Over bright sea: Thar an bhfarraige gheal
for voice, fiddle, 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos & tape
Thar an bhfarraige gheal (Over bright sea) is a work about island and islanders, island life as it was before the Great Blasket Island was abandoned in 1953/54 and the life of the island today and, of course, the sea. Neither text nor music carries a direct narrative, more a converging of currents or tides of ideas with pieces of text as islands within it. Several ideas jumped out at me during the course of my research into the leaving of the Great Blasket and island life before and since: that there was once a fiddle on every house on the island, one islander saying that there was no music sweeter than the sound of a child or of people in a place, the oft-repeated phrase in the island books that the place was being left to the sheep and the rabbits, islanders who had lived for years on the mainland still dreaming of the island every night, the otherwordly experience found by today's tourists to the island, but more than anything else, the determination that the island and its people will not be forgotten.
Background
The Blasket islands lie off the end of the Dingle Peninsula at the south-west corner of Ireland. The Great Blasket is the largest of the islands and was inhabited up until 1953/1954. Despite the fact that the population of the island never exceeded more than about 180 people, the Blasket islanders, encouraged by visitors to the island, produced a body of literature of over 20 books. These are mostly in pure and lyrical Irish and for the most part document island life and folklore. Many of these have been translated into several languages and are still widely read today. Life on the island was always very harsh, the land is mountainous and the seas surrounding the island rough and unforgiving. By the early1950s only about 25 people were left on the island with most of the young people emigrating to America or marrying onto the mainland. Of these 25, most were men, with one young couple, Sean Ceaist and his wife, the parents of Aine Ui Laoithe, for whom the vocal part of this piece was written. Aine's older brother Gearoid was the last child born on the island and achieved some fame at the time when an American newspaper branded him 'the loneliest boy in the world!' In 1953, the difficult life on the island combined with an aging population prompted the Irish government to evacuate the Great Blasket. The islanders moved mainly to join family already settled in Springfield, Massachusetts with some families remaining scattered around West Kerry. While living conditions were improved, this was still an enormous culture shock for what had been for generations a very tight-knit community. Today, one can visit the island by ferry in the summer months and thousands of visitors discover not only the memories of days gone by but an abundance of birdlife and a place of great natural beauty. Across on the mainland in Dunquin, several families of the Blasket islanders remain where they were settled in the 1950s and while most of the islanders themselves have passed away, their families carry on that same sense of community and a love for music and all things creative.
for voice, fiddle, 3 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos & tape
Thar an bhfarraige gheal (Over bright sea) is a work about island and islanders, island life as it was before the Great Blasket Island was abandoned in 1953/54 and the life of the island today and, of course, the sea. Neither text nor music carries a direct narrative, more a converging of currents or tides of ideas with pieces of text as islands within it. Several ideas jumped out at me during the course of my research into the leaving of the Great Blasket and island life before and since: that there was once a fiddle on every house on the island, one islander saying that there was no music sweeter than the sound of a child or of people in a place, the oft-repeated phrase in the island books that the place was being left to the sheep and the rabbits, islanders who had lived for years on the mainland still dreaming of the island every night, the otherwordly experience found by today's tourists to the island, but more than anything else, the determination that the island and its people will not be forgotten.
Background
The Blasket islands lie off the end of the Dingle Peninsula at the south-west corner of Ireland. The Great Blasket is the largest of the islands and was inhabited up until 1953/1954. Despite the fact that the population of the island never exceeded more than about 180 people, the Blasket islanders, encouraged by visitors to the island, produced a body of literature of over 20 books. These are mostly in pure and lyrical Irish and for the most part document island life and folklore. Many of these have been translated into several languages and are still widely read today. Life on the island was always very harsh, the land is mountainous and the seas surrounding the island rough and unforgiving. By the early1950s only about 25 people were left on the island with most of the young people emigrating to America or marrying onto the mainland. Of these 25, most were men, with one young couple, Sean Ceaist and his wife, the parents of Aine Ui Laoithe, for whom the vocal part of this piece was written. Aine's older brother Gearoid was the last child born on the island and achieved some fame at the time when an American newspaper branded him 'the loneliest boy in the world!' In 1953, the difficult life on the island combined with an aging population prompted the Irish government to evacuate the Great Blasket. The islanders moved mainly to join family already settled in Springfield, Massachusetts with some families remaining scattered around West Kerry. While living conditions were improved, this was still an enormous culture shock for what had been for generations a very tight-knit community. Today, one can visit the island by ferry in the summer months and thousands of visitors discover not only the memories of days gone by but an abundance of birdlife and a place of great natural beauty. Across on the mainland in Dunquin, several families of the Blasket islanders remain where they were settled in the 1950s and while most of the islanders themselves have passed away, their families carry on that same sense of community and a love for music and all things creative.
