A new music and art project by a member of Dervish, features songs for each of the 32 counties of Ireland. Roscommon musician, Cathy Jordan, was on the Joe Finnegan Show earlier when she explained the "Crankie Island Song Project" started in lockdown.
A crankie box is a vintage illuminated story-telling device popular up until the end of the 19th century which displays moving illustrations to accompany the lyrics of songs. Cathy researched songs from every county in Ireland and then artists married them with illustrations.
Almost all 32 videos featuring original artwork are available to watch on the Crankie Island You Tube channel. An album of all the songs is also available to buy. The song she selected for County Cavan is the Rocks Of Bawn which was written about a landlord named Sweeney and, which Cathy performed with Lisa O'Neill from County Cavan.
For Monaghan, Cathy selected Dominic Beehan's song "The Patriot Game", which she says probably wasn't written as an anti-war song but has been adapted as that. She recorded it with Liam Clancy's son, Donal:
