Four Shillings Short

FOUR SHILLINGS SHORT
A SAMHAIN/HALLOWEEN CONCERT:
Music, Poetry & Folklore for the Celtic New Year
FRIDAY: OCTOBER 17, 2025
6:00 – 7:30pm

FREE Family Concert

ABOUT FOUR SHILLINGS SHORT: https://www.4shillingsshort.com

Four Shillings Short, the husband/wife duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama from Cork, Ireland and Christy Martin from California, bring together music, stories and folklore from the Celtic lands to celebrate the Ancient Celtic Bonfire festival of Samhain, known as Féile na Marbh (the Feast of the Dead). Samhain (pronounced ‘sow-in’ meaning ‘the Summer’s end’) marks the end of harvest, beginning of Winter and the Celtic New Year.  Traditionally celebrated at the end of October/beginning of November it is the origin of Halloween/All Hallows Eve, All Souls Day and Dia de los Muertos.

It is believed that on Samhain or ‘Ancestor night’, the border between the world of the living and the dead is thinnest. Candles are lit at the graves of loved ones, offerings of food and drink left out for the Ancestors and bonfires lit throughout the countryside. Many of our modern day customs are based on Samhain including ghost stories, Halloween costumes, bobbing for apples, and the jack-o-lantern.

Touring in the US & Ireland since 1997, Four Shillings Short are international folk-artists who perform 100 concerts a year, have released 13 recordings and live as full time Troubadours traveling from town to town performing at music festivals, theatres & performing arts centers, folk societies, libraries, house concerts and schools.  Their music is a mix of Traditional and Original songs and instrumentals from the Celtic lands, Medieval & Renaissance Europe, India and the Americas on a fantastic array of instruments (over 30) including Hammered & Mountain Dulcimer, Mandolin, Mandola, Bouzouki, Tinwhistles, Recorders, Medieval and Renaissance Woodwinds, North Indian Sitar, Charango, Bowed Psaltery, Banjo, Bodhran, Guitar, Percussion, vocals and even a Krumhorn.