Grassroots talent showcased in new Siamsaíocht video release
Grassroots musical talent is in rude health in Athlone if the successful Siamsaíocht Sesúins video series is anything to go by.
The Gothic surrounds of Athlone Methodist Church in Northgate Street is a fantastic backdrop for the fourth episode which airs on Athlone Community radio at midday on Saturday, April 24 and the video will premiere on Athlone Family Resource Centre's Youtube and Facebook pages at 9pm on the same day.
For anyone who has not been following this series, Siamsaíocht Sesúins is an Arts Council and Westmeath County Council funded project that gives a platform to the grassroots musical and poetic talent of the region while showing off some of the beautiful buildings and dramatic scenery in Athlone and surrounding areas that many may have just taken for granted. The episodes to date have garnered over 2,700 views on YouTube alone.
For the fourth episode, musicians and poet participants were welcomed by Trevor Parkes into the beautiful Gothic Revival Methodist Church on Northgate Street, the foundation stone for which was laid back in 1864. Well known for its musical inclinations and for hosting a Driftwood Manor Gigs some years ago, the 19th-century church provides a dramatic backdrop for this month’s show which aims to create the buzz of a live gig in video format.
Guests on the fourth show include Dublin-born Christopher Hall or Chrissy, as he is known around the town. He is well known as the frontman of Athlone’s own boy band Black Island. Here we see Chrissy in a different, somewhat more celestial light, singing one of his own immaculately crafted original numbers with echoes of Cohen and Dylan.
Brazilian-born Bianca Fachel, who now lives in South Roscommon, takes us up to a sunny hill on the west side of Lough Ree, where she performs her latest composition 'Life in dramatic surroundings'.
Meanwhile, Lynda McFarland from Lowe & Co, Main Street, Athlone shows the audience how to make a delicious smoothie from life-enhancing wild food in the countryside.
It is a rare treat for Síle No Gigs to get to play in the current situations, but Kara and Áine take this opportunity to come out from behind the cameras to perform their composition 'Overcome' in the fourth episode.
This month's story is delivered with grace and style from fiddle playing Áine O’Regan and no episode of Siamsaíocht would be complete without a gadabout with Tang native Neil Fitzgibbon. In the company of fine mandolin player Denis McAuliffe, he pays tribute to Athlone’s greatest son Count John McCormack, with a set of slip gigs, aptly entitled 'Count John’s Slippers'.
Check out the fourth episode on Athlone Community Radio at midday on Saturday, April 24 and the video will premiere on Athlone Family Resource Centre's YouTube and Facebook pages at 9pm on the same day.