Sunday 14 March 2021
A Stone Upon a Stone
To mark the anniversary of the death of virtuoso uilleann piper, Liam O'Flynn (1945–2018), piper, composer and artist, Barry Kerr, reflects on the time he spent as recipient of the Liam O'Flynn Award from the Arts Council of Ireland/National Concert Hall in 2020. That time included investigating the Liam O’Flynn collection at ITMA wherein he found much inspiration.
Of late I have often found myself captivated by rocks and stones in the Irish landscape – stones that have been moved by human touch and that have weathered in walls and quiet places for hundreds of years.
In traditional bardic culture, the terrain/landscape was studied, discussed and referenced: every place had its legend and its own identity. Dinnseanchas, the lore and celebration of place names, was a feature of this poetic topography; what endured was the mythic landscape, providing escape and inspiration … writing poems and songs in praise of place.
As I worked through the collection it was the little insights into Liam’s thoughts that really stood out for me. Notes on musicians such as Willie Clancy and Séamus Ennis, his correspondence with the poet Seamus Heaney, all of it magically insightful.
… it gave me feelings I have never experienced before … and I think I then realised that music is not something you listen to but something you experience … feelings that stir the soul - music making that reflects the soul.
composers are drawn back to their childhoods, it is a source of their first experiences. Nostalgia is a rich playground of the emotions.