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Manx Music and Dance DVD for festival organizers

Located at the heart of the British Isles, the Isle of Man lays claim to both Norse and Celtic heritage, giving a rich tapestry to Island life and providing a unique cultural tradition. Although celebrated here on the Isle of Man, our distinctive and rich culture is often overlooked in other countries, a fact which recently prompted the production of a DVD entitled ‘Manx Music & Dance’ (Kiaull as Rinkey). A diverse selection of local dance groups, choirs and musicians were brought together to perform contrasting sets for this distinctive production with a very specific purpose in mind.

‘Manx Music and Dance’ is an innovation of the Manx Heritage Foundation, and has been developed over a two year period, designed to target festival organisers in order to make them more aware of Manx music, song and dance. Each group displays an exciting range of both traditional and contemporary interpretation of Manx material, showing how Manx culture has evolved and developed through time. Manx performers are increasingly in demand at both Celtic and roots festivals throughout the world, and this DVD is intended to be used as a vehicle to provide a snapshot of the variety of Manx traditional groups available to perform in other countries.

The DVD has already been distributed to hundreds of festival organisers throughout the British Isles, Europe and North America.

With a short introductory film on the Isle of Man itself, narrated by Charles Guard, this DVD offers a golden opportunity to promote the Island in new areas with original material. As a promotional tool the DVD highlights the talents of local groups in a variety of settings, including footage of some of the Island’s most attractive scenery. Bringing valuable publicity for the Isle of Man, the DVD also includes full biographies of all the groups together with web links and contact details.

Sixteen Manx groups were involved in the project, with narration and translations on the DVD also available in French, German and Spanish.

Although the DVD is only available to festival organisers and is not for sale to the general public, it has also been supplied to the Island’s secondary schools in support of the delivery of Manx music and dance in the curriculum. Festival organisers who would like a copy of the DVD should send their festival name, website, language preference and postal address to: mhfmusic@mhf.org.im