Nationalist Gathering

On Conway’s farm in Sligo

I attended an event in Sligo the weekend and performed a few tunes. I wanted to support this type of event because I feel we need to get offline more and connect with each other in person. You feel like you’ve known some of these folks all your life once you get chatting. There’s a common understanding.

The guys who are producing the film The Awakening Soul of Ireland were in attendance and kindly offered to film me performing. These events are what will define this movement as much as any protest if we can get them to grow.

The ultimate protest is to live and create art, for that is what defines the human experience and separates us from the animal kingdom (who were also well represented on the farm and in tune with us).

Irish mainstream artists - particularly our songwriters - have let us down badly these past few years in my view, to the point where they are now painted into a corner and have firmly chosen their side.

It’s up to us, the ordinary people, to be our own minstrels, troubadours and historians. The people are crying out for this story to be told through the arts. Together, let’s create a movement of artists to create an underground subculture to compete with the mainstream one which has trapped itself within the pseudo-reality.

Art has a beautiful way of shining a light of truth which can bypass the hurdles of propaganda. Preconceived notions and dogma can be diluted by song and melody, bringing us back to our natural state without all the political noise. It can be a unifying force. The type the system is trying to suppress at all costs. Let’s not allow them.

Big Thanks to James Conway and his family for hosting this event