Through the stargate _{by Madelaine Empson}

Kindly supported by Culture Ireland, Ireland’s government agency for promoting Irish arts worldwide, award-winning composer, musician, and “masterful guitarist” (Sing Out! Magazine) Dave Flynn is touring his Celtic Guitar Journey to 17 small towns and cities up and down the North and South Island – and between them to passengers on an Interisland ferry crossing. Flynn is set to perform a very special concert at Stonehenge Aotearoa on the 14^th of March.

The Irish Memory Orchestra creator is a dual resident of New Zealand and Ireland and spends around three months of the year here with his wife Celia. However, he’s never been to Stonehenge – “neither the English nor the New Zealand one!”

In concert, Flynn will present guitar arrangements of Irish and Scottish traditional music, exploring the musical connections between the Celtic countries. Stonehenge Aotearoa, then, is a fitting setting for Celtic Guitar Journey. He says that while the association between ancient Celtic Druids and the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge has since been debated, England was a Celtic nation before the Anglo-Saxons arrived.

“I found a great quote from a practising Druid about why they go to Stonehenge”, he elaborates.

“For Druids today, Stonehenge is a bridge, connecting our age with all of time and space. Stonehenge is a gateway, a portal, a stargate, and that’s why we go to the Salisbury Plain: to accept its open invitation.”

With that quote in mind, Flynn hopes his show at Stonehenge Aotearoa “connects the audience to the history and spirit of Celtic music across the ages”.