“Beidh ár dTigh Hughes féin againn”: Music, Dance, and Overcoming the Disorientation of COVID-19 in Meadhbh Ní Eadhra’s “Cuairteoirí”

Abstract

This article examines the symbolism of music and dance in Meadhbh Ní Eadhra’s short story “Cuairteoirí” [“Visitors”], published in the October 2020 edition of Comhar. “Cuairteoirí” is set in a Connemara nursing home, where two residents come to terms with disorientation and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The arrival of a band of musicians to perform a concert presents an opportunity for rejuvenation. Drawing on a multidisciplinary theoretical framework including social geography and music theory, this article examines Ní Eadhra’s employment of music and dance as narrative and symbolic devices. In particular, it explores the ability of these forms to function as praxis for reorientation in disrupted time and space. Literary parallels are examined, including Seán Ó Ríordáin’s experience of tuberculosis and Máirtín Ó Cadhain’s emigration fiction, to place Ní Eadhra’s text within the Irish literary lineage.