Blackwater’s rich heritage to the fore in new ‘By Land and Sea’ CD
SONGS of sea tragedies, hurling matches and local heroes are among the tracks on a new double audio CD which accompanies the 72-page songbook ‘By Land and Sea – Songs of Blackwater and Beyond’ which was officially launched in the Blackwater Lodge Hotel on December 1.
This compilation of songs, recitations and poetry from the Blackwater area and its immediate environs were collected by local ballad enthusiasts during 2019 under the watchful eye of traditional singer and traditional arts specialist, Aileen Lambert, Project Facilitator.
The project was officially launched by Micheál Marrinan, traditional singer and songwriter from Dungarvan and the event featured performances from many of the singers featured on the CDs. There was a terrific response from the community to this innovative community song collection and performance project, with a great turnout for the launch.
A presentation was made on the night to Senan Lillis, Community Coordinator for the project, by Micheál Marrinan on behalf of the Blackwater Song Project in appreciation of the great contribution he has made to local history, heritage and traditional song over the years.
The songs collected refer to people, events and places in Blackwater. The story of the community is presented in a rich tapestry of verse and rhymes. The song themes are rich, varied and wide. Blackwater village’s reputation as a winning ‘Tidy Town’ is supported by a great number of songs by various writers paying tribute to the beauties of the village and surrounding areas. The nearby treacherous Blackwater Bank, responsible for so many seawrecks, also gave rise to a number of songs which provide accounts of such events. The strong tradition of hurling in the area has given rise not only to recently written accounts of victories but also some legendary matches from the past including pre-GAA times. These songs belong to the community: farmers, fishermen, housewives, sportsmen and sportswomen and many more.
They are songs which are deeply rooted in the social fabric of the community of Blackwater and surrounding areas. This project aimed to give voice to these songs and certainly succeeded as no less than 27 local performers feature on the CD which was recorded and produced by Aileen Lambert.
The Blackwater Song Project set began in October 2018 to engage local historians and song enthusiasts, local singers and singers from the surrounding areas in exploring the local traditional song heritage of the Blackwater area.
Aileen Lambert said: ‘It was obvious from the outset that traditional song culture had not only a strong, respected and vibrant history in Blackwater but that there was a very live and current interest in traditional song and local history and culture. In fact, the sheer amount of information, songs and potential song material which had been amassed after just a couple of meetings made it apparent that we would in fact have a wonderful challenge on our hands to get through it all! We feel we have met this challenge with great success and are proud to present this songbook which we hope will be a catalyst for further song collecting, recording, singing sessions and the simple but powerful performance of a local song sung by a local person, be it in their home, the car, the pub or on stage.’
The project involved regular meetings with participants who shared and collected various songs, recitations and poems relating to the Blackwater area and beyond.
The book features a number of songs never before published while a number of poems and recitations which were already in existence have been put to old airs. In more cases poetry has had new airs composed to suit them.
Project Participants included: Eddie Black, Christine Black, John Breen, Colm Brennan, John Byrne, Kathleen Byrne, Denis Carroll, Rita Carroll, Jimmy Connor, Hugh Doyle, Mick Doyle, John Furlong, Aileen Lambert, Pat Leacy, Senan Lillis, Anne McLoughlin, Grace Murphy, Matt Murphy, Joan Nolan, Paddy Scully, Paul Tobin, Deirdre Tobin, Maeve Townsend, Damien Walsh, Kevin Waters, Bridgie Whelan and Mary Jay Whelan.
The project’s Facebook page ‘The Blackwater Song Project’ is being used to present videos of participants singing songs in this collection at a concert in June 2019 and the singing session at the launch. It will also be used to announce any further developments in the project which will arise – so please keep in touch.
The songbook and double CD is now available from Suttons
Supermarket, Blackwater and The Trading Post, Ballinamona, The Ballagh at a cost of €15. Alternatively contact Aileen Lambert on 087 7552593 to receive a copy by post or send to a relative for Christmas.
The project was supported by The Wayside Players Drama
Group and Wexford County Council Arts Department via the Creative Communities Scheme. This scheme will continue to be available next year and Aileen would be delighted to hear from other communities who would like to work on similar song collection projects.