Invite to learn about nomadic cultures at Misleór Festival
A fire will be lit in Galway from Thursday to Sunday, September 25 to 28, as the Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures returns for its seventh annual gathering. Misleór celebrates nomadic voices from Traveller, Roma, Sámi, Inuit and other indigenous communities.
An estimated 30–40 million people across more than 80 countries still live as nomads and Misleór shines a light on their cultures and traditions, explains the festival’s Artistic and Cultural Director, Nora Corcoran.
Nomadic people see the world differently, she says.
“Movement is not a disruption but a rhythm of life. Settled culture often builds, accumulates, and discards. Nomadic traditions carry forward what matters – stories, songs, music, skills, herbal knowledge and the wisdom of survival.”
Misleór is the only festival in Europe dedicated to the creativity and experiences of nomadic peoples.
Featuring guests from Roma musicians to Inuit activists, Traveller storytellers to Sámi campaigners, Nora describes it as “a cultural home for communities too often left outside the mainstream”.
This year’s theme is Tending the Flame: On the Road to Justice and Reparation, which “honours dignity, memory and survival”, states Nora. “We will ask key questions: What do we want to preserve from our traditions? What is the settled world missing that nomadic people can teach? How can memory guide us toward justice? Misleór is about keeping traditions alive while sparking conversations about change. It’s about the right to live freely.”
Highlights will include the opening-night event, honouring tinsmith Tom McDonnell, which will run alongside a celebration in conjunction with the Irish Traditional Music Archive. Stories and Songs of the Road, Volume 2, includes rare cassette recordings of Traveller voices from the 1980s and ’90s.
Misleór Whidden will be a day of arts and activism on justice, resilience and indigenous rights, featuring Beaska Niillas (Sámi) and Jess Smith (Scottish Traveller). That will be followed by a public discussion, Twice Colonised, with Inuit activist Aaju Peter.
The Misleór Youth & Family Day showcases Traveller youth creativity, from the Misleór Youth Talent Show to Creating Connections, a VR journey through Traveller life and memory. The programme also includes Freedom Designed/Designing Freedom, where world renowned Sámi architect Joar Nango discussed his groundbreaking practice in conversation with Traveller architect, Brian Ward.
The Misleór Festival will take place in five venues across Galway City from September 25-28. They include An Taibhdhearc, Druid’s Mick Lally Theatre and the University of Galway.
Misleór will also travel to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair on October 5, bringing music, craft, and installations to one of Ireland’s oldest nomadic gatherings.
“Misleór is more than a festival,” says Nora. “It places nomadic voices at the centre, where they belong: voices that carry memory, sustain nomadic ways of living and remind us that the road itself can be a home.
“We invite you to walk that road with us.”
The full Misleór programme is available at www.misleor.ie.
Pictured: Traveller filmmaker Ella-Louise Ward among the participants.