Derry Squandering unique musical heritage

Derry is squandering its unique musical heritage.

An exasperated Séamus Ó Cinnéide, owner of Abbey Bed and Breakfast in the Bogside, said the city and district was failing miserably to capitalise on the potential tourism draw and economic benefits which such an innovation could provide.

Speaking to Derry Now, Séamus whose B&B hosted The Dubliners during the 1969 Freedom Fleadh in the Bogside, said: “We are steeped in a rich music and literature heritage here in our council area and we are wasting the opportunities it could bring.

“This city has all the links to ‘Amazing Grace’, one of the best known songs in the world. We are the city that has the links to ‘Danny Boy’.

“Stephen Foster, who was known as the father of American music, is a grandson of Derry.

“He wrote hundreds of popular songs including, ‘Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair’, ‘Swanee River’ and ‘My Old Kentucky Home’.

“Then you have Donnchadh Ó hAmhsaigh (Denis Hampsey), the County Derry harper, the last known link with the Belfast Harpers’ Assembly, which took place in July 1792.

“But perhaps the most important was Cecil Frances Alexander, one of the most renowned hymn writers in the world. She wrote ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away’, which critics have acknowledged as the most perfect hymn in the English language. She also wrote ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ and ‘Once in Royal David’s City.’”

“Then you have the three tenors,” said Séamus, “Joseph Locke, Eugene Duffy and Patrick O’Hagan, the father of Ireland Eurovision winner, Johnny Logan. Joseph Locke was the highest paid BBC performer for two decades.

“Joseph Locke’s story has not been told here in Derry. A few years ago, they put a monument to Joseph Locke up on a roundabout and they let it overgrow. That is the level of respect shown for music here.

“That monument should be in front of the Guildhall, the venue where Joseph Lock actually sang, so people in the city and visitors could get a photograph taken, not stuck in the middle of a busy roundabout where nobody sees it. That is disgraceful.

“We also have Phil Coulter and Dana. What a story that is? The wee girl from the Bogside, who won the Eurovision Song Contest during the Troubles, the first time for Ireland. That is not to mention Johnny Logan, Ireland’s second Eurovision winner, and D: Ream, whose song ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ was Tony Blair’s 1997 General Election anthem.

“The Undertones, the Clipper Carlton from Strabane, because that is in our council area, and Paul Brady, the list is endless,” said Seamus.

Turning to Derry’s literary greats, Séamus rhymed off Seamus Deane, Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel and William Carlton from Strabane, who was one of the most famous writers of the Nineteenth Century.

He added: “I could go on and on, there is Dr George Sigerson and Flann O’Brien, who was a great friend of my grandfather, they founded Conradh na Gaeilge. We have all of this arts heritage and yet not a single story told.

“The Cecil Frances Alexander story is hugely massive. Why are we not telling stories which unite people? Derry is a city of music and peace. There should be a statue of Cecil Frances Alexander up on the walls.

“Years ago, I put forward the idea of the city having a programme from the walls, bringing them alive with the sound of music.

“You could have a bagpiper in one bastion and a choir in another bastion. You could have punk. You could rotate it,” said Séamus.

Séamus said one of the biggest civic scandals for him was the fact Derry was not nominated as a UNESCO City of Music, of which there are 19 across Europe and 47 across the world on the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

Liverpool is the UNESCO City of Music for England and Glasgow is the UNESCO City of Music for Scotland.

“All of the chat about the Eurovision coming to Derry was pure nonsense.

“The Eurovision was only going to one of two places, Liverpool or Glasgow because they are both UNESCO cities and they have been ploughing money into music.

“You can go to Liverpool and you will have a statue of Cilla Black and the Beatles. You go to Dublin and you’ll see Luke Kelly, Phil Lynott. Here in Derry, not a story told. Even down in Ramelton they have a Nobel prize winner [Professor Bill Campbell] and they have a statue up already.

“How long is John Hume waiting to be celebrated in this town? It is an absolute disgrace. People are contacting me all the time out of sheer frustration.

“We have shelves full of ‘signature projects’ here. How many consultants have been employed?

“We had Future Search and Strategy 2025. There has been no plan since City of Culture. Where is our music legacy? Not one of our music stories has been told and Derry is now defined by the Troubles,” said Séamus.

“We are a city of balladeers, poets and great writers,” said Séamus. “That is our heritage. Look at the former Austin’s building, the Pump Street Convent and the former Cathedral School, all lying derelict.

“The Cathedral School would be an ideal venue for a museum dedicated to Cecil Frances Alexander,” said Séamus.

Before Belfast was nominated as UNESCO City of Music for Ireland, Séamus contacted David Laing, the head of arts, music and cultural venues for Glasgow Life, about his proposal to repurpose the former Austin’s building as a music museum and exhibition centre for Derry.

“This year alone,” said Séamus, “we had the 100th anniversary of Feis Dhoire Cholmcille.

“This story could have been told in the form of an exhibition.

“We have Phil Coulter being awarded the Freedom of the City on Friday. We could have had a Phil Coulter exhibition. At Christmas we could have had the Cecil Frances Alexander festival of hymns, with invited choirs on the bastions.

“It is not rocket science. It is a matter of putting all of our heritage together and using the old buildings to tell our story.”
According to Séamus, David Laing brought Derry’s case up at a meeting in Poland in June 2018. Mr Laing proposed the city as Ireland’s UNESCO City of Music.

“Creative Cities subsequently wrote to me saying it was ‘so excited’ about our wonderful heritage. The project had to be Council-led.

“But at Easter 2019, I read the big banner headline: ‘Belfast is aiming to become UNESCO City of Music’. I could not believe it. And by Christmas 2021, it was a fait accompli, Belfast was announced as the UNESCO City of Music.

“We are all about music, pipe bands, choirs, the Little Gaelic Singers, who met Elvis, Maureen Hegarty, nobody has been celebrated. Our tourism product is not sustainable.”