Celebrate Halloween and Celtic new year

The music duo Four Shillings Short plays traditional and original music from Ireland and Scotland as well as Indian Ragas, folk ballads, old-time songs, medieval to renaissance instrumentals and a capella numbers.

The instrumentation of over 30 pieces includes hammered dulcimer, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, tinwhistles, recorders, medieval and renaissance woodwinds, North Indian sitar, charango, bowed psaltery, bodhran, and krumhorn.

Celebrating their 16th year together, husband and wife Aodh Og O’Tuama from Cork, Ireland, and Christy Martin from California, tour in the United States and Ireland. They are independent folk artists with nine recordings.

O’Tuama grew up in a family of poets, musicians and writers. He received his degree in music from University College Cork and received a fellowship from Stanford University in California in medieval and Renaissance performance.

Martin grew up in a family of musicians and dancers. From the age of 15, she studied for 10 years with master sitarist Ravi Shankar. She began playing the hammered dulcimer in her twenties.

About Samhain

The Celtic feast of Samhain marks the end of harvest, the beginning of winter and the new year. People traditionally celebrate it at the end of October and beginning of November

Samhain is Irish-Gaelic for “the summer's end” and is pronounced “sow-in.” It is considered a celebration of life over death, and a time to remember those who have left the world of the living.

Candles would be lit at the graves of loved ones and bonfires were lit throughout the countryside. It is believed that borders between the world of the living and the dead are thinner on this night - also known as Ancestor Night.

At a glance…

Who: Four Shillings Short

When: 8 p.m. Saturday Nov. 3

Where: Oak Center General Store, Highway 63, rural Lake City

Cost: $5-$15 based on ability to pay

More info: 507-753-2080 or www.oakcentergeneralstore.com

Tags: arts and entertainment, lifestyle, arts, entertainment