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Find accommodations at: http://www.visit-armagh.com
The purpose of the Festival is threefold. To restore to South Armagh its heritage as a centre of Irish traditional song; to seek out the depth and meaning of song as a universal phenomenon and so invite the song people of the world to assemble for a celebration of singing, sharing of ideas and material; and to enjoy the culture and hospitality of the local people.
The school is named in honour of Tommy Makem, the most celebrated native of South Armagh in the field of song and one who has worked all his life to bring the local song tradition to universal attention.
Based in the shadow of the mystical Slieve Gullion, the school intends to draw in the wider South Armagh area for events and entertainment. The intention is to hold lectures in the mornings, sightseeing and songswaps in the afternoons, and the evenings for special events.
The talks will be a mixture of the philosophical, the culturally detailed, the historical and as far as is possible, will be original.
The term traditional and folk are well defined. For the purposes of the Tommy Makem event, song refers to a specific idiom of song, that which has come from the people down through the centuries, out of their experiences of life, but broad enough to include what comes from the soul of the people up through the present day. South Armagh is a veritable treasure trove of song, poetry and story.
The festival sees the traditional/folk song medium as the most original, spontaneous and deep rooted expression of humanity, the first and purest form of art. It is the linking experience of all cultures where the limitations of normal speech break into chant and rhythm to express the surge of feelings and emotions. The festival sees song as a spiritual expression, of the same origin as myth and legend.
The Festival of Song will also work to allow its findings to help rekindle the spiritual dimension of humanity, for if, as has been asserted, the poets are the legislators of the world, the song people are the movers of the world.
It is also very conscious of the specific Irish experience and the vast body of folk music generated in this country, only equaled perhaps by that of Russia, but surpassed by none. It is equally conscious that South Armagh is a major source of the song tradition within this wider tradition and is adamant that the international festival should be centered here around Slieve Gullion where some of Ireland's earliest cultural expressions were formed.
At this festival there will be lectures, concerts, singing, storytelling and perhaps a bit of poetry. Hopefully, you will learn some things, but the promoters insist that the highlight of the festival will be the mingling of visitors with the people of the area, participating in the events, and above all, having a fantastic time.
June 25th.through the 29th of 2003 are the dates for the third annual event, so the promoters are working very hard to ensure that everyone has an exciting, enjoyable week in Armagh, and that you will want to return again and again and also introduce your friends to this very special place. It's not inconcievable that you may find a new home here for your heart and soul. At least one of the participants of the 2000 Festival did just that!
There is a varied and interesting program arranged for your enjoyment and also time for everyone to explore and experience the culture and hospitality of Armagh. This is undoubtedly, the very heartland of Irish mythology and an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Forget your cares and worries and immerse yourself in the laughter, the music, the culture, the hospitality and good camaraderie, and what the natives call "the great craic!" The good people of Armagh are waiting to share their storied warmth with you.
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Ireland is, rightly, basking in the glow of her booming economic surge to the forefront of European affairs. The Celtic Tiger is purring loudly. Economic prosperity is bubbling out everywhere and long may it remain so. But in these golden days, this heady atmosphere, it is very easy to forget that the real treasures of this island have only just started to register on world consciousness. The real treasures, of course, are the magnificent cultural resources that are Ireland's inheritance; resources that continue to grow and surge, seeking to be unveiled to illuminate and to enrich mankind. Without culture, all economic success is as nothing.
The new millenium is upon us and the world has never been more in need of cultural sustinance. We in Ireland have such an abundance that it is inevitable that, in spite of some who don't know the richness that is theirs and would try to suppress it, our culture will become the pre-eminent beacon dispelling the darkness and we will once again take our place as the leaders of a re-awakening Europe.
South Armagh is the natural centre and heartbeat of Irish culture as witnessed by its unique place in the mythology, poetry, storytelling, and more especially in the ancient song tradition. Slieve Gullion, the geographical lynchpin of South Armagh, is the most mystical mountain in Ireland. Yeats, AE and many of the literati of the early twentieth century were constant pilgrims seeking its mystical benediction. Culan the Smith, had his dun on Slieve Gullion. This is where the boy Setanta gained the name Cuchullain. Dierdre of the Sorrows was reared on Slieve Gullion by the druidess Levarcham. Conal Cearnach rode around the Ring of Gullion securing Ulster's borders. Finn Mac Cumhail followed a mystic doe to the top of Slieve Gullion where he encountered the Callaigh Beara in the guise of a beautiful young maiden. This maiden had shape changed from that self same doe on the shores of the lake on the top of the mountain that is named after the Calliagh to the present day.
A little further north, but still in South Armagh, the legendary Slieve Fuaid was reputedly the home of King Lir whose four children were changed into swans by his jealous second wife Aoife. At the foot of Slieve Gullion, in the eighteenth century there was a school of poetry that produced some of the most gifted poets in the Irish language. Art Mac Cooey, Peadar O'Dornin, Edmund Og Magennis, Neil Gow and all their contemporaries distinguished themselves with their writings, poetry and song. Consider this one verse, translated from the Irish by Cosslett O'Cuinn from Art Mac Cooey's magnificent song
"Ur- Chill an Chreagain."
At the fresh churchyard of Creggan
I slept last night in sorrow,
And at the rise of morning
The maiden came to me with a kiss;
She had flame heated cheeks
And a gleam in her hair like gold,
And it was the healing balm of the world
To be looking at the young queen.
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The song tradition was very ancient and very strong when Mac Cooey composed this glorious song. The tradition flourishes and flows as strongly today in South Armagh as ever it did in the long gone centuries when Conor Mac Nessa ruled at Emhain. For the past thirty years and more, South Armagh has been vilified, denigrated and battered relentlessly by the powers that be, the media and the press, leaving the world to imagine that South Armagh had only darkness. In actuality, South Armagh has the most glorious, vibrant living culture of any place on this glorious cultured island. The old adage holds true that the deeper the darkness, the brighter shines the light. From out of the deep, deep darkness of the past thirty years, South Armagh's brilliant light is dispelling the shadows and surging to lead Europe in a cultural reclamation of its rightful place.
The time is right, the talent and will are there to send a festival of traditional song in South Armagh resounding around the world. Let us have a hosting of traditional song singers and writers from all the cultures of the world gather in South Armagh to exchange ideas and philosophies in a festival of traditional song that will advance mankind. Let the old bardic standards be raised once again. Let the hosting continue year after year so the world will know that it can turn to South Armagh for musical sustinance and knowledge. Let the world come to South Armagh's ancient and abundant well of song, music, poetry, storytelling, dance, theatre and hospitality to refresh themselves and bring their own culture for us to share. As has been said so eloquently by another South Armagh man, "We are not a limb, we are the centre; the heartbeat; the pulse of a new Ireland!!!"
The idea of an international festival of song is of the moment. The unquestioned place for it is in South Armagh. The time for it is now.
Tommy Makem
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