A New Éire

Traditional Irish culture is making a fierce return with a unique queer edge. Sí-bín is one of the groups at the forefront of the movement, and Brian Dillon spoke to one of the organisers to find out more.

In many ways, aspects of Irish tradition have not always been friendly to the LGBTQ+ community. However, more and more queer folks are immersing themselves in the native culture, from dance to music to sport to language. In recent years, countless examples of LGBTQ+ people embracing their Irish heritage, and welcoming people of other cultural background to embrace it too, have popped up throughout the country.

Irish sport and queer identity mesh together in groups like Na Gaeil Aeracha, the world’s first explicitly LGBTQ+-inclusive GAA team. Committed to inclusivity and the comradery that GAA is known for, the club trains in Dublin in locations like Phoenix Park and Marino. Meanwhile, a number of queer folks are embracing the Irish language, such as Cian Ó Gríofa, the person behind the Instagram page Gaylgeoirí, which boasts a staggering 20,000 followers.

When it comes to music, dance, and craic, a more recent party has popped up on the scene, a celebration of Irish culture and LGBTQ+ identity known as Sí-bín. The event sees queer folks get together for a traditional Irish céilí with all the bells and whistles, and then some.

The name Sí-bín is a play on words. ‘Sí’ as Gaeilge means ‘her’, and paired together with ‘bín’, the two resemble the word shebeen, referring to underground Irish speakeasies where people would gather for music and craic.

The event, which has proved hugely popular since launching just a few months ago, is put together by its event manager Caoimhe Bermingham and head musician Clíodhna Heenan, with MC duties performed by Bean Sí, AKA Nuala Whitty.

Caoimhe spoke to GCN about Sí-bín’s inception and how the queer community has been joyously embracing Irish tradition.

A few months back, Caoimhe was hosting a Gaff For Gaza fundraiser gig in her house in Dublin when the idea was born.

“I had asked Clíodhna to come play and do trad at the night,” she explained. “She was playing trad with a few of her friends in the band. I was asking her to play things like ‘Walls of Limerick’ and a kind of a céilí broke out at the fundraiser at the end.

“I have experience running events and I would be really into Irish culture, as she is. After the céilí broke out she was like, ‘Will you help me to organise a céilí, this is so fun’...I thought, ‘This is such a cool idea,’ I would love to do it, and I feel like there’s such an empty space. I feel like a lot of people really want to engage with Irish culture and not just for it to be things like pubs. There is such a space for people wanting to be involved in céilís or trad and maybe don’t know where to go.”

She added: “It was kind of a perfect mix of a really class trad musician and an events girlie, and we just came together. So within the three weeks I had the whole thing organised.”

Sí-bín had its first-ever céilí in Pantibar, one of Dublin’s most beloved queer venues. The managers were “really supportive” in facilitating the event. “They had so much fun when we were there. They took a chance on us,” Caoimhe said.

“When we discussed the céilí and decided we would have one, Clíodhna said she liked the idea of bringing the queer element in and having it as a space for people who are queer to have a céilí.

“It’s open to queer people and to allies as well. It is for everyone, but a lot of queer people might find that there isn’t a space for them all the time to do things. A lot of the people in the band are members of the queer community, or their allies.”

The events instantly proved to be hugely popular. “The first one sold out in five days and the second one in three days,” Caoimhe said. “There was clearly a big hunger for it and people wanted to get out and have a dance and a bop. And if they do it with Irish trad music and culture, it’s even better.

“I think people really do want to re-engage with céilís they had in the Gaeltacht and have a laugh with something that’s a bit different. They can be [at one] with their heritage. But it’s not just Irish people who are coming to this. It’s all the communities that live in Ireland who want to maybe connect with the place they are living.”

Caoimhe and Clíodhna’s prediction about a queer hunger for Irish cultural experiences proved to be correct. Speaking about people’s reactions to the céilí, Caoimhe explained, “We had one girl at the event cry. She said that she felt really alone before she came to the event. When she came to the second one, she felt like she had a space where she can engage with the community. A lot of people in the queer community maybe felt like there wasn’t space for them to take up in the trad scene.

“Just even generally with céilís, they can be really strict. It’s hard to integrate into that. Then when people maybe aren’t meeting the norms of old Irish culture, it can be hard to find a space that you feel safe in, that you can just fully embrace what’s happening around you, have a laugh and have a bop and meet other people like you.

“We had a guy come all the way up from Co. Clare,” Caoimhe added. “He is a member of the queer community and he’s really passionate about trad. I think he plays multiple instruments. He saw it and was like ‘That’s a bit of me, that ticks every box, and I’ve never ever been to one of these before, an event like this specifically for people like me’. That was a bit mindblowing to be honest.”

As mentioned, the event’s impact expands beyond those who are involved in trad. “Members of the Brazilian community have been in, and people who have been walking by who are tourists and came in, and it was maybe their first piece of exposure to Irish culture,” Caoimhe explained.

While this blend of old Irish tradition and queer joy might seem alien to some, the founders of Sí-bín think it was rather obvious. “I don’t know how no one has realised, it’s like the campest thing ever,” Caoimhe said. “Has anyone ever been to a feis and seen the costumes? Have you seen the get up that Irish dancers wear?

It’s so camp.

“My dream was to always have an Irish dancing feis dress and I just never got to that standard,” she continued. “I remember I saw them at the Fleadh in Wexford and I bought them, and I was just so excited to wear them.”

From its humble beginnings in a small bar setting like Pantibar, Sí-bín has grown exponentially and is gearing up for its next event in The Bernard Shaw, a venue with a capacity of 200 attendees.

Irish craic has been part of the culture here for hundreds of years, while the queer community in Ireland has grown its own subculture. However, it seems like the two are coming together to make something really special, full of fun, inclusivity, and a celebration of multiple aspects of our identities.