A DAY filled with music and performance is in store at the Maritime Hotel in Bantry on Saturday, October 12th as part of the West Cork Feelgood Festival.
‘Live, Life, and Sing’ is a day of singing workshops and performances presented by Bantry Community Choir featuring a variety of community choirs singing from all around West Cork.
This free event is supported by Cork Mental Health Services, MusicAlive, West Cork Development Partnership, The Big Bash, and the Oliver Cogan estate.
Bantry Community Choir have been collaborating with West Cork Feel Good Festival for more than a decade and meet every Thursday from 7.30pm to 9.30pm at the Fellowship Hall. No prior singing/musical experience necessary to attend.
The showcase event at the Maritime take place in the Garnish Suite on Saturday and runs from 10am to 4pm. It will also include poster displays and videos about the participating choirs and how singing can improve your physical and mental health and connect you with your local community.
The West Cork Feelgood Festival is bringing a variety of events across October. Another fantastic event is ‘Party Piece’, a community music initiative for West Cork funded by Creative Ireland, the Dept of Culture Heritage and Gaeltacht, Cork ETB, Cork County Council and Music Alive.
Party Piece is a relaxed, free, participatory music session for everyone, regardless of musical experience, in which you get to play the music that’s close to your heart. Each week, the anchor musician will facilitate the learning (or remembering) of these tunes, and participants are encouraged to sing or bring any instrument they might have to contribute to the repertoire.
Party Piece sessions have already taken place in Dunmanway and Castletownbere, with further events in Bantry and Sherkin (Thursday October 10th), Clonakilty (October 11th), Ballydehob (October 20th) and Skibbereen (October 24th). Party Piece has a sister project initiated by Music Alive named ‘Abair Amhrán’, which has the same aims, but operates through Irish-language songs.
There are WCFGF Abair Amhrán sessions on Cape Clear (October 8th), Skibbereen (October 8th) and Bantry (October 12th). On Sunday October 13th in DeBarras Folk Club there will be a special version of Abair Amhrán in which participants will be joined by classical chamber group The Vespertine Ensemble.
This autumn Party Piece will operate in Clonakilty with support from the College of FET, although this session is already at maximum capacity. Party Piece will also run every Monday in Bantry at the Bridge St Community café from 4:30 to 6pm and all are welcome.
The lead musician is Kevin McNally of Music Alive and 49 North Street. Kevin is the community lead and saw the benefit of communal sessions as people recovered from the social isolation of Covid. ‘A community coming together to share sound is a powerful way to recognise our dependence on each other and to develop a shared language of place and belonging,’ he said. The anchor musicians include prominent local artists Oisín Walsh-Peelo, Liz Clarke and Justin Grounds.
