Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman

Máire Ní Chathasaigh & Chris Newman bring blazing Irish harp and acoustic guitar to Ventura

The harp has a reputation for behaving politely. Máire Ní Chathasaigh has spent a career putting fire back into it.

On October 17, Máire joins guitarist Chris Newman at NAMBA for an evening of breathtaking acoustic music rooted in Irish tradition but far too curious to stay there. Their performances travel through driving dance tunes, hot jazz, bluegrass, baroque music and striking original compositions, with the occasional sharp turn into Chris’s Breaking Bach and his famously dry, subversive wit.

Máire is one of the defining figures in modern Irish harping. Raised in a musical family in West Cork, she pioneered techniques that brought authentically ornamented Irish dance music onto the harp and helped return the instrument to the center of the living tradition. Her influence earned her Gradam Ceoil TG4’s Musician of the Year, Irish traditional music’s most prestigious honor.

Chris is a dazzling flatpick guitarist, improviser, composer and producer whose musical path has crossed folk, swing jazz, bluegrass and classical repertoire. His collaborators have included Stéphane Grappelli and Boys of the Lough, and his playing can move from a clean Irish reel to Django-flavored swing before most guitarists have decided where to put the capo.

Máire and Chris first appeared together at the 1987 Cambridge Folk Festival, becoming the first established harp-and-guitar duo. Since then, they have carried their singular sound through twenty-four countries on five continents, from village halls and historic churches to major concert halls and palaces in Kyoto and Istanbul.

“In a class of their own.” — The Guardian

At NAMBA, all that precision and invention happens only a few feet away. You will see the hands move, hear the strings breathe and catch the grin before the next seemingly impossible run.

For listeners who love Irish traditional music without the museum glass, world-class acoustic playing and musicians who cross genres without losing the thread, this is a rare night worth the drive up the 101.

October 17. Reserve your seat and come hear what two remarkable musicians can do with twelve strings and a room ready to listen.