Christmas is a time for celebration, and today I want to celebrate Sligo’s amazing musical community with a few stories from the past few weeks.
Michael Rooney is from Scotstown, Co. Monaghan. He now lives in Ballintogher and is the vice-principal in Coola post-primary school. He is also a renowned harpist and writes amazing melodies. The type that makes time cease to matter when you sit down to learn them.
Karen Gordon was the princess in the Coolera Dramatic Society pantomime for years. These days she runs her own theatre company, and is an ambitious thinker, not afraid to challenge conventions.
Leo Tarrant is in his early teens, and a student at the Sligo Academy of Music. He played trumpet and violin recently in their Christmas concert and is clearly a young man who has music at the very core of his being.
Annette Rafter was in junior infants in Ransboro National School with me. We recently needed someone to sing Fairytale of New York opposite Seamie O’Dowd, and she was the standout candidate, possessing the required tone, nerve and attitude to do it in her own individual way.
Nils Kavanagh is studying jazz piano in Cardiff and possesses a contagious enthusiasm. He attended the recent theme night and told me eagerly afterwards that he was so inspired by it that all he wanted to do was to go home and play piano for 2 hours. After chatting to him, so did I!
Lisa Kelly is smart, and a talented singer and athlete. Even though she plays for St. Mary’s. Her voice is so unique that I haven’t worked out the best use for it yet but we are having fun figuring it out.
Felip Carbonell is from Mallorca and a proud son of Catalunya. He speaks with an endearing accent that is a rare hybrid of that of his homeland and of his adopted home town. He is a brilliant communicator and audiences love listening to his stories.
Declan Harte used always come in to Seamie’s and my Monday night Connolly’s session. He took the photo on the front of our 2017 album and has long been a huge supporter of the music scene here. Recently he found me before a show in the back carpark of the Hawk’s Well Theatre and took 10 albums from me, saying he had a lady who would sell them. Priceless.
It’s people like these who make my world a better place.