holistic community for his heart-centred musical workshops and Tribal Spirit Drumming sessions. We have been pleased to host him here at Positive Nights on a number of previous occasions, and on Thursday December 6th, we are going to do it all again.
On this evening, we will enjoy a Christmas special with John, who will guide through a range of Heartsongs designed to awaken joy and contemplation. John describes Heartsongs as “software to open your heart, exploring intentional blessings and weaves of harmony in a playful friendly space for humans”. Expect to feel a lot of love in the room!
Absolutely no prior singing experience is required and absolute beginners are welcome. Doors open at 7.00 and the event begins at 7.30.
You can pay on the door or book your tickets here.
This article appeared in our Summer 2018 issue, available now through our stockists or via subscription.
Healing, Courage and Honesty
How cancer set me free
by Keith Cullen
When I started chemotherapy at the start of this year, it took me a while to sort through my feelings: the layers of fear and disbelief, the desire to ignore reality (I am well known for this). I finally had to admit to myself – and I am able to say it out loud now – that I have stage 3 bladder cancer.
All the signs were there, telling me my health was unraveling, but it took a medical emergency before I was ready to listen. This I don’t recommend and this is why I want to share my experience will anyone who will listen. Last year was the best year I’ve ever had. I experienced some big personal awakenings, my career was on the rise, my love life was finally worth talking about, the schedule was full, and the lessons I was learning along the way were inspiring me in all the right directions. I was even prepping to attend the Grammys, for a big showcase and for my album.
During that hectic time, I started to notice blood in my urine. I thought I had some sort of infection. Eager to stay on schedule and keep up with the recording, I did the whole “mind over matter” bit, took advice from health experts and finally saw my local doctor.
By December, my symptoms worsened, and while I was on a trip in Sydney, I sought medical help again. Jessica, an Australian doctor I visited for more antibiotics, required me to have an ultrasound instead. That led to another specialist, which led to a CT scan, which led to my laying on the operating table in Sydney. December 8th will be a date I won’t forget, as they removed a large tumour from by bladder, not really knowing the full extent or nature of how the cancer had spread.
I’ve experienced every different type of emotion possible this year, from ‘WHY ME,’ to ‘I got this,’ to ‘I’m okay,’ to ‘This sucks balls.’ I’ve learned to be okay with not being okay.
I’ve been learning the difference between reality and fantasy, and how to be positive within my reality, rather than ignoring it in order to stay positive. I can be happy and have cancer. I can be whole and also sad about my circumstances. I can be afraid and still courageous about what is happening.
‘It takes a lot of strength to share yourself with someone else’ – a lyric of one of my songs written five years ago is back to remind me why it was written!
Being new to cancer and to chemotherapy, I hadn’t imagined it would force me to be so brutally honest and reflective as I currently am. Each decision I make now has meaning and the value attached to survival, and being a source of good has never been stronger at the forefront of my mind.
I’ve been gracefully broken and now am focused on rebuilding a stronger, more knowledgable, kinder Keith who surrenders to my new path and will continue to keep my arms wide open to life’s opportunities, whilst doing some good along the way.
Everyone is different regarding their journey. Please feel free to share yours with me. Just reach out at any point: Keithcullengm@yahoo.ie
Ayla Nereo’s voice is a beacon of light that hits straight to the heart. Her poetry splashes like dazzling paint across a canvas of sound, and armed with an array of loop-pedals, she builds layer upon layer of vocal melodies into fierce, sweeping harmonies, weaving syncopated threads of guitar, kalimba, piano, and percussion into each live performance. Her songs call us to listen deeper. For the depth of each song is in the words; her lucid storytelling and lyrical imagery ring as anthems, riddles, and mantras for hope, humanness, profound healing, and love. With an uncanny ability to disarm and crack open the emotions, Ayla is an artist you feel is singing directly from her Soul, for what she truly believes in, and for the beauty of life itself.
Raised on Bob Dylan, opera, and classical music, Ayla’s music touches both the timeless and modern. Vocally and lyrically often compared to Joni Mitchell, her arrangements and stage presence lean into something more modern and fierce, an authenticity and innocence closer to Aurora or Imogen Heap. Dancing her own songs on stage as she sings them, her movement and presence gives the audience a permission to be wild, real, vulnerable, and alive. Though Ayla’s vocal melodies, timeless lyrics, and fingerpicking guitar songs harken back to an earlier era, she always rides the line between genres, weaving in live vocal looping, beats and percussion, orchestral string arrangements, celtic melodies, and even dashes of hip-hop wordplay, so that her songwriting and sound ultimately cannot be compared to anyone else.
Every performance Ayla gives is its own inspired journey; an enchanting and poignant experience that holds you by the heart and doesn’t let go.
She is visiting Positive Nights on Sunday June the 24th, from 7.00 to 9.00 p.m., for a performance that is sure to be spectacular. It will take place in the gorgeous, historic building of the Bewley’s Café Theatre on Grafton Street, Dublin 2. Tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite here.
Looking to discover an amazing new talent tonight? Check out this gig at 8.00 p.m. in Whelan’s, Dublin, from an up-and-coming musician named Bryde whose sound has been described as a “swirling wave of tidal resonance that confidently sits between Scout Niblett and Sharon Van Etten” by leading critics. Tickets are available via Song Kick. Read on to learn more!
The Welsh-born and London-based Bryde finds intense internal poetry in everyday adversity. While concentrating thematically on life and human interaction, her songwriting persona wears her bruised yet resolute heart on her sleeve. Her music explores themes of independence, liberation, and relationships.
On her most recent song, To Be Brave, Bryde’s voice carries us beyond the imprecision of words into feelings we all know, but can’t fully delineate. As she says: “To Be Brave was written as kind of a soft squeeze of the hand to many friends who have, like me, been through many a dark period and put on a brave face and just got on with it. It’s a comment about how we all live out certain episodes of our lives in such a public setting these days that I feel we almost edit them to appear flawless, nothing but smiles.”
To Be Brave is a shock to the system of preconceived notions about the style of artist Bryde is. She’s rock and roll for sure, but also protean and poetic: a rocker in the vein of Patti Smith.
So far, industry support for Bryde has come from Nylon, DIY, TLOBF, the
Her new release, Like An Island, has just come out on Bryde’s own label Seahorse Music today – on the 13th of April – and is now available to order. In support of the release, Bryde will set off on her biggest UK and Irish tour so far during April and May. Tonight, she is visiting Whelan’s, Dublin, for what is sure to be an incredible gig.
You can book tickets for the performance here. Bryde’s website is: www.brydemusic.com.