VOICES Since Christmas I have been working on a song cycle inspired by the stories of Drogheda Port. Part of the reason for picking the Port is that it has been the epicentre of life in my home town for a thousand years and more, providing culture and communication and food and employment. It is tied to everything in the town and has played a role in every part of our history. But a port, by its nature, is also a link to other places, and the research has already taken my imagination from Europe and the US to the North Atlantic and the South Pacific. In a further link to the port, as part of my role as Artist in Association in Droichead, I curated the Stowaway Sessions in June with my friend Adrian Taaffe for the second year running, and once again we had two nights of sold out shows and beautiful, extraordinary music. Sincere thanks to everyone involved, especially the audience who support it. Stories are forming into songs. I performed one on LMFM back in March called "The Porcupine", based on a discovery by our local historian par excellence, Brendan Matthews. Thank you for the information shared with me already by Paul at Drogheda Port Company and Declan at Upstate. There are many research visits I have yet to pay now that I am back on my feet (literally – I fractured my ankle at Christmas). There are such rich cultural and historical sources around our town. I'm coming for you! If anyone has suggestions for sources or stories, I would truly love to hear them. You can drop me a line at stephen@mcardle.com Finally, I am grateful to all at Droichead Arts Centre for enabling me to work on this project and for their support on so many levels.
Stephen McArdle
Artist in Association , Droichead Arts Centre 2018/2019, with the support of Create Louth.
www.droichead.com
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