Old Lullabies of Mother Europe

A free call to journey with songs of soothing and blessing that have been passed down through the ages

Tuesday, February 20th @ 11am - 12noon PST / 7pm - 8pm GMT

Soothing, calming, protecting, blessing…

Join us in this nourishing gathering where we will have the opportunity to hear some of the oldest lullabies that still exist around Europe, along with stories that surround lullaby traditions from these vastly unique landscapes.

Lullabies are some of the first songs we hear in this life and contain a certain magic that is not just for young ones.

What are some of the old European lullabies that have been carried down through the ages?
And what are the blessings that they contain?

Hosted by Hanna Leigh
With guest teachers:
Amaia Gabantxo
Gwilym Morris
Margaret Stewart
Eeva Maria Leino
Nóirín Ní Riain Agne Nelk
Mariana Root
Elin Kaaven

Your Host: Hanna Leigh

Greetings! My name is Hanna Leigh, (IG: @hannaleighsong) originally from California (Chumash territory). I am a Singer-Songwriter, Voice Doula, Weaver, and Devotee of this precious, living Earth. My people migrated to the U.S. several generations ago from England, Scotland, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands.

For the past several years I have been on an inspired journey to reclaim ancestral wisdom and connect with the indigenous spirit of the “Great Sacred Motherland of Europe” – a term I first heard from activist Lyla June.

This longing for reconnection was the impetus to create a well-loved program called “Songs of Mother Europe”, which features song carriers from all over Europe who still carry the old songs. In the past year we have had over 700 participants in the course, which speaks to me of a collective impulse to remember and preserve ancestral wisdom.

Margaret Stewart

Margaret Stewart (Maighread Stiùbhart) is a renowned Gaelic singer from the Isle-of-Lewis in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, with a career spanning approximately 30 years and three studio albums to her name. She is a native Gaelic speaker and has a great passion for the songs and culture of her homeland. As well as her musical performances, in collaboration with some of the cream of Highland and Irish musicians, she is also in demand as a mentor, teacher and lecturer on various themes of Gaelic song and related history. Margaret has amassed an impressive repertoire of songs and a goodly number of those relate to the music of the great Highland bagpipe. She has recorded two seminal albums with pipers Allan and Iain MacDonald (‘Fhuair mi Pog’ and Colla Mo Rùn’) and a solo album (Togaidh mi mo Sheòlta) on the Greentrax label.

Eeva Maria Leino

Eeva Maria Leino grew up in the Finnish countryside and has dedicated herself to the study and teaching of Finnish mythology, folklore, herbalism and ancestral wisdom, having written two books in Finnish that weave these subjects with depth psychology. Her path of singing has taken many diverse shapes, including being a vocalist in a metal band, and later finding her voice more deeply through finno-ugric shamanistic traditions, utilizing drum and kantele. Her work is devoted to supporting people to connect with the inner power of the soul, called “haltija” in Finnish.

Nóirín Ní Riain

Nóirín has traversed many diverse paths during her life-time and lives our her life in great gratitude for the good of it all, despite “the hollow lands and hilly lands” (William Butler Yeats). One constant, natural given has been as a singer of spiritual song; beginning with the Irish sean-nós amhrán cráifeach, this led her to other traditions such as Gregorian Chant, the music of Hildegard von Bingen, Joa Bolendas and Mira Bai. She is author of several books ranging from a children’s Irish traditional song collection, the repertoire of her sean-nós singing mentor, Pilib Ó Laoghaire, an autobiography in 2008 and the publication of her doctoral thesis in 2011 and numerous articles. In 2003, she was awarded the first ever doctorate in Theology from MIC, University of Limerick for her originality in creating a theology of Listening for which she coined the term, Theosony, meaning The Sound of God. Always longing to pursue a call to ministry, she was ordained an Inter-faith minister in London in 2017.

Agne Nelk

Agne Nelk is an Estonian audiovisual artist, guardian of ancestral wisdom, a keeper and weaver of sacred songs from golden times. As long as she remembers herself she was always surrounded by music and singing. In addition to the living oral tradition she finds solace and inspiration in the hallowed halls of archives investigating the archeological findings, songs and melodies gathered for many hundreds of years. For Agne the old runosongs are portals to a bygone era, where each carefully preserved melody becomes a bridge connecting us to the timeless rhythms of our heritage.

Mariana Root

Born in Porto, Portugal, Mariana Root grew up among her sisters, mother, aunts, and grandmother, who were all singers and share the last name Rute, which is the origin of the latter part of the artist’s name – Root. She has been exploring voice from a young age, having lived several years in South America reconnecting with indigenous ways of life and the traditional music of the Andean culture. Returning to Portugal, to her ancestral roots, it was in a place named Beiras she first connected with the musical traditions and melodies of the “adufeiras” (Portuguese women drummers) of Monsanto and Paúl. There she lived amongst them and got to learn the wonders of the Adufe, the square drum, which is an instrument she has been playing ever since in her own peculiar way. Her latest album, Lusitana, weaves with the Lusitanian Portuguese roots on a deeper level, honoring the culture and sound that may seem to be forgotten but still live strongly in the stones and landscapes of Portugal.

Elin Kåven

Elin Kåven is a Sami singer, songwriter and yoiker from Karasjok. With close to 20 years as a Sami artist, she has seen how yoik has been received in different parts of the world. As an adult, she decided to dig deeper into the yoik, and found a connection to nature and her foremothers and forefathers through the practice. She has been sharing the practice of yoik online for the past several years, including co-creating an online course with Jungle Svonni. As a recording artist, Elin Kåven’s music combines Sami mythology with pop, rock and ambient soundcapes

May this bring you nourishment and inspiration to carry with you into your dreaming.

Bring a candle, and join us live for this free virtual gathering.

This free event is a kick-off for our upcoming course “Songs of Mother Europe – Lullaby Version”, hosted by Hanna Leigh

“Our songs travel the earth.
We sing to one another.
Not a single note is ever lost and no song is original.
They all come from the same place and go back to a time when only the stones howled.”

Louise Erdrich

Soothing, calming, protecting, blessing… Join us in this nourishing gathering where we will have the opportunity to hear some of the oldest lullabies that still exist around Europe, along with stories that surround lullaby traditions from these vastly unique landscapes.