Bring Your Own Hammer: Musicians and historians unite for unique project 

Cathal Coughlan, Jah Wobble, and Linda Buckley are among the musicians who contributed to the collection of song cycles 

Linda Buckley, Cathal Coughlan and Jah Wobble are among those who were involved in the Bring Your Own Hammer project

Bring Your Own Hammer is a collaborative project bringing historians and composers together to create new song cycles based on historical sources. My Grief on the Sea, an album on the theme of sea journeys and migration to and from Ireland in the nineteenth century, is the first album by the group of collaborators which includes: the late Cathal Coughlan, Jah Wobble, Eileen Gogan, Linda Buckley, Adrian Crowley, Brigid Mae Power, Michael J Sheehy and Carol Keogh.

The project is the idea of Dr Richard McMahon, a lecturer in History at MIC, Limerick. “I'm particularly interested in developing the use of historical material in creative ways to engage the public, and also to extend the nature of the discipline of history,” explains McMahon.