Irish Time

Monday, January 7, 2013

IRISH HOLOCAUST COFFIN SHIPS AIRBRUSHED




The writer of this song is thought to be Patrick Carpenter, who was credited for these verses in "The Irish Singer's Own Book", of 1880 [thanks to sdog1981]. It is a traditional, narrative song that takes place during the famine and rebellion of 1848. This song is recorded as originating from County Tyrone.)

Oh father dear, I oft-times hear you speak of Erin's isle
Her lofty hills, her valleys green, her mountains rude and wild
They say she is a lovely land wherein a saint might dwell
So why did you abandon her, the reason to me tell.

Oh son, I loved my native land with energy and pride
Till a blight came o'er the praties; my sheep, my cattle died
My rent and taxes went unpaid, I could not them redeem
And that's the cruel reason why I left old Skibbereen.

Oh well do I remember that bleak December day
The landlord and the sheriff came to take us all away
They set my roof on fire with their cursed English spleen
I heaved a sigh and bade goodbye to dear old Skibbereen.

Your mother too, God rest her soul, fell on the stony ground
She fainted in her anguish seeing desolation 'round
She never rose but passed away from life to immortal dream
She found a quiet grave, me boy, in dear old Skibbereen.

And you were only two years old and feeble was your frame
I could not leave you with my friends for you bore your father's name
I wrapped you in my cóta mór in the dead of night unseen
I heaved a sigh and bade goodbye to dear old Skibbereen.

Oh father dear, the day will come when in answer to the call
All Irish men of freedom stern will rally one and all
I'll be the man to lead the band beneath the flag of green
And loud and clear we'll raise the cheer, Revenge for Skibbereen!


Many Irish people still do not know, that at the same time Irish farms were producing plenty of other foods, including corn, wheat, barley and beef. This food was taken  away by the British Government, under the noses of the starving six million children, women and men. It was taken to wealthy England by the armed guard of the British Army, who were under orders to ethnically cleanse THE native Irish from Ireland. 

The numbers of Irish involved surpassed the numbers in the Holocaust visited on the Jews later, by the Nazis. For confirmation see the the present Viceroyal in British Occupied Ireland Theresa Villiers, direct descendant of the then Vice royal in Ireland,  George Fredrick Villiers (1800 - 1870). 

While you are at it, you may ask Ms Villiers, about the current political internment without trial of Marian Price. The Irish Holocaust unlike the Jewish one has been airbrushed history by mentored, historical, revisionists. Still there is always hope that the truth will eventually see the light of day with wonderful artists like Declan O'Rourke.

A good contribution to truth and reconciliation in Ireland, can be kicked started by the British Government, making amends on a relative scale, to what the German Government made in war reparations and amends, for their holocaust visited on the Jews.

Below is and article from today's Irish Times by Siobhan Long:

Heading into history for songs of substance

SIOBHáN LONG
Percolation: a process that requires time and patience, both of which are commodities that come in short supply when it comes to the delicate art of planning a music career.
Declan O’Rourke seems to be an exception. Over the past 10 years, he has let a raft of thematically related songs insinuate themselves into the atmosphere while he continued to sate the appetites of fans, radio playlists and a wealth of artists looking for permission to borrow from his songbook. Josh Groban, Eddi Reader and Paul Weller have all, literally, sung the praises of O’Rourke’s Galileo (Someone Like You).
Recently, he’s written full orchestral arrangements for many of his songs, and performed them live with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. It was an experience O’Rourke describes as akin to “having a huge palette of colours to play with”.
Aside from all that, he’s shared stages with Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas, recently duetted with English folk’s Kate Rusby and shared more than a song or two with The Dubliners, but O’Rourke’s headline concert at this year’s Temple Bar Tradfest will see him occupy an altogether different space, where he’ll premiere a suite of songs he’s written over the past decade on the subject of the Irish Famine.
The germ that spawned this particular writing theme was O’Rourke’s discovery that his grandfather was born in a workhouse in Kinvara, Co Galway. Although he had only visited Kinvara once during his childhood, paintings by his grandfather of the local castle, which hung in the homes of many of his relatives, seeped so deeply beneath his skin that he felt what he describes as “a real spiritual connection” to the place. O’Rourke eventually moved to Kinvara, where he’s lived for the past six years. After picking up a book on the workhouses of Ireland, there was no turning away from a subject that’s preoccupied him ever since.
“That book had a big impact on me straight away,” he says. “And it was the personal stories that got me.” One story in particular, of a family from Macroom, struck O’Rourke with its stark and poignant juxtaposition of love and death.
“This man took his family into a workhouse, and all his children died very quickly,” he says. “So he brought his wife home, and, as she was dying, she was very cold, so he got down beside her and took her feet up on to his chest, under his shirt, and that’s where they both died, and that’s how they were both found.
“I was instantly taken by that image, and separate to my own emotional reaction, as a writer, that part of my brain was going ‘alert, alert, alert’. I was just instantly drawn to it, and had to write a song about it.”
The more he read, the more O’Rourke realised that one song could barely scratch the surface of a subject that he believes has been too often excised from our consciousness.
He also knew these songs were demanding a more traditional treatment, which would steer him away from the sound for which he’s best known, but towards something that he was drawn to from a very young age.
“My earliest memories of music are of Planxty and Paul Brady, and I can remember my legs not touching the ground, swinging them and listening to that music,” he says.
“I know there are flavours of that in my music, but I’ve also been afraid of it, because I know that sometimes, to be labelled as an Irish artist, or that you play Irish music, can really stunt your career – especially as a songwriter. The two don’t really go together.”
Serious subject matter 
O’Rourke’s dilemma about his relationship with Irish music is one that mirrors the complexity of many artists’ relationships with what they call home. It seems, though, that he’s found a satisfying way to navigate a path towards it, without diluting his primary instincts for the sounds that define him.
“Even though I’ve always been drawn to this very serious kind of music, and I’ve never stopped loving it or playing it, in a way I feel like I’ve been holding on to it with one hand, and pushing it away with the other.”
Somehow the more O’Rourke delved into this oddly elusive subject of the Famine, the easier it was to bridge the gap between the music he’d grown up with and loved, and the music he found himself writing.
“You know, I knew almost nothing about the Famine. I was never taught about it in school, any more than that it happened,” he says. “There was a gap there that needed to be filled: not only a cultural gap, but a musical gap.
“I hadn’t come across any songs about it really. I had come across Frank Harte’s album, The Hungry Voice but I’ve put that aside and I’ll only listen to it when I’m finished. When you have an idea for a certain subject you want to write about, and someone else has already done a good job, if you listen to it, you might feel that you can’t write your own material, because you can’t get the other work out of your head.
So I just set about writing these new songs fairly painstakingly– because I tend to labour over songs anyway – and they were never going to come until I had read lots about the Famine first. It’s such a serious subject and I knew I didn’t want to get it wrong.”
Temple Bar Tradfest closes with a performance of Declan O’Rourke’s suite of songs on the Famine in St Werburgh’s Church on Sunday, January 27th. templebartrad.com
The Famine:  Musical reference points 
The Hungry Voice by Frank Harte (album)
The Pursuit of Farmer Michael Hayes by Planxty
Famine by Sinéad O’Connor
The Fields of Athenry by Pete St John
Kilkelly by Mick Moloney, Jimmy Keane and Robbie O’Connell


BRITISH MENTORED UVF BELFAST FASCIST VIOLENCE OCCUPIED IRELAND





Belfast Flag Violence  Continues 5th Night

Petrol bombs, rocks and fireworks have been thrown at police in a fifth consecutive night of violence in Belfast. Protesters are demonstrating against the restricted use of the union flag at City Hall. Officers have deployed water canon.

Shots fired during loyalist flag violence in Belfast




'Barrage of missiles' against police

by Richard Gaisford - Daybreak Chief Correspondent
There has been a sustained barrage of missiles against police, some of which are big rocks. Water cannon has been used in retaliation.
It's an odd situation with loyalists on both sides of the police

Police use water cannon in Belfast

by Richard Gaisford - Daybreak Chief Correspondent
Police with water cannon trying to push loyalists up Lower Newtownards Road away from nationalists. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak
Fireworks and bottles are being thrown in east Belfast, near St. Matthews Church. Missiles appear to come from the nationalists behind the peace wall.
Police are using water cannon in bid to push the loyalists up Lower Newtownards Road away from nationalists.
'Petrol bombs and missiles' thrown in Dundonald
Police move off from Belfast City Hall in large numbers amid reports of petrol bombs in Dundonald. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak
Petrol bombs and other missiles have been thrown at police officers in Dundonald, east of Belfast, 
Protesters head towards the police line. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak
Protesters move back to the main gates of Belfast City Hall after a short-lived encounter with the police.Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak

Crowd 'tries to force gates open' at Belfast City Hall

A crowd listens to a speech outside the Belfast City Hall. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak
A crowd listens to a speech condemning the British Flag decision outside the Belfast City Hall. Some members attempted to force the gates open with no success.ABOUT 3 HOURS AGO

trouble ahead of council meeting

Police have sealed off the east entrance to Belfast City Hall ahead of the monthly council meeting. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak
Two water cannon wait the side streets close to Belfast City Hall. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak
Around 500 protesters arrive at Belfast City Hall, many carrying the Union flag. Credit: Richard Gaisford/Daybreak

UVF Belfast violence

Belfast violence
A burned out car during disturbances which erupted in east Belfast. Credit: Paul Faith/PA Wire
Senior members of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) are orchestrating loyalist street violence that has seen police come under attack in Belfast for the past four nights, Northern Ireland's Chief Constable has said.
While the violence has erupted at ongoing Union flag protests in the east of the city, Matt Baggott today called for an end to all such demonstrations across the region.
So far 62 police officers have been injured and 96 people arrested in violence which Mr Baggott described as "utterly unacceptable" and "being done for their own selfish motives."
Loyalists pickets have been continuing since early December in response to a decision by Belfast City Council to limit the number of days the flag flies over City Hall.

Irish politicians targeted with death threats

Several Northern Ireland politicians have received bullets or other forms of ammunition in the post in recent weeks, including:
  • Cross-community Alliance Party East Belfast MP Naomi Long
  • Alliance leader David Ford
  • Councillor Gerardine Mulvenna
  • Sinn Fein Assembly members Gerry Kelly and Alex Maskey
  • SDLP Assembly member Patsy McGlone
The death threats have come amid street violence that has broken out following loyalist protests over the flying of the Union flag from Belfast's city hall.

Bullet sent to Assembly member in post

Patsy McGlone
Patsy McGlone said threats would not put him off his job of representing the people of Mid Ulster. Credit: Paul Faith/PA Archive
Nationalist assembly member Patsy McGlone has hit out at "faceless fascists" after he became the latest politician in Northern Ireland to receive a death threat in the post.
The senior SDLP figure confirmed he was sent a package with his name and picture that contained a bullet and sympathy card.
He paid tribute to the staff at the Royal Mail sorting office near Belfast, who intercepted the parcel, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland for their "professionalism and vigilance."

A day with the fairies


The Irish Times - Monday, January 7, 2013

A day with the fairies

ARMINTA WALLACE
A range of encounters with the supernatural is described in a collection of stories and songs from Irish folklore
The world of the fairies may seem like a long way from our world of skinny lattes and social media. But open the pages of the book The Otherworld, and listen to the two CDs that come with it, and you’ll find yourself carried off – as if by magic – to another realm.
This enchanting selection of songs, tunes, black-and-white photographs and snippets of story is taken from the National Folklore Collection held at University College, Dublin. The musicians and storytellers describe a wide range of encounters with the supernatural, from the smile-inducing to the seriously spine-chilling.
Beautiful women appear and disappear. A banshee takes the form of a frog. A fiddler on his way to a wedding, unhappy because he can only play two mediocre tunes, meets a mysterious but sympathetic man on the road; the man examines his fiddle and hands it back; when the musician arrives at the wedding and begins to play, his two tunes have turned into music of unearthly variety, beauty and power.
Does “fairy music” come in a particular key, or invoke certain harmonies, or use particular rhythms? “I don’t think there’s any specific marker where you could say ‘that’s a fairy tune’ rhythm, or key, or shape,” says Tom Sherlock, one of the editors of The Otherworld.
“There are some remarkable pieces of music. Some of them are included here, like the seven-part jig The Gold Ring, but you can’t say musically that these are distinct pieces.”
Co-editor Rionach Úí Ogáin, who lectures in Irish folklore at UCD, says the explanation that a tune had been learned from the fairies was, oddly enough, a kind of rationalisation. “It was a way of giving recognition to the fact that somebody was particularly talented in the area of music,” she says.
Sometimes, too, there is an advisory element to supernatural stories. “Much of what’s mentioned here happens late at night. So there are words of advice as well. Don’t stay out too late, maybe. Or, don’t drink too much. There might be consequences.
“Things might happen to you that are not necessarily benign,” she says.
But the stories also reflect a real belief system. “That parallel world was very, very real for people,” says Sherlock. “It was not to be trifled with or made fun of. So there’s ambiguity and ambivalence when you’re touching on these matters.”
This is, he points out, reflected in the oblique language used in many of these stories and songs. “The fairies might ‘put in on you’. You can be ‘struck’. Beautiful verbs. ‘Swept’. She was ‘swept’. Now, what does that mean? So much of what’s going on here reflects very important aspects of what it means to be human – not all of it positive. There’s a code, almost, for loss and tragedy. Changelings. Women abducted by the fairies.
“Well, is that where they really went? Were they really taken into a fort in the mountain? The elements of tragedy are touched on, but presented in an indirect way.”
It may be indirect, but the impact on the listener is extraordinarily immediate. This form of art is, above all, entertainment: music to dance to, stories to pass the time. The associated lore functions almost as a kind of 3D; a way of adding value and immersing the audience in the experience.
The Otherworld aims to reflect this multilayered process in the way it is structured and laid out. Each chapter of the book corresponds to a CD track. The text of the song or story is given, in Irish and English.
There are details of the musician, and of the collector who made the recording. There’s also a piece of associated folklore – another version of the song or story from another part of Ireland, perhaps, or some other variation on the theme.
The book and CD also celebrate the dedication of collectors such as Tom Munnelly, a legend in his own right, who spent 30 years collecting material from singers, musicians and storytellers all over Ireland. An especially evocative photograph shows another collector, Leo Corduff, negotiating a stony grey laneway in Co Monaghan in 1965, pushing a wheelbarrow piled high with recording equipment.
Still others transcribed stories and lore in page after page of meticulous handwriting. “This is just a tiny fraction – a few little snippets that we’ve taken from the collection here at UCD,” explains Uí Ogáin, “and the collection itself is only a tiny snippet of something much, much vaster.”
Like much else in 21st-century Ireland, the archive is in dire need of funding so that its content can be digitised and made available online, both in Ireland and abroad. Staff at the National Folklore Collection are working on this project, but their numbers are tiny and the amount of material is enormous – so progress is, inevitably, slow.
As to whether we really need to keep these musical fairy stories for posterity, the final track on the second CD makes a pretty definitive case. The 84-year-old fiddler John Doherty tells the tale of a piper called Paddy Ban Quigley. The story features the deadly féar gorta – the hunger weakness – a boat full of terrified fishermen, an apparition on an impossibly sheer cliff. Doherty goes on to play a reel, The Boys of Malin Head, a tune that Quigley liked to play on the pipes.
The gentle, almost apologetic voice, the Donegal accent, the hypnotic loops in the telling – “he was a proud kind of a man, and he had a proud notion and it was all walking that time, there were no cars, there were no cars . . .” – combine with the consummate skill of the musical performance to make this a truly memorable few minutes. Even in a brightly lit room, with the CD in the computer and a cup of coffee in the hand, it’s enough to raise the hairs on the back of the neck.
But not from fear of the supernatural. John Doherty, who was born in 1895, died just a year after the recording was made. Had it not been stored safely in the National Folklore Collection, this modest but irreplaceable slice of Irish cultural history might have vanished into engulfing nothingness, never to be heard by human ears again. And that’s a seriously scary thought.
Pick of the pucks 
It has taken editors Rionach Uí Ogáin and Tom Sherlock more than 25 years to put together the compilation that is The Otherworld. The idea was born in the late 1980s, when they worked together on a CD of music from the Blasket Islands. One of the tunes on that CD was Port na bPúcaí, the Tune of the Fairies. It features on The Otherworld and it’s Uí Ogáin’s favourite.

“It appeals to me very much. I knew Muiris Ó Dálaigh, who plays it here, and recorded him many, many times. This tune is said to come off the air, or off the wind, or sea – various versions are told.

“So that has a great appeal for me, that closeness to the landscape. The association with the sea and the mountains, with loneliness and light.”

Sherlock has a particular fondness for An Mhaighdean Mhara (the Mermaid). “It’s an international tale of the fisherman who marries a mermaid,” he says. “They set up house and have a family. He hides her sealskin cloak in a box, and nobody is allowed open it. The children find the box and when she spies her cloak she has to go back to the sea, and deserts her children. The song depicts the conversation the children have on the shore with her out in the sea. The song isn’t literal. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. But this is what’s going on. It’s very beautiful. You’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by it.”

DEATH THREAT TO BRIT IRISH





By Barry Duggan
Monday, 7 January 2013
Dissident republicans have issued a threat to all Irish citizens who are serving in the British armed forces and warned that they are a “legitimate target” for the Continuity IRA.
The threat was made openly in Limerick city on behalf of the |dissident group.
The warning to Irish men and women serving in the British military, which came at an annual commemoration of IRA man Sean South, was issued on behalf of Continuity IRA prisoners.
The event was organised by Republican Sinn Fein (RSF) and took place at the republican plot at Mount Saint Lawrence cemetery, which was closely watched by plain-clothed garda officers.
The threat comes less than a month after gardai in Limerick foiled a Continuity IRA plot to murder a British soldier on a visit home to the city over the Christmas holidays.
Michael Kiely, from Corbally, Limerick, read the Continuity IRA statement in front of 60 people at Sean South's graveside.
“The moment you don a British uniform, you become a legitimate target for the IRA,” Mr Kiely said.


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