An Irish Halloween / Oíche Shamhna: Shapeshifting

Dublin-based trio Alfi combine traditional Irish and Appalachian music and song for a unique, award-winning sound featuring the unusual line-up of harp, five string banjo, and uilleann pipes. In their short two years as a band, they were nominated for best emerging artist at the 2019 RTÉ Folk Awards and crowned winners of the prestigious Molloy Award at the Trip to Birmingham TradFest and the Caoimhín Ó Dochartaigh Award at Imbolc International Music Festival. In May 2019, Alfi released their debut EP, Wolves in the Woods, to critical acclaim, followed by an Ireland/UK tour. They have performed at many established venues and festivals, including Freshgrass, Body and Soul, and Other Voices. Their music and vocals have been described as “mind-blowing magic” and “powerful” by The Bluegrass Situation and Ruth Smith (Simply Folk), respectively. Alfi will release their debut album in 2022.

Photo credit: Tara McAuley

Jonathan Matthews-Guzmán is a NYC-based performer, creator, writer, and educator of dance, music, and theatre. Jonathan was raised in Memphis, TN, where they briefly encountered Irish dancing with Mary McGinty at Inis Acla School of Irish Dance. They went on to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, through which they studied abroad at Slazburg Experimental Academy of Dance and Toscana Dance HUB. At Tisch, department chair Seán Curran caught wind of Jonathan’s former life as an Irish stepper, and introduced them to fellow Tisch aluma Darrah Carr. Jonathan has been dancing, playing music, and teaching with Darrah Carr Dance since 2014, drawing upon their experience in traditional and contemporary forms to collaborate rigorously within Carr’s trademark fusion style, ModERIN. Through Irish Arts Center, Jonathan has been a resident teaching artist P.S. 69Q in Jackson Heights, and has called céilithe at IAC’s Open Day as well as at Porch Stomp on Governors Island. Jonathan is the co-founder/artistic director of BREAKTIME, sings with the Cecilia Chorus of New York, and serves as a performer, choreographer, and musician for This is Not a Theatre Company.