It’s been a busy, dispiriting winter. The big political picture seems very dark; and lots of snow in Boston has added to that squished feeling. So assembling my first episode of Irish Music Stories has helped me find some light in this bleak Midwinter:
I went to Ireland in January. My friend Lisa and I travelled around to catch up with old friends. And I finished final interviews for the inaugural episode of my Irish Music Stories podcast.
Spring comes earlier in Ireland–and the weather was unseasonably mild. So the trip brightened my step a bit. (Imagine feeling BRIGHTER in drizzly old Ireland!)
carved stone from 3200 BC!
We also made time to head to Newgrange. It’s an incredible passage tomb, where people kept ashes of their dead over 5,000 years ago. Talk about perspective–current problems always pass. And people always pass on. But stone endures. And so do stories.
Now the construction of the place is incredible. And the most amazing thing is that Newgrange engineers figured out how to set up a window to the cave, so both the passage and chamber would light up for 17 minutes on the winter solstice!!! From the Newgrange info site:
If they went to so much trouble to set up that tomb window, I could burn the midnight oil to assemble this story (even if I lost a lot of uninterrupted work time with 3 snow days in a row…)
So I lit a candle and worked really hard to put together my “Trip to Sligo” story. It tells the story of a band of kids from Boston who have an adventure competing in the All Ireland Fleadh (music competition). You can hear it by clicking on the Irish Music Stories logo. I hope it’ll light up your earbuds!
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