The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
GABRIEL & PÁDRAIG’S REVOLUTIONARY WORK
THEY exist now as ‘intangible monuments’ to Kerry’s fallen patriots. And thanks to the work of two North Kerry men, there is little danger any of our rich heritage of rebel songs will be forgotten any time soon.
Gabriel Fitzmaurice and Pádraig Ó Conchubhair launch ‘Their Memory Will Endure: Kerry Songs of Revolution 1916 - 1924’ at its very publishing house in the Seanchaí Kerry Writers’ Museum on Saturday, December 15 next, at 7.30pm. Complete with a CD of 15 songs from the book, it’s a priceless trove of folk memory of the entire period of struggle.
For them, the challenge was to explore the tradition of ballad writing in Kerry as an ‘intangible’ folk monument to the deceased.
“We have presented poems and songs of the 1916 Easter Rising where Kerrymen, The O’Rahilly, Patrick Shortis and Michael Mulvihill gave their lives for a cause they passionately believed in. From the many songs, poems and ballads of the War of Independence (1919-21) and Civil War (1922-23) we have chosen examples from the whole of the county,” Gabriel said in the foreword.
“Basically, as we all know, song is not history. Nonetheless, ‘historical’ songs demonstrate how history becomes legend. And we need legend. Though historically inaccurate, legends are true to the spirit of their people, that indefinable coming together of historical fact, memory, story, song and poetry that make us what we are.”