J Athenamedia

Edel Meade is a jazz singer turned contemporary folk artist. She hails from Clonmel but has made Limerick her home and her latest album ‘Brigids and Patricias’ tells the stories of what it is to be a woman in Ireland from myth to misogyny; with songs about the true, though still unbelievable story, of Bridget Cleary, whose husband burnt her to death saying he believed she was a changeling, and a powerful spoken word piece called’ Long Way to Go’ about gender violence, which chimes with an Ireland which has just mourned Ashling Murphy. With the announcement that Feb 1, St Brigid’s Day, will become a new Irish national holiday from 2023, Panti Bliss explores why Edel is so fascinated by Brigid and how she is a cross between the pre Christian Celtic Goddess Brigit and the Christian saint, much loved in Ireland, who is so associated with the arrival of Spring, the feminine and womanhood, and why the new national holiday resonates with the public debate around gender violence. ‘It’s going to become ireland’s women