Dear Reader - It was an emotional day on Sunday! Until it wasn’t…
The Big Thing
First though I’ll let this beautiful Rory Maitland picture do the talking.
Apart from to say that we have two songs from January’s Young Songwriters’ Showcase ready for release soon - from talented young musicians Sam Regan and Zara Alexander (pictured below).
Where else but Sligo?
A feckin’ draw.
Yes - it’s county final time of year again and we are lucky at the moment in Coolera-Strandhill to have mens and ladies teams who have contested county finals in each of the last three years.
And while I’ve written in these pages before about winning and losing these finals, I’ve never touched on the strangeness of a draw.
Which is what happened on Sunday.
People talk about an anti-climax. But there’s more to it than that.
One minute you’re caught up in an event that stirs emotions like nothing else. You’re pacing. Eyes either on your watch or you’re trying to follow even half of the madness of what’s happening on the pitch and the sideline.
You’re not fully in control of your body or your mind. But you’re living.
The next it’s over and all of a sudden the emotions die. You don’t know how to feel.
All week you have been thinking about what it would be like to win. Or lose. And now it’s neither. Just a big nothing.
You’re facing into two more weeks of waiting. Speculating. Imagining.
And this is just the supporters.
The players will have taken days off work in the hope of extended celebrations.
Days in which now they would like nothing more than to be at work. To pass the time between training sessions. When they can actually do something about the next result.
Because this one is over. Done. Written into history. As a feckin’ draw.
At least if you lost you’d have some closure.
But then the days pass by and the excitement returns. At least we didn’t lose!
Great to have another crack at it.
And the draw? Just something else that was.
What’s New?
Last month Sligo Jazz won the prestigious JAZZ FORWARD award from the renowned All About Jazz website.
In their words, it honours Innovation, Discovery & Impact In Jazz globally.
It’s given to awardees who exemplify key trends in jazz today: global collaboration, digital innovation, educational inclusion, and community-rooted sustainability.
They are setting new standards for how jazz is taught, shared, streamed, and experienced.
Another feather in the cap of this amazing project!
Finally…
Here’s Pro Murray’s White Foyer - our featured song from the 2023 Young Songwriters’ Showcase.
Till next time - Kieran.
