Andrew Boushell
Andrew is a multi-instrumentalist and singer from Dublin. He is a graduate of D.I.T. Conservatory of Music and Drama, The Royal College of Music, and Operastudio Vlaanderen, Belgium.
Andrew’s concert career has brought him to venues including The National Concert Hall, Dublin, St Georges Hannover Square, London, Brugge Concertcentruum, Bruges, De Singel Antwerp and Handel Halle, Germany performing repertoire including Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle, Elgar’s The Apostles and Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions. Most recently Andrew completed an MA in Ethnomusicology at U.C.C., with a thesis entitled ‘Politics, Song, and the Proletariat: An Exploration of Irish Diasporic Identity in the UK’. Andrew is a member of M’ANAM
Like many people brought up in Ireland during the nineties, my first exposure to Anúna came courtesy of Riverdance at Eurovision 1994. The lyrical beauty of that performance immersed the world in an Irish ‘sound’, the like of which had never been witnessed. In that moment, Ireland and Irish culture was catapulted into the mainstream; an instance which provided the catalyst for a subsequent Irish cultural renaissance.
Anúna managed and continues to create a liminal space for both performers and audience members alike. The performances transport both musician and listener to very individual spaces, wherein temporal sequences and actualities dissolve, and new empirical expressions and positions emerge.
Having joined Anúna recently, I am excited to see what the future brings. It is an ensemble like no other, with friendly, talented, and most importantly passionate individuals, coming together to create something special.
Anúna is an ideal instance of modern-day communitas. Anthropologist Victor Turner labelled communitas as ‘a matter of giving recognition to an essential and generic human bond, without which there could be no society’. For me Anúna provides the perfect platform to both express and interact in both my own sense of Irishness, with other likeminded people, whilst also promoting the best of Irish music and culture to the world writ large.